1574 Graetia Nuova Tavola
By: Girolamo Ruscelli
Date: 1574 (published) Venice
Dimensions: 7.4 x 10.4 inches (18.8 x 26.4 cm)
This highly desirable Ruscelli map is from his work La Geografia di Claudio Tolomeo Alessandrino. Ruscelli based much of his work on that of Claudius Ptolemy, and the atlas maps of Giacomo Gastaldi. This map depicts Greece, and the territory of eastern Europe to the Bosphorus, the western edge of Anatolia, the Peloponnese and the myriad islands of the region. The Gulf of Venice, the Mediterranean, the Aegean and the Sea of Marmora plus a portion of the Black Sea are all depicted.
Topography on both sides of the Bosphorus is highly detailed with major cities along coastal areas and some inland denoted. Mountains ranges are pictorially depicted and major river systems are included. Major bodies of water are stippled. There is descriptive Italian text on the verso.
Girolamo Ruscelli (1500-1566) was an Italian cartographer, polymath, humanist and editor, active in Venice during the early 16th century. Ruscelli is best known for his important revision of Ptolemy's Geographia, published posthumously in 1574.
Claudius Ptolemy (85-165 CE), a Roman citizen of Greek descent from Alexandria, was the most influential of Greek astronomers and geographers of his time. He propounded the geocentric theory of the solar system which was to prevail for the next 1400 years.
Giacomo Gastaldi (c.1500-1566) was an Italian astronomer, cartographer and engineer from Villafranca in Piedmont. Many of Ruscelli’s maps are essentially enlarged versions of some of Gastaldi’s maps.
Condition: This map is in A- condition with very minor fading of the image in places on the right hand side. Otherwise a clean, crisp impression.
Inventory #11806
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