1574 Natolia Nuova Tavola

By: Girolamo Ruscelli

Date: 1574 (published) Venice

Dimensions: 7.25 x 10.25 inches (18.42 x 2.04)

This fascinating  Ruscelli map is from his work La Geografia di Claudio Tolomeo Alessandrino.  Ruscelli based much of his work on that of Claudius Ptolemy, and on the atlas maps of Giacomo Gastaldi.

This map focuses on Asia Minor but does not include the entire territory, as most of the map starts to the east of Anatolia’s western coastline. It does include Constantinople and the portion of eastern Europe which the city now occupies. It extends to the east as far as Armenia, Georgia and Syria. It also depicts portions of both Rhodes and Cyprus as well as some smaller islands in the area. Many ancient cities and civilizations are enumerated. Mountain ranges and river systems are shown and portions of the Black, Mediterranean and Aegean seas are included.

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, a well-inked and crisp impression from the new plates on which this 1574 issue was published. Italian text on verso.

Inventory # 11874

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