Mapping the Ancient World

MAPPING the ANCIENT WORLD Sanders of Oxford Antique Prints & Maps

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Mapping the Ancient World Ortelius, Hondius, and Moll

An exhibition of antique maps of the Ancient and Classical Mediterranean.

From 20th January, 2017.

All works are available to purchase and will be on display in the gallery from Friday 20th January.

Mapping the Ancient World forms the second of three map related exhibitions, and catalogues, to be hosted, and published, by Sanders in January, 2017: 17th Century Oxford, From Medieval Town to Royal City : From 15h January, 2017.

Maps, Maps, Maps. A catalogue of recent cartographic acquisitions: From 30th January, 2017.

Sanders of Oxford.

Antique Prints & Maps Salutation House 104 High Street Oxford OX1 4BW www.sandersofoxford.com - 01865 242590 - info@sandersofoxford.com Monday - Saturday 10am - 6pm. (Closed on Sundays throughout January)

The science of Geography, is, I think, quite as much as any other science, a concern of the philosopher. The utility of geography, I say, presupposes in the geographer the same philosopher, the man who busies himself with the investigation of the art of life, that is, of happiness.

Strabo, Geographica, 1.1

The following catalogue features some of the finest examples of sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth century cartography of the Ancient Mediterranean. Mapping the Ancient World is the first exhibition of its kind to be hosted by Sanders of Oxford, and showcases the work of three master geographers and antiquarians, Abraham Ortelius, Jodocus Hondius, and Herman Moll.

The maps in this catalogue are testament to the renewed interest in and interpretation of classical geography in the early modern period. The voyages of discovery in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries led to rapid expansion in Western cartographic knowledge, but the role of classical geography in these discoveries is often overlooked. When considering the history of exploration the likes of Hecataeus, Herodotus, Aristotle, Pythagoras, Strabo, and Pliny perhaps do not spring to mind in the same manner as a Columbus, a Magellan, or a Drake, but their contributions to our understanding of the globe, and our position on it, are in many ways the greater.

In the 6th century BC, Anaximander attempted the creation of a scaled map of the known world.

Pythagoras, barely a generation later, suggested that the earth was a globe, a fact observed by the mathematical and astrological observations of Aristotle at the end of the 4th century BC. Like much of geographic history, popular understanding of the world and its people was further expanded by conquest and war. Alexander the Great became the conqueror of three continents, codifying the concept of a tripartite ‘Old World’ composed of Europe, Asia, and Africa and opening up formerly mysterious eastern lands on the borders of the Greek speaking world. Roman road networks, merchant navies, and the relentless march of hobnailed sandals further extended the boundaries of the oikoumene, the ‘inhabited’ world, and created a Roman Empire that at its height stretched from the Sahara in the south to the Rhine and Danube in the north, and from the British Isles in the west to the boundaries of the Parthian Kingdom in the east.

For a period of almost one thousand years, the authors of the classical source tradition explored, examined, and codified the world in which they lived, and the people they encountered within it. By the second century AD, understanding of the ancient Mediterranean was at such an extent that the Geographica of Claudius Ptolemy, the Greek polymath of Roman Egypt, remained the most important source of geographic knowledge until the sixteenth century. The Geographica and Ptolemy’s other great work, the Almagest, featured prominently in the libraries of Baghdad, Damascus, Cairo, and Constantinople. In the West, the earliest printed atlases, issued at the turn of the sixteenth century by men like Waldseemüller, Münster, and Fries, featured maps of the Ptolemaic world, accompanied by translations of Ptolemy’s geographical treatises in Latin, German, Dutch, French, Italian, Czech, and English.

By the end of the sixteenth century, cartographic demand continued to reach new heights, for reasons that were now as much aesthetic as they were military, economic, or academic. New lands had been measured, surveyed, and delineated. A new, magnetic, prime meridian had been established. New mathematical and astronomical instruments made mapping more accurate and refined than ever before. Advances in printmaking and publishing made maps larger, more decorative, and more readily accessible. It was in this milieu that Abraham Ortelius produced his Parergon, a collection of maps and commentaries of the geography of the ancient Mediterranean.

The publication of the Parergon marks a turning point in the history of the mapping of the ancient world. Ortelius’s new venture was not simply a revision of the Ptolemaic model. Instead, it aimed to combine a thorough knowledge of the classical texts with the new geographic surveys of Ortelius’ friend and colleague, Gerard Mercator. In so doing, it became the first new geographic text since Ptolemy in the second century AD to attempt a methodical, scholarly, and encyclopaedic representation of the geography of the classical world.

The Parergon is a cartographic love letter to the classical authors. Ortelius, ever the consummate salesman, had certainly exploited a resurgent fascination with the classics, but the Parergon was more than just a mercantile exercise. The meticulous detail devoted to the maps and their commentaries betray their author’s absolute captivation with the texts, history, and artefacts of the ancient Greek and Roman world. The textual notes for the maps of the Parergon are, tellingly, the most verbose, most enthusiastic, and most heavily referenced of any that Ortelius produced in a long and prolific career.

Ortelius’ map of Latium (No. 8) lists every poetic name ever given to the city of Rome. The Empire of Alexander (No. 7) is described in minute detail, combining references from the classical corpus with observations from the archaeological record, from the ruins of Siwa to the coinage of Alexander and his successors. Belgium, (No. 11) Ortelius’ motherland, is perhaps the best example of his antiquarian zeal.

His commentary proudly notes that every town, village, temple, and archaeological site was surveyed, and in many cases excavated, by the author himself, in an attempt to enlighten his fellow countrymen, and give them back their classical heritage.

Following the Parergon, any work of classical geography worth its salt took inspiration from Ortelius.

His maps were copied, adapted, and pirated by cartographers throughout Europe, appearing in the seventeenth century atlases of Bertius, Jansson, Galle, Magini, and countless others. Some of the finest examples were appended to the popular Atlas Minor, published by Jodocus Hondius as a celebration of the work of Ortelius’ colleague and travelling companion, Gerard Mercator. Hondius’ maps, four of which appear (No. 14-17) in this catalogue, retain the beauty and clarity of Ortelius’ originals despite their smaller scale.

By the eighteenth century, maps of the ancient world had become a necessary supplement to a classical education. Edward Wells, the Oxford mathematician and theologian, commissioned a set of maps engraved by Michael Burghers to assist the young William, Duke of Gloucester, with his studies in classical Greek and Latin. For those without a well-heeled tutor or a royal pedigree, a number of student atlases were available, the most thorough of which was undoubtedly Bowles’ Geographia Classica, or the Geography of the Ancients, as contained in the Greek and Latin Classics, a collection of maps engraved by the German engraver and geographer, Herman Moll. Moll’s maps, though lacking the flamboyant cartouches and cartographic flourishes of the seventeenth century, made up for their lack of ornament by their targeted cartography, each intended to accompany a particular author, or historic event.

Included in the following pages are maps illustrating the empire of Cyrus the Great (No. 24), the conquests of Pyrrhus (No. 36), the movements of Pompey and Caesar during the Civil War (No. 44), Xenophon’s famous March of the Ten Thousand (No. 33), and the Roman Empire at the time of Eusebius (No. 48). Moll’s maps, as much for today as for the student of the eighteenth century, provide us with some of the earliest instances of the mapping of key events in the history of the ancient Mediterranean.

