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MAE

Premodern


Prehistoric, Ancient and medieval cartography in the West.


From prehistory to civilization:
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  1. Erupting volcano painting at Çatalhöyük, 6200 BCE. Drawing by Grace Huxtable.
  2. Drawing of the “Star fresco” cosmological map at Teleilat Ghassul, 5th millennium BCE. Source: University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
  3. Bedolina Map, Valcamonica, 6th–4th millennium BCE. Drawing by Cristina Turconi.
  4. Rock carvings in Paspardo, Valcamonica, 4th millennium BCE. Drawing by Andrea Arcà.
  5. Clay map of the city of Nippur, ca. 1500 BCE (Friedrich-Schiller University). Drawing by Noah Kramer.
  6. Amennakhte, son of Ipuy, Turin Papyrus Map (ancient Egyptian mining map), 12th century BCE. Source: Turin Museum.
  7. Imago Mundi, Babylonian map of the world (clay tablet), 9th century BCE. Source: British Museum.



Classical Antiquity:
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  1. Tabula Peutingeriana, copied in 1200 AD from an original by Agrippa c. 27 BCE–AD. Source: Austrian National Library.
  2. Miniatures from Codex Palatinus Latinus, 1564. Source: Vatican Library. Based on the surveying treaty Corpus Agrimensorum Romanorum, by Hyginus Gromaticus, ca. 9th century.



Islamic medieval maps:
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  1. al-Idrisi, Tabula Rogeriana (”Book of Roger”), 1154, facsimile from the 19th century. Source: Gallica BNF. Drawn from Arabic translations of Ptolemy's Geography.
  2. al-Idrisi, World Map, 1154, copy from 1456. Source: Gallica BNF.
  3. al-Idrisi, Western Bulgaria (a) and Bulgarian Black Sea (b) in Paris Manuscript, copy from ca. 13–14th century. Source: Gallica BNF.
  4. Unknown author (Fatimid Egyptian), “World Map” (a) and “Map of Sicily” (b) from Kitab Ghara’ib al-funun wa-mulah al-’uyun (“Book of Curiosities of the Sciences and Marvels for the Eyes“), ca. 12th century, copy from 13th-century. Source: Bodleian Library.
  5. Ibn Hawqal, World Map (a), 980 AD, copy from ca. 1445 (source: Gallica BNF) and Kitab surat al-ard (”Book of a picture of the earth”) (b), copy from ca. 15–16th century (source: Suleymaniye Library).
  6. al-Istakhri, Kitab al-masalik wa al-mamalik (”Book of Roads and Kingdoms”), ca. 950 CE. Source: Leiden University.
  7. Zakariya al-Qazwini, Aja'ib al-Makhluqat (”The Wonders of Creatures and the Marvels of Creation“), 13th century, copy from ca. 1530. Source: Beinecke Library.


Christian medieval T-O maps and Mappa Mundi:
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  1. T-O map in a Sallust manuscript, 12th century. Source: Vatican Library.
  2. T-O map in the printed edition of Zacharias Lilius, Orbis breviarium, Florence 1493.
  3. T-O map in the printed edition of Zacharias Lilius, Orbis breviarium, Florence 1493.
  4. Vercelli world map, ca. 1217.
  5. Anglo-Saxon Cotton World Map, 1035.
  6. Gervase of Ebstorf (or Tilbury), Ebstorf World Map, ca. 1255.
  7. Hereford Mappa Mundi, ca. 1290. Source: Hereford Cathedral.
  8. Marino Sanuto world map, 1340.
  9. Fra Mauro, Mappa Mundi, ca. 1450. Source: Biblioteca Nazionale Maciana.
  10. Lucas Brandis, Rudimentum Novitorium, 1475. Source: Library of Congress.
  11. Unknown author, Apographon Descriptionis Orbis Terrae (”Borgia Map”), early 15th century. Source: Vatican Library.
  12. Evrard d'Espinque’s Illuminations from De Proprietatibus Rerum, ca. 1480. Source: Gallica BNF.


Medieval itinerary maps:
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  1. Matthew Paris, several versions of the Map of Great Britain, ca. 1255–1259. Source: British Library.
  2. Matthew Paris, Liber additamentorum, An itinerary map, showing the route between London and Naples, 1250-1259. Source: British Library.
  3. Matthew Paris, final section of an itinerary map of the route between London and the Holy Land, showing Acre, Jerusalem and Bethlehem, mid-13th-century. Source: British Library.
  4. John Hardyng, Map of Scotland, 15th-century. Source: British Library.
  5. Pietro Vesconte, road map of Palestine in Liber secretorum fidelium crucis (”The Book of Secrets for Faithful Crusaders”), ca. 1321. Source: British Library.



Latin translations of Ptolemy’s Geography:
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  1. Ptolemy's First Projection (modified conic) in a mid-15th century florentine reconstruction after Jacobus Angelus’s 1406 Latin translation of the Geography. Source: British Library Harley. 
  2. Map of South-East Asia from the above-mentioned manuscript. Source: British Library.
  3. Ptolemy’s Geography translated into Latin by Jacobus Angelus, illuminated by Nicolaus Germanus in Cosmographia Claudii Ptolomaei Alexandrini, ca. 1407–67 (Reichenbach Monastery). a) British Isles, b) Italian peninsula, c) Iberian peninsula.
  4. Pietro del Massaio, illuminations for the Ptolemaic Code, three surviving manuscripts 1469, 1472, undated (Vatican Library). a) Rome, b) Jerusalem, c) Florence, d) Milan.