1574 Ptolemaei Cognita

This fascinating Ruscelli map of the eastern hemisphere shows the world as described by Claudius Ptolemy in his original Geographia, dating to the second century CE. The Geographia, one of Ptolemy’s most important works, is a compilation of geographical coordinates of the part of the world that was known in Roman times. He was known to have used for reference material the works of Marinos of Tyre, a Hellenized Phoenician mathematician, geographer and cartographer. Ptolemy lived in Alexandria, with direct access to its great library, and thus had at his fingertips the most pertinent knowledge and findings of his own time as well as of more ancient times, including the renowned astronomical works of Babylon from the ancient Persian Empire. The map is a copperplate engraving done in Italian style with a stippled sea. The Mediterranean is well depicted though exaggerated in length. The Aegean Sea, the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov, and the Caspian are all depicted, as is the long stretch o