Abraham Ortelius’ Parergon

The first systematic atlas of classical geography in the modern era The Parergon (’Supplement’) was, as the title suggests, originally conceived of as a supplement to Ortelius’ Theatrum. The work, a massive and intricately researched index of the classical world, was accompanied by a series of ancient world maps. Unlike the maps of the Theatrum, the majority of which were reductions of earlier maps, the maps of the Parergon were researched and drawn by Ortelius himself. The work was a huge commercial success, and the maps themselves set the standard for ancient world maps for the duration of the seventeenth century, being reproduced or reprinted by various publishers after Ortelius’ final 1624 printing.

Ortelius’ interest in the mapping of the ancient world is manifest. The maps of the Parergon are a veritable mine of textual commentary and classical philology, drawing upon Ptolemy, Strabo, Pliny, and many others. Interestingly, the project seems to have been a labour of love, rather than a mercantile venture. Ortelius himself was fascinated with the ancient world, and a formidable classical scholar in his own right. In addition to his work as a cartographer, he dealt in antiquities, visited and surveyed ancient sites across Europe, published a critical edition of Caesar’s Gallic Wars in 1593, and assisted Welser in his studies of the famous Tabula Peutingeriana in 1598, producing an engraved copy of the map that can be found in later editions of the Parergon.

Abraham Ortelius (1527 -1598) was a Flemish cartographer, cosmographer, geographer and publisher, and a contemporary of Gerard Mercator, with whom he travelled through Italy and France. Although it is Mercator who first used the word “Atlas” as a name for a collection of maps, it is Ortelius who is remembered as the creator of the first modern atlas. Theatrum Orbis Terrarum was the first systematically collated set of maps by different map makers in a uniform format. Three Latin editions as well as a Dutch, French, and German edition of the Theatrum were published by 1572, and a further 25 editions printed before Ortelius’ death in 1598. Several more were subsequently printed until around 1612.

Ortelius is said to have been the first person to pose the question of the continents once being a single land mass before separating into their current positions.

1. Aeneae Troiani Navigatio ad Virgilij sex priores Aeneidos Ortelius, Abraham Copper engraved with hand colour Ex conatibus Geographicis Abrahami Ortelij Antwerp. Cum privilegio Imperatorio, Regio, et Cancellariae Brabantiae, decennali. 1594. [c. 1618 Bertius edition] 345 x 490 mm A map of the wanderings of Aeneas, the Trojan hero and ancestor of the Roman people, originally engraved for the Parergon (Supplement) of Ortelius’ famous Theatrum Orbis Terrarum. The map depicts the journeys of Aeneas and his band of Trojan exiles across the Eastern Mediterranean. The map is heavily annotated with information and verses gleaned from Virgil’s Aeneid, listing all of the locations mentioned in the text, as well as the various tribes, peoples, and nations of the Greek, Trojan, North African, and Latin worlds. Principal cities and towns are picked out in red, and many of them are provided with further anecdotes and explanations. In the sea itself, two groups of warships are depicted. One, off the coasts of North Africa and Sicily, depicts a scene of ship-wreck.

A number of the epic poem’s more fantastic elements are also featured on the map, including the Cyclopes, included amongst the inhabitants of Sicily, the monster Scylla at the straits of Messina, and the rocks of the Sirens off the coast of Naples.

The map is further embellished by three decorative strap cartouches, one enclosing the title, another with a dedication to Balthasar Robiano surmounted by a chi-rho and alpha-omega, and the third featuring a passage from Aeneid 1, describing Aeneas’ journey with his ancestral gods, and the seven ships remaining to him after his tumultuous voyage.

Condition: Central vertical fold as issued. Minor creasing and time toning to margins, not affecting plate.

Professionally backed with archival tissue, with tear repairs to left margin. No text on verso.

[40834] £1,000

2. Ægyptus Antiqua Ortelius, Abraham Copper engraved with hand colour Ex conatibus geographicis Abrahami Ortelij. cum Privilegio decennali. 1595 356 x 508 mm The first state of Ortelius’ single-sheet map of Ancient Egypt, from the 1595 Parergon (Supplement) of Ortelius’ famous Theatrum Orbis Terrarum. The map depicts the kingdoms, nomes, and tribal areas of ancient Egypt, oriented with West to top. The map is ornamented in beautiful hand colour. Principal cities are picked out in red, and the map is heavily annotated with references from the classical source tradition for the various cities, settlements, and monuments of Egyptian antiquity. The Nile itself runs the full length of the map, and sections of the neighbouring parts of Aethiopia, Arabia, and Libya are labelled. The Pyramids of Giza are depicted as three tall triangles, and near the branch of the Nile leading to Lake Moeris is a representation of the mythical labyrinth. The island of Philae can be seen near the borders of Aethiopia, while on the shores of the Mediterranean, the tomb of Pompey is depicted and labelled.

The map is further ornamented with three cartouches. One, in decorative strap-work, encloses the title, and a passage from Lucan describing the fecundity of the River Nile. In the centre, a simple oval cartouche lists numerous place names of uncertain location. Finally, at the top right corner, next to the entry for the desert oasis of Siwa, is an inset map of the great city of Alexandria. On the verso, copious latin notes describe the history and culture of ancient Egypt, beginning with the famous Herodotean maxim that ‘Aegyptus Nili donum,’ Egypt is the gift of the Nile. The map itself is a reduced single-sheet version of Ortelius’ earlier two-sheet map of Ancient Egypt, the cartography for which is based mainly on Diodorus, Herodotus, Strabo, and Pliny.

Condition: Clean, crisp impression with full margins. Central vertical fold as issued. Professional repaired wormhole to centre bottom border of map.

[41511] £1,000

3. Eλλάς. Graecia, Sophiani.

Ortelius, Abraham Copper engraved with hand colour Abrahamo Ortelio descriptore. Cum Privilegio. [1579] 345 x 490 mm A map of ancient Greece, from Ortelius’ famous Theatrum Orbis Terrarum. This is the second printing of the first edition of Ortelius map of ancient Greece, appearing in the Theatrum in 1579, and based upon the cartography of Nikolaus Sophianos (c.1500-1552). The map is centred on the Aegean Sea, depicting the regions of Achaea, Epirus, Macedon, Illyria, Mysia, Dacia, Thrace, Bithynia et Pontus, Galatia, Asia, Lycia, Pamphylia, and the Greek Islands. Each region is further divided into the territories of individual Greek city-states, Roman-era administrative regions, and the kingdoms of foreign peoples. Principal cities and towns are picked out in red, particularly Athens and the Piraeus, which is notable for its size in comparison to other cities.

The map is further embellished by two decorative cartouches. One contains a scale in Greek stadia, as well as German, French, and Italian miles. The other, enclosing the title, features two snake-legged kekropid caryatids supporting a pediment decorated with symbols of agricultural abundance. Latin text on verso.

Condition: Central vertical fold as issued. Minor creasing and time toning to margins, not affecting plate.

[40833] £950

4. Itala nam tellus Graecia Maior erat. Ovid. 4. Fast.

Ortelius, Abraham Copper engraved with original hand colour Hanc Italiae partem exteriorem sic describere conabar Abrahamus Ortelius, cum Privilegio decennali, 1595 [1603 Parergon Edition] 340 x 476 mm A map of Southern Italy, in antiquity often called Magna Graecia or ‘Great Greece’ after the many Greek colonies there, from the 1603 Parergon (Supplement) of Ortelius’ famous Theatrum Orbis Terrarum. The map is oriented with south to top, and depicts Magna Graecia at centre, bounded by the Tarentine Gulf to the south, and the Apennine Mountain range to the north, east, and west. Parts of the surrounding areas of Calabria, Apulia, Lucania, Brutium, Epizyphrian Locris, and Sicily are also featured. The map is ornamented in original hand colour. Principal cities and towns are picked out in red, and the map is heavily annotated with references from the classical source tradition for the various cities, settlements, and myths of ancient Magna Graecia. Among the latter, the monsters Scylla and Charybdis from the Odyssey are depicted in the Mamertine straits, the tomb of Hyacinthus is shown near the Spartan colony of Tarentum, the Fields of Diomedes occupy much of the plains of Apulia, the southernmost tip of Calabria is named Iapygia after Iapyx, Aeneas’ healer and favourite of Apollo, and the islands of Ogygia, home of the titaness Calypso, are plotted off the coast of the city of Croton.

The map is further embellished with a set of four decorative cartouches. The first, in the top left corner of the map, features a circular inset plan of the ‘islands of Diomedes,’ off the coast of Apulia near Mt Garganus and the city of Salapia, listed as having been made famous ‘by Hannibal’s love for a courtesan.’ The second is enclosed by a strap-work design featuring garlands of fruit and a pair of Greek theatrical masks, and includes a dedication to the German classical scholar Joachim Camerarius. The final two, also surrounded by strapwork, contain the title, taken from a passage in Ovid’s Fasti, and the publisher’s inscription. The verso features a lengthy description in Latin of the history and source tradition for the region. The initial of the text has been ornamented with hand coloured red highlights.

Condition: Central vertical fold as issued. Minor time toning to fold. Minor foxing to sheet. Time toning and old adhesive marks to margins, not affecting plate or map.

[32653] £425

5. Pontus Euxinus, Aequor Iasonio pulsatum remige primum Ortelius, Abraham Copper engraved with hand colour Ex conatibus Geographicis Abrahami Ortelij. Cum Privilegio Imp. Reg. et Belgico Ad decennium. 1590. [1624 Parergon Edition] 355 x 500 mm A map of the ancient Black Sea, usually called the Euxine or ‘hospitable’ sea by classical authors, from the 1624 Parergon (Supplement) of Ortelius’ famous Theatrum Orbis Terrarum. The map depicts the ancient nations, kingdoms, and provinces bordering the Black Sea, including Sarmatia, Scythia, the Tauric Chersonese, Asia, Cappadocia, Galatia, Bithynia, Pontus, Thracia, Moesia, and Dacia, as well as the adjoining waters of the Propontis and Lake Maeotis (the modern day Sea of Asov). The map is ornamented in beautiful hand colour, and principal geographic features are shown, including the Riphaean and Caucasus mountain ranges and the forests of the Tauric Chersonese. Principal cities and towns are picked out in red, and many are further annotated with references to the classical authors. Among the more interesting are Tanais at the top of the Sea of Asov, described as the ‘emporium’ of Europe and Asia, the Colchian Temple of Phryxis, original owner of the Golden Fleece, the Racecourse of Achillles as mentioned in Herodotus, and the city of Tomis, where the Roman poet Ovid served his exile and penned his Tristia, or ‘Lamentations.’

The map also features a pair of decorative strap-work cartouches. The smaller of the two encloses Ortelius’ publication line, while the title cartouche, featuring the Black Sea’s names, Pontus and Euxinus, in Greek characters, described the sea as calm, first stirred by the oars of the hero Jason. The verso contains a lengthy description in Latin of the history of the Black Sea, paying particular attention to the various names given to it in the classical corpus.

Condition: Clean, crisp impression with full margins. Central vertical fold as issued.

[41522] £650

6. Thraciae Veteris Typus Ortelius, Abraham Copper engraved with hand colour Ex conatibus Geographicis Abrah. Ortelij. Cum Imp. et Belgico privilegio decennali 1585. [1595 Parergon Edition] 356 x 478 mm A map of ancient Thrace, roughly corresponding to modern day Bulgaria, northern Greece, and the European part of Turkey, from the 1595 Parergon (Supplement) of Ortelius’ famous Theatrum Orbis Terrarum. The map depicts the extent of the ancient tribal lands of the Thracians, with particular reference to the Odyrysian kingdom, a loose confederation of tribes that existed following the expulsion of the Persians in the fifth century BC, until the first century AD when it was subsumed by the Roman empire. The map also shows parts of the surrounding territories of Moesia, between the Danube and the Haemus Mountains, Macedonia, Bithynia, Asia, the Aegean islands of Lemnos, Thasos, Samos (Samothrace), Imbros, and Tenedos, as well as part of the Black Sea, the Propontis, and the northern Aegean. The map is ornamented in beautiful hand colour, and principal geographic features are shown, including the two mountain ranges of the Haemus and Rhodope, named after the mythic king of Thrace and his queen, who were transformed into mountains after having the temerity to compare themselves to Zeus and Hera. Principal cities and towns are picked out in red, the most significant of which, Byzantium, Cyzicus, and Philippopolis, are given extra descriptive text. The Thracian tribe of the Cicones, made famous in their bloody struggles against Odysseus in Book 9 of Homer’s Odyssey, occupy a coastal valley to the south of Traianopolis, and the mythical stables of Diomedes are plotted on the coastline across from the island of Thasos. The horses stabled within were the object of one of Hercules’ labours, and, later, were considered the sires of Alexander’s horse, Bucephalus. The site of the famous battle of Philippi, in which Brutus and Cassius were defeated by the Caesarian forces under Antony and Octavian, can be seen to the north of the promontory of the holy site of Mount Athos.

The map is further embellished by a trio of strap-work cartouches. The first, enclosing the title, also features the word ‘Thrace’ written in Greek capitals, while the other two contain lists of place names of unknown location, in Thrace generally, and within the region surrounding Byzantium. On the verso, copious notes in Latin provide a history of the region, with particular reference to Byzantium and Constantinople, as well as a discussion of classical source traditions for the racial and linguistic features of various Thracian tribes.

Condition: Clean, crisp impression with full margins. Central vertical fold as issued. Crossed arrows watermark.

[41521] £650

7. Alexandri Magni Macedonis Expeditio Ortelius, Abraham Copper engraved with hand colour Ex conatib. geographicis Ab. Ortelij. Cum Privilegio Imp. et Ordinum Belgicor. ad decennium. 1595. [1624 Parergon Edition] 360 x 460 mm A map of the Middle East depicting the conquests of Alexander the Great, King of Macedon, from the 1624 Parergon (Supplement) of Ortelius’ famous Theatrum Orbis Terrarum. The map depicts the ancient kingdoms and regions of Greece, Asia Minor, Libya, Egypt, Arabia, Mesopotamia, Bactria and Sogdiana, Parthia, Arachosia, Gadrosia, and the Valley of the Indus River. The map is ornamented in beautiful hand colour. Principal cities are picked out in red, and the map is heavily annotated with references from the classical source tradition for Alexander’s expeditions. Ortelius’ grasp of, and familiarity with, ancient scholarship is detailed and precise, and he provides direct references to Arrian, Curtius Rufus, Pliny, Plutarch, Aelian, Philostratus, Aristobulus, and others. A sea monster and Alexander’s fleet, commanded by Nearchus, are depicted off the coast of Gadrosia, above a scholarly comment on the naming of the Red Sea, and its connection to the semi-mythic king Erythras.

A similar note on classical nomenclature can be found in the Caspian Sea. The terminus of Alexander’s expedition, on the banks of the Indus, is marked by a pair of altars near the source of the Ganges.

The map is further embellished by a trio of strap-work cartouches. One encloses the title, another the dedication to Henricus Schotius, a lord of Antwerp. The largest of the three, in the bottom left corner, contains a fanciful but ornate view of the Temple of Zeus Ammon at Siwa, located in the ancient Libyan desert. The oasis was the scene of one of the most famous of the stories of Alexander. The priests, hoping to ingratiate themselves with the young conqueror, welcomed the King as their ‘son.’ Alexander, always the pragmatist, used this welcome to claim divine descent from the god himself, and the ram’s horns of Zeus Ammon became a key feature of portraits of the King and his Successors. On the verso, the copious latin notes describe the cartographic sources for the map, with particular reference to Archelaus, Diogenes Laertius, Pliny, and Strabo, as well as histories of the Siwa Oasis, and the famous ‘whispering statue’ of Memnon in the Egyptian desert. The verso also features depictions of Hellenistic and Roman coinage.

Condition: Clean, crisp impression with full margins. Central vertical fold as issued. Professional repaired tear to top of plate, to the left of central fold.

[41490] £1,250

8. Latium Ortelius, Abraham Copper engraved with hand colour Ex Conatibus Geographicis Abrah. Ortelij Antverp. [1595 Parergon Edition] 353 x 450 mm An early state of Ortelius’ map of ancient Italian region of Latium, modern Lazio, from the 1595 Parergon (Supplement) of Ortelius’ famous Theatrum Orbis Terrarum. The map depicts the extent of Latium Vetus and Latium Novum, as well as adjoining parts of Tuscia, Umbria, and Campania. The map is ornamented in beautiful hand colour. Principal cities and towns are picked out in red, and the map is heavily annotated with references from the classical source tradition for the various cities, settlements, and myths of ancient Latium.

On the border of Etruria and Latium is the Tiber River, with the walled city of Rome depicted in detail. A number of Rome’s most representative monuments are also depicted, including the Pantheon, the Colosseum, and the dome of St Peters. The ancient Latin tribes, including the Rutuli, Hernici, Aborigines, Latini, and Sicani, are listed across the region, as are significant geographical features like the Pontine Marshes, the Alban Hills, and the Fucine Lake. The map also plots the locations of villas, including those of Lucullus, Cicero, Pliny, and Hadrian, as well as the Tomb of the Scipios, the sanctuary of Juno Sospita, the Shrine of Juturna, the Harbour of Portus, and numerous other points of classical interest. Ortelius, as much a bibliophile as a philologist, pays great attention to the monastery at Subiaco, where in 1465, a group of German monks printed the first book in Italy, an edition of the works of Lactantius.

The map is further embellished by a trio of decorative cartouches. The first, in decorative strap-work, encloses the title. The second, in an oval egg-and-dart pattern border, contains a dedication to Ortelius’ friend Markus Welser, a German humanist, historian, and antiquarian of Augsburg, who is best remembered for his study of the famous Tabula Peutingeriana, a medieval copy of a Roman map of the imperial road system, the cursus publicus.

Later editions of Ortelius’ map of Latium feature the addition of the Roman road network, and his engraved copy of the Tabula Peutingeriana was published in posthumous copies of the Parergon. Finally, in the bottom left corner of the map, a strap-work cartouche contains an inset view of Mons Circeius, the mythical home of Circe, the witch featured in Homer’s Odyssey. The promontory, now home to the modern village of San Felice Circeo, was the location of a Roman colony from at least as early as the 4th century BC, but the citadel and walls were likely of an earlier date. On the verso, a lengthy history of Latium includes a monumental feat of philological collation, in which Ortelius lists in three columns every descriptive or poetic title for the City of Rome found in the classical corpus, complete with attributions to the relevant ancient authors. A similar description for Mons Circeius preserves the text of a damaged dedicatory inscription, as well as a pair of coins featuring ships prows and portraits of the Italic gods Saturn and Janus.

Condition: Clean, crisp impression with full margins. Central vertical fold as issued. Crossed arrows watermark.

[41515] £750

9. Africae Propriae Tabula, In qua Punica regna uides, Tyrios, et Agenoris urbem Ortelius, Abraham Copper engraved with hand colour Ex conatibus geographicis Abrahami Ortelii. cum privilegio Imperiali, Regio, et Belgico, ad decennium. 1590.

[1595 Parergon Edition] 333 x 485 mm A map of ancient North Africa, from the 1595 Parergon (Supplement) of Ortelius’ famous Theatrum Orbis Terrarum. The map depicts the extent of the Roman Province of Africa, roughly contiguous with modern day Libya and Tunisia, as well as parts of the neighbouring provinces of Mauretania Caesariensis, Numidia, Cyrenaica, and the southern half of Sicily. The map is ornamented in beautiful hand colour. Principal cities are picked out in red, and the map is heavily annotated with references from the classical source tradition for the various cities, settlements, and myths of North African antiquity. The famously dangerous shallows of Syrtis are marked off the coast of Tripolitana, and the domain of the mythical Lotus-Eaters from Homer’s Odyssey is plotted on the borders of Cyrenaica, close by a forest representing Pliny’s putative location for the paradisiacal Garden of the Hesperides. In the pre-Roman period, the North African coast was largely controlled by the maritime and commercial empire of the city of Carthage, and the map is described as a ‘proper’ representation of the Punic kingdom and the city of Agenor, the mythic ruler of Tyre and father of the Phoenician people.

Ortelius’ depiction of the region is historically and chronologically nuanced, overlaying the various tribes, nations, and empires that occupied the area, including nomadic Berber tribes, Carthaginian and Greek trading cities, Roman administrative divisions, and even the Vandals, who invaded under their leader Geiseric and seized Carthage from the Byzantines in the fifth century AD. Further notes add details about St Paul’s shipwreck off the coast of Malta, the naming of the city of Zama where Scipio Africanus defeated Hannibal, and the mythical Lake Tritonis and its islands.

The map is further embellished by a pair of decorative cartouches. The first, enclosed by decorative strap-work and cupids, encloses the title and dedication. The second, much larger, cartouche at the bottom of the plate includes a three columned list of place names of uncertain location as well as a circular inset map of the walled harbour of Carthage and the nearby cities of Tunis and Utica. Adorning the strap-work on both cartouches are numerous examples of the region’s ancient prosperity, most ubiquitous being the famous Punic figs that the Roman orator Cato the Elder used to great effect in his speeches exhorting the destruction of Carthage. On the verso, copious latin text describes the history and culture of the region, particularly the city of Carthage itself.

The end-piece for the text is made up of four examples of ancient coinage.

Condition: Clean, crisp impression with full margins. Central vertical fold as issued. Professional repaired wormhole to centre bottom border of map. Pair of printer’s creases to bottom left of map, through the inscription cartouche.

[41512] £750

10. Gallia Vetus, Ad Julij Caesaris commentaria Ortelius, Abraham Copper engraved with hand colour Ex Conatibus geographicis Abrah. Ortelij. 1590. Cum Imp. Reg. et cancellarie Brabantie privilegio decennali.

[1595 Parergon Edition] 352 x 458 mm A map of ancient Gaul (France), following exactly the description provided in Julius Caesar’s Commentaries of his Gallic Wars, from the 1595 Parergon (Supplement) of Ortelius’ famous Theatrum Orbis Terrarum. The map was first issued in 1590, likely coinciding with Ortelius’ work on an edition of the Bellum Gallicum that he published in 1593. His close familiarity with the text is immediately apparent in this scholarly, but also highly decorative, map. Gaul, as per Caesar’s description, is divided into three parts, following the tribal divisions of the Belgae, Celtae, and Aquitani. Parts of the neighbouring provinces of Hispania, Provincia Romanorum, Cisalpine Gaul, Germania, and Britannia are also depicted. The map is ornamented in beautiful hand colour, and notable geographic features are shown, particularly the extensive Belgic forests. Principal cities and towns are picked out in red, including ‘Londinum’ in Britannia. The lands of each Celtic tribe are labelled, and extensive boxed lists on the right and left margins record every tribe, chieftain, and notable individual mentioned in Caesar’s text.

The map is further embellished with a wide decorative border, and three strap-work cartouches, enclosing the title, inscription, and a dedication to the Archbishop of Antwerp and Renaissance humanist, Laevinus Torrentius. The latin text on the verso reassures the reader of the painstaking accuracy of Ortelius’ map, stating that no person, place, or region mentioned in Caesar is absent. The remainder of the text is mostly occupied with a lengthy description of the Druid class of Celtic society, drawing widely from many different authors, including Ammianus Marcellinus, Lucan, Diodorus Siculus, Athenaeus, Strabo, Pliny, Pomponius Mela, and Dio Chrysostom, Tacitus, Suetonius, and even his contemporary, William Camden. The end piece of the text features a depiction of a Roman coin of the emperor Galba featuring ‘Tres Galliae’ on the reverse, which Ortelius proudly confirms is in his own collection.

Condition: Clean, crisp impression with full margins. Central vertical fold as issued. Crossed arrows watermark.

[41523] £750

11. Belgii Veteris Typus Ortelius, Abraham Copper engraved with hand colour 1584. Cum privilegio Imperiali et Belgico, ad decennium.

378 x 490 mm A first-state printing of Ortelius’ map of ancient Belgium, usually referred to as Belgica and considered a part of Gaul by classical authors, from the 1584 Parergon (Supplement) of Ortelius’ famous Theatrum Orbis Terrarum.

The map depicts the ancient Celtic regions of Ortelius’ homeland, divided according to tribal territories, and densely covered in forest, as well as the east coast of Britain, inhabited, according to Caesar, by Belgic tribes.

Principle cities and towns are picked out in red. The names of many settlements also appear alongside pertinent references from the classical source tradition. Indeed all place-names that are featured on the map have had their names recorded according to their age and origin. The oldest names, of Celtic tribes and settlements, are recorded in Latin capitals, while younger Roman titles are given in lower case. Those names that are not featured in the classical sources are rendered in cursive, while relevant modern titles are given in a stylised Germanic cursive. The map is heavily annotated with points of cartographic and historic interest. Places of uncertain location are listed above the cartouche at the top right corner, while classical remains, many of which were explored by Ortelius himself, are depicted, including a ‘Barbarian’ altar, a bridge supposedly built by Julian the apostate, the camps of Cicero and the German legions, numerous temples, and a coastal beacon or lighthouse established by Charlemagne.

Ortelius’ evidently took great pride in this map of his home country, as the four large decorative cartouches feature numerous laudatory remarks about the Low Countries, and Ortelius himself. In the bottom left corner, a strap-work box cartouche encloses four poetic lines penned by Ortelius friend Hugo Favolius, urging the Belgian race to reconnect with their antique past. In the top right, an oval cartouche dedicates the map to the Senate and People of Antwerp, and commenting on the sweet hold the native soil has on the cartographer himself.

Condition: Clean, crisp impression with full margins. Central vertical fold as issued.

[42093] £550

12. Britannicarum Insularum Typus Ortelius, Abraham Copper engraved with hand colour Ex conatibus Geographicis Abrah. Ortelij. Cum privileg. decen. 1595 [1618 edition] 365 x 505 mm A map of Roman and ancient Britain, from Ortelius’ famous Theatrum Orbis Terrarum. England and Wales are labelled as Britannia Superior, and further divided into the later Roman provinces of Prima (the South), Secunda (Wales), Flavia Caesariensis (the Midlands), and Maxima Caesariensis (the North). Scotland is labelled using both its early and later Roman titles, as Britannia Inferior and the province of Valentia. Hibernia (Ireland), the Orcades, and the Hebrides are also labelled. Principal cities and towns are picked out in red, as are the two Roman era walls built by Hadrian and Antoninus Pius, here labelled as Severan. Original celtic tribal regions are also labelled, as well as the site that Caesar allegedly landed in his invasion of 55 BC. The map is embellished with three decorative strap cartouches, one containing the title, another the publication details, and a third, the largest, featuring a lengthy dedication to George of Austria. The seas around the British Isles are heavily populated with sailing ships of various types and sizes. Latin text on verso.

Condition: Central vertical fold as issued. Left margin expertly restored.

[40832] ÂŁ975

13. Daciarum, Moesiarumque, Vetus Descriptio Ortelius, Abraham Copper engraved with hand colour Cum Privilegiis decennalib. Imp. Reg. et Cancellarie Brabantice. Ex conatibus Abrahami Ortelij, 1595. [1595 Parergon Edition] 348 x 458 mm A map of ancient Dacia and Moesia, roughly corresponding to modern day Romania and Bulgaria, from the 1595 Parergon (Supplement) of Ortelius’ famous Theatrum Orbis Terrarum. The map depicts the extent of the ancient kingdoms and tribal lands of the Getic and Dacian people, to the north and south of the River Danube, as well as the adjoining parts of the Roman provinces and ancient regions of Sarmatia, Germania, Pannonia, Dalmatia, and Thracia, and the western reach of the Black Sea. The map is ornamented in beautiful hand colour.

Principal cities and towns are picked out in red, with the largest concentration appearing on the southern bank of the Danube and the frontier of Roman Moesia. The Dacian capital of Sarmizegetusa, destroyed by Trajan during the Dacian Wars and refounded as the capital of the new Roman province of Dacia under the name Ulpia Traiana Sarmizegetusa, is the largest settlement depicted, at the foothills of the Carpathian Mountain range. Just north of the confluence of the Danube and Tissus (the modern Tisza) Rivers is the massive complex of Felix Romuliana, modern Gamzigrad, built by the early 4th century AD Roman Emperor Galerius. Galerius, whose mother was Dacian, constructed the site as a grand imperial palace, and cult sanctuary. As Ortelius notes on the map, Galerius was buried there, after succumbing to a horrific disease described in florid detail by the early Christian writers Eusebius and Lactantius.

The map is further ornamented by three strap-work cartouches, enclosing the title and a list of place names of unknown location, a dedication to the Bavarian duke and renowned bibliophile Johann Georg of Werdenstein, and a four line passage from Ovid’s Tristia ex Ponto about the Straits of the Bosphorus. The latin text on the verso contains a lengthy discussion about the racial and linguistic origins of the Dacian and Getic peoples, drawing upon the evidence of Pliny, Dio, Stephanus, Herodotus, and others, as well as a history of the region with particular reference to the Dacian Wars of the Emperor Trajan in the period AD 101-106.

Condition: Clean, crisp impression with full margins. Central vertical fold as issued. Crossed arrows watermark.

[41519] £550

The Mercator-Hondius Atlas Minor The Ancient World in miniature

Gerard Mercator (1512 - 1594) originally a student of philosophy was one of the most renowned cosmographers and geographers of the 16th century, as well as an accomplished scientific instrument maker. He is most famous for introducing Mercators Projection, a system which allowed navigators to plot the same constant compass bearing on a flat map. His first maps were published in 1537 (Palestine), and 1538 (a map of the world), although his main occupation at this time was globemaking. He later moved to Duisburg, in Germany, where he produced his outstanding wall maps of Europe and of Britain. In 1569 he published his masterpiece, the twenty-one-sheet map of the world, constructed on Mercator’s projection. His Atlas, sive Cosmographicae Meditationes de Fabrica Mundi, was completed by his son Rumold and published in 1595. After Rumold’s death in 1599, the plates for the atlas were published by Gerard Jr. Following his death in 1604, the printing stock was bought at auction

by Jodocus Hondius, and re-issued well into the seventeenth century.

Jodocus Hondius (14th October 1563 - 12th February 1612) was a Dutch Flemish cartographer, engraver, and publisher. Hondius is most famous for reviving the primacy of the work of Gerard Mercator, through the publication of his Atlas, and the smaller Atlas Minor, in the early seventeenth century, at a time when cartography was largely dominated by Ortelius’ Theatrum Orbis Terrarum.

The Mercator-Hondius Atlas was composed of maps pulled from plates Hondius had purchased from Mercator’s grandson, as well as thirty-six new plates Hondius commissioned, and in many cases engraved, himself. He is also believed to have been the chief engraver of the plates for John Speed’s Theatre of the Empire of Great Britaine. Following his death, he was succeeded by his sons, Jodocus the Younger and Henricus, as well as his son in law Jan Jansson.

14. Aeneae Troiani Navigatio Mercator, Gerard and Hondius, Jodocus Copper engraved with hand colour [Amsterdam, c.1620 150 x 187 mm A decorative miniature map of the wanderings of Aeneas, the Trojan hero and ancestor of the Roman people, from a Latin edition of the Mercator-Hondius Atlas Minor. The map depicts the journeys of Aeneas and his band of Trojan exiles across the Eastern Mediterranean. The map is heavily annotated with notes from Virgil’s Aeneid, listing all of the locations mentioned in the text, as well as the various tribes, peoples, and nations of the Greek, Trojan, North African, and Latin worlds. Principal cities and towns are picked out in red, and many of them are provided with further anecdotes and explanations. In the sea itself, two groups of warships are depicted. One, off the coasts of North Africa and Sicily, depicts a scene of ship-wreck. A number of the epic poem’s more fantastic elements are also featured on the map, including the Cyclopes, included amongst the inhabitants of Sicily, the monster Scylla at the straits of Messina, and the rocks of the Sirens off the coast of Naples.

The map was likely inspired by a similar large scale example published by Ortelius for the Parergon, a collection of maps on classical and biblical subjects intended as a supplement to the famous Theatrum Orbis Terrarum.

Condition: Excellent dark impression. Minor time-toning to margins, not affecting plate or map. Small waterstain to top margin, not affecting plate or map.

[42088] £375

15. Alexandri Magni Expeditio Mercator, Gerard and Hondius, Jodocus Copper engraved with hand colour [Amsterdam, c.1620] 150 x 190 mm A decorative miniature map of the Middle East depicting the conquests of Alexander the Great, King of Macedon, from a Latin edition of the Mercator-Hondius Atlas Minor. The map depicts the ancient kingdoms and regions of Greece, Asia Minor, Libya, Egypt, Arabia, Mesopotamia, Bactria and Sogdiana, Parthia, Arachosia, Gadrosia, and the Valley of the Indus River, ornamented in beautiful hand colour. Principal cities are picked out in red, and the map is heavily annotated with references from the classical source tradition for Alexander’s expeditions. The terminus of Alexander’s expedition, on the banks of the Indus, is marked by a pair of altars near the source of the Ganges. The map is further embellished by a pair of strap-work cartouches. One encloses the title, while the larger of the two in the bottom left corner shows an inset map of the Aegean Sea and the coast of Asia Minor. At bottom centre, an Alexandrian coin shows the Conquerors helmeted head on the recto and a winged Nike holding an orb and sceptre on the verso.

The map was likely inspired by a similar large scale example published by Ortelius for the Parergon, a collection of maps on classical and biblical subjects intended as a supplement to the famous Theatrum Orbis Terrarum.

Condition: Excellent dark impression. Minor time-toning to margins, not affecting plate or map. Small waterstain to top margin, not affecting plate or map. Re-margined at left.

[42089] £400

16. Peregrinatio Pauli, in qua et omnia loca quorum fit mentio in actis et epistolis Apostolorum et Apocalypsi, describuntur Mercator, Gerard and Hondius, Jodocus Copper engraved with hand colour [Amsterdam, c.1620] 148 x 188 mm A decorative miniature map of the Eastern Mediterranean, depicting the voyages of the Apostle Paul, from a Latin edition of the Mercator-Hondius Atlas Minor. The map depicts the provinces of the eastern Roman Empire, as well as neighbouring regions and kingdoms, as they appeared in the first century AD. Paul’s journey, from Canaan to Rome via Cyprus, the coast of Asia Minor, Crete, Malta, and Sicily is shown as a dotted line.

The various provinces and regions, including Africa, Aegyptus, Arabia Petraea, Syria, Asia Minor, Graecia, Dacia, and Italia, are outlined and washed in hand colour, while principal towns and cities are picked out in red. A note beside the island of Malta speaks of the shipwreck of Paul’s vessel, and the map’s title is enclosed in a simple strap-work cartouche at bottom centre.

The map was likely inspired by a similar large scale example published by Ortelius for the Parergon, a collection of maps on classical and biblical subjects intended as a supplement to the famous Theatrum Orbis Terrarum.

Condition: Excellent dark impression. Minor time-toning to margins, not affecting plate or map. Small waterstain to top margin, not affecting plate or map.

[42086] £275

17. Romani Imperii Imago Mercator, Gerard and Hondius, Jodocus Copper engraved with hand colour [Amsterdam, c.1620] 150 x 190 mm A decorative miniature map of the Roman Empire, from a Latin edition of the Mercator-Hondius Atlas Minor.

The map depicts the extent of Roman control in the Mediterranean, with the various provinces and client kingdoms clearly labelled with their Latin titles and outlined in hand colour. A large oval strap-work cartouche containing the title completely obscures the area of Scandinavia, known only obliquely to the classical authors. A secondary title cartouche at bottom of the map explains that the Empire stretched from the Atlantic Ocean in the West to the Tigris river in the East, and from the Atlas Mountains in the South to the frontiers of the Rhine and Danube in the North. The map is further embellished with a pair of roundels, featuring busts of Romulus, father of the Roman people, and Roma, the personiďŹ ed goddess of the Roman city.

The map was likely inspired by a similar large scale example published by Ortelius for the Parergon, a collection of maps on classical and biblical subjects intended as a supplement to the famous Theatrum Orbis Terrarum.

Condition: Excellent dark impression. Minor time-toning to margins, not affecting plate or map. Small waterstain to top margin, not affecting plate or map.

[42090] ÂŁ400

Herman Moll’s Geography of the Ancients A cartographic accompaniment for the Greek and Latin classics

Bowles’ Geographia Classica, or the Geography of the Ancients, as contained in the Greek and Latin Classics was undertaken by Herman Moll as a supplement to the many eighteenth century editions of Greek and Latin classics published by Carington Bowles and his contemporaries. Most editions contained a total of 32 maps in an arrangement similar to Ortelius’ famous Parergon, depicting the kingdoms and provinces of the Greek and Roman world, elucidating particular texts such as ‘Caesar’s Gaul’ or the ‘Journeys of Aeneas,’ and including a number of biblical maps. Unlike the Parergon, which was accompanied by Ortelius’ copious notes and commentary, Moll’s Geographia Classica contained no explanatory text, with the frontis instead explaining that the atlas was ‘Principally designed for the Use of Schools, as being accomodated for the more easy and clear Understanding of the Ancient Authors.’ The list as given by Moll included Homer, Herodotus, Justin, Virgil, Ovid, Florus, Nepos, Caesar, Livy, Lucan, and Plutarch.

Herman Moll (c.1654-1732) was born in Germany and came to England in the 1670s. He worked as an independent cartographer and geographer, and traded as a map publisher and seller for two years, and then worked for other publishers. Moll established his own business and eventually dominated the early eighteenth century map trade. He produced many maps and atlases of England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland. His county maps were all boldly engraved in a heavy style. Moll was also an active member in academic and intellectual circles, being a close associate of Daniel Defoe, Robert Boyle, Robert Hooke, and, most importantly for his cartographic career, the pre-eminent English explorer of the era, William Dampier.

The Classical World

18. Orbis Tabula Moll, Herman Copper engraved with hand colour London: Printed for the Proprietor Carington Bowles, at his Map and Print Warehouse, No. 69, St Paul’s Church Yard. MDCCLXXXIV [1784] 157 x 226 mm A map of the World, as known to the Ancients, from Bowles’ Geographia Classica, or the Geography of the Ancients, as contained in the Greek and Latin Classics.

The map depicts Europe, Asia, Africa, and most of the coast of Australia, as was known to Moll and his contemporaries. The continents are outlined in hand colour, as are forests, rivers, and mountain ranges. The extent of ancient knowledge of global geography is illustrated by a dashed line, and the regions within this are given their ancient names. The boundaries of the Roman empire are marked by a dotted line. The map draws on the standard range of works of classical geography, but is also heavily influenced by a number of ancient periploi, including those of the Euxine and Erythraean Seas. Above the simple box cartouche, is an inset globe-map of the Americas, following Mercator and Ortelius, that Moll equates with Plato’s description of Atlantis.

Condition: Central vertical fold as issued. Minor time toning and foxing to margins of sheet, not affecting map.

[41357] £200

19. Orbis Tabula ad Iustinum / Italia ad Iustinum / Grecia ad Iustini Historiam Moll, Herman Copper engraved with hand colour London: Printed for the Proprietor Carington Bowles, at his Map and Print Warehouse, No. 69, St Paul’s Church Yard. MDCCLXXXIV [1784] 154 x 256 mm Three maps on a single sheet, depicting the Ancient World, Italy, and Greece, from Bowles’ Geographia Classica, or the Geography of the Ancients, as contained in the Greek and Latin Classics. The bottom half of the plate shows the Roman world as it existed in the 2nd century AD, with particular reference to the extent of Parthian territory in the East. Above are two smaller boxed maps above depicting Italy and Greece.

Sea coasts and provincial borders are outlined in hand colour, as are mountain ranges. The map was designed to accompany editions of the work of the Roman historian Marcus Iunianius Iustinus, known colloquially as Justin. Very little is known of Justin beyond his work, itself an epitome of an earlier Augustan historian, Gnaeus Pompeius Trogus. The date of his floruit is traditionally placed in the 2nd century AD, though could be as late as the 4th century AD. Justin’s epitome was very popular in the Medieval era, and a major source for descriptions of the Roman period in early printed histories, particularly the Nuremberg Chronicle and Munster’s Cosmographia.

Condition: Central vertical fold as issued. Minor time toning and foxing to top of centre fold, not affecting plate.

[41358] £125

Egypt and the Ancient Near East 20. A Map of the Journeyings of the Israelites mentioned in ye Mosaick History. And of ye Land of Canaan shewing ye Divisions of ye Twelve Tribes of Israel, and more Remarkable Places mentioned in Ioshua & Iudges Moll, Herman Copper engraved with hand colour London: Printed for the Proprietor Carington Bowles, at his Map and Print Warehouse, No. 69, St Paul’s Church Yard. MDCCLXXXIV [1784] 222 x 150 mm A map of the ancient Holy Land following the Books of Joshua and Judges, from Bowles’ Geographia Classica, or the Geography of the Ancients, as contained in the Greek and Latin Classics. The map depicts the wanderings of the Israelites in the Exodus. The path taken by Moses and his followers is picked out in red, as are the principal cities of the region: Pi-Ramesses, Jerusalem, Tyre, and Sidon. The borders of Syria, Judea, Egypt, and Arabia are outlined in hand colour, as are mountain ranges. The land of Israel is further divided into the territories of the Twelve Tribes.

Condition: Central horizontal fold as issued.

[41387] £100

Egypt and the Ancient Near East 21. Ægyptus sicut in Libro Herodoti secundo describitur Moll, Herman Copper engraved with hand colour London: Printed for the Proprietor Carington Bowles, at his Map and Print Warehouse, No. 69, St Paul’s Church Yard. MDCCLXXXIV [1784] 225 x 154 mm A map of ancient Egypt, from Bowles’ Geographia Classica, or the Geography of the Ancients, as contained in the Greek and Latin Classics. The map depicts ancient Egypt, as described by Herodotus in the second book of his Histories. The coasts of Egypt and neighbouring regions are outlined in hand colour, as are forests, oases, and mountain ranges, and principle cities have been picked out in red. In the bottom right corner of the plate is a smaller boxed map of the Delta. At the time in which Herodotus was writing, Egypt had been under Persian control for almost a century, following Cambyses II success against the Late Kingdom pharaoh Psamtik III at the Battle of Pelusium.

Herodotus’ description of Egypt in his second book, while problematic, provides some of the very first accounts of Egyptian religion, culture, politics, and daily life.

Herodotus (c.484-425 BC) was a Greek historian from the Ionian city of Halicarnassus, now Bodrum, in modern Turkey. His Histories, the first known work to approach a historical subject from a position of enquiry, earned him the title of ‘Father of History.’

The Histories sought to trace the origins of the 5th century BC Persian Wars, drawing upon Greek geographic and ethnographic knowledge of the Persian Empire.

Condition: Central horizontal fold as issued. Minor time-toning to margins of sheet.

[41374] £75

Egypt and the Ancient Near East

22. Lybia ad mentem Herodoti Moll, Herman Copper engraved with hand colour London: Printed for the Proprietor Carington Bowles, at his Map and Print Warehouse, No. 69, St Paul’s Church Yard. MDCCLXXXIV [1784] 153 x 224 mm A map of the ancient North African coast, from Bowles’ Geographia Classica, or the Geography of the Ancients, as contained in the Greek and Latin Classics. The map depicts the region of North Africa known to the Greeks as Libya, an area encompassing modernday Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, and part of western Egypt, following the Histories of Herodotus.

In addition to the native Berber tribes, the coast was occupied by Phoenician and Greek settlers, who established colonies in the region from the eighth century BC onwards. The area of greatest Greek activity came to be known as Cyrenaica, after the principal city of this stretch of coastline, Cyrene.

The coastline of Cyrenaica is outlined in hand colour, as are the neighbouring parts of Libya, the island of Crete, and principle forests and mountain ranges. The ‘lotophagi’ of Greek mythology are also plotted, in the forests of the Tunisian coast, and the oracular sanctuary of Ammon is shown in the Libyan desert.

Herodotus (c.484-425 BC) was a Greek historian from the Ionian city of Halicarnassus, now Bodrum, in modern Turkey. His Histories, the first known work to approach a historical subject from a position of enquiry, earned him the title of ‘Father of History.’

The Histories sought to trace the origins of the 5th century BC Persian Wars, drawing upon Greek geographic and ethnographic knowledge of the Persian Empire.

Condition: Central vertical fold as issued.

[41375] £50

Egypt and the Ancient Near East

23. Syria et Assyria ad mentem Ptolomæi aliorumq.

Moll, Herman Copper engraved with hand colour London: Printed for the Proprietor Carington Bowles, at his Map and Print Warehouse, No. 69, St Paul’s Church Yard. MDCCLXXXIV [1784] 156 x 228 mm A map of the ancient Middle East, from Bowles’ Geographia Classica, or the Geography of the Ancients, as contained in the Greek and Latin Classics. The map depicts the classical divisions of the region into ancient Armenia, Syria, Mesopotamia, Assyria, Media, Babylonia, Arabia, Judea, and Cyprus. The different kingdoms and empires are outlined in hand colour, as are mountain ranges, and principal cities are picked out in red. The map presents the region ‘in the mind of Ptolemy and others,’ that is, following the Geography of the second century AD Greco-Egyptian polymath, Claudius Ptolemy.

Ptolemy (c. AD 100-170) was a Greek native of the Egyptian city of Alexandria, and a Roman citizen.

Little is known about his life, but he is credited as the author of numerous works of mathematics, engineering, astronomy, astrology, philosophy, and geography. His most famous works were the Almagest, the Geography, and the Tetrabiblion, a triad that essentially formed the basis of Byzantine, Arabic, and European science for the next thousand years.

The Geography in particular had a very long reach, being reprinted numerous times in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Its most famous advocate was Columbus, who used a manuscript of the Geography to plot his western course for Asia, in the journey that resulted in the discovery of America. The work was also a major inspiration, and cartographic resource, for Munster, Mercator, and Ortelius.

Condition: Central vertical fold as issued.

[41359] £125

Egypt and the Ancient Near East

24. Imperium Persicum tempore Cyri Magni Moll, Herman Copper engraved with hand colour London: Printed for the Proprietor Carington Bowles, at his Map and Print Warehouse, No. 69, St Paul’s Church Yard. MDCCLXXXIV [1784] 155 x 228 mm

Cyrus II of Persia (576-530 BC) was the founder of the Achaemenid Empire and Great King of Persia.

Known as Cyrus the Great, he was not only a hugely successful conquerer, but also a just and able ruler and administrator. Unique among non-Jewish biblical potentates, he was afforded the title of ‘messiah’ (anointed one) in Hebrew scripture.

A map of the ancient Middle East, from Bowles’ Geographia Classica, or the Geography of the Ancients, as contained in the Greek and Latin Classics. The map depicts the Persian Empire at the time of Cyrus the Great, covering the area from Greece and Egypt in the West to India and modern day Afghanistan in the East. The larger regions of Cyrus’ Empire, formed in a series of successive conquests of the Median, Lydian, and NeoBabylonian Empires, are outlined in hand colour, as are mountain ranges.

Condition: Central vertical fold as issued.

[41360] £150

Egypt and the Ancient Near East

25. Imperium Persarum in viginti Provincias sortitum a Dario Histaspis filio Moll, Herman Copper engraved with hand colour London: Printed for the Proprietor Carington Bowles, at his Map and Print Warehouse, No. 69, St Paul’s Church Yard. MDCCLXXXIV [1784] 155 x 226 mm A map of the ancient Middle East, from Bowles’ Geographia Classica, or the Geography of the Ancients, as contained in the Greek and Latin Classics. The map depicts the Persian Empire at the time of Darius the Great, with particular reference to the system of provinces that he established to better administer a sprawling empire of many different nations and peoples. Each region is outlined in hand colour, as are mountain ranges. Areas outside the control of the Great King are outlined in green.

Darius I of Persia was the third Great King of the Achaemenid Empire, succeeding Cambyses, son of Cyrus the Great, following a coup against Cambyses’ successor, whom Darius alleged was an imposter.

Under Darius, the Persian Empire reached its greatest extent, controlling an area stretching from Libya and Thrace in the West to the borders of modern-day India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan in the East. His administrative reforms included the introduction of satraps (local governors), a unified monetary system, road networks, extensive building projects, and the recognition of Aramaic as the official language of his empire. In the classical tradition, he is best known for his unsuccessful campaign to suppress the Greek cities involved in the Ionian revolt. The Persian defeat at Marathon marked the emergence of Athens as the pre-eminent cultural and political power in classical Greece, though its impact in the Persian Empire Condition: Central vertical fold as issued.

[41361] £150

Myth as History

26. Belli Trojani Circuitus Secundum Dictyn Cretensem & Daretem Phrygium Moll, Herman Copper engraved with hand colour London: Printed for the Proprietor Carington Bowles, at his Map and Print Warehouse, No. 69, St Paul’s Church Yard. MDCCLXXXIV [1784] 154 x 224 mm A map of the ancient eastern Mediterranean, from Bowles’ Geographia Classica, or the Geography of the Ancients, as contained in the Greek and Latin Classics. The map shows the theatre of the Trojan War, with the Greek forces hand-coloured in red, and the Trojans and their allies in yellow. Neutral states, or those unmentioned by the Trojan myth cycle, are coloured green. Mountain ranges are also outlined in hand colour. The map’s simple title cartouche ascribes the geography to Dictys of Crete and Dares of Phrygia, two likely spurious commentators of the Trojan War. Dictys Cretensis supposedly wrote a chronicle of his experiences in the Trojan War.

A companion of the Greek hero Idomeneus, Dictys was alleged to have had his work buried with him, until a large earthquake in the reign of Nero caused it to be brought to the attention of some local shepherds, who eventually passed it on to the Roman governor, Rutilius Rufus. The Latin ‘translation’ of this work appeared in the 4th century AD. The existence of a Greek or Phoenician original is unknown, and may simply have been a literary conceit by its Latin author. Likewise, the account of the fall of Troy purportedly written by Dares Phrygius, a Trojan priest, is equally dubious. The ‘Latin ‘translation,’ purportedly based on a Greek original that predated Homer, is probably 5th century AD in date. These two works became the main source for accounts of the Trojan War in Medieval Europe, at a time when knowledge and access of Greek texts was waning.

Condition: Central vertical fold as issued. Minor time toning to margins.

[41366] £100

Myth as History

27. Navigatio Ulyssis secundum Homerum Moll, Herman Copper engraved with hand colour London: Printed for the Proprietor Carington Bowles, at his Map and Print Warehouse, No. 69, St Paul’s Church Yard. MDCCLXXXIV [1784] 153 x 224 mm A map of the ancient Mediterranean, from Bowles’ Geographia Classica, or the Geography of the Ancients, as contained in the Greek and Latin Classics. The map depicts the journeys of Odysseus, Roman Ulysses, following the conclusion of the Trojan War. The path of Odysseus and his men is marked in red, and principle events from Homer’s Odyssey are marked, including the Cicones, the Lotus-Eaters, the cape of Circe, the straits of Scylla and Charybdis, the Island of Calypso, the Phaeacians, and finally Odysseus’ home on the island of Ithaca in the Ionian Sea. The sea coasts of the various regions encountered by Odysseus in his ten year journey are outlined in hand colour.

28. Navigatio Ænææ secundum Virgilium Moll, Herman Copper engraved with hand colour London: Printed for the Proprietor Carington Bowles, at his Map and Print Warehouse, No. 69, St Paul’s Church Yard. MDCCLXXXIV [1784] 150 x 225 mm A map of the ancient Mediterranean, from Bowles’ Geographia Classica, or the Geography of the Ancients, as contained in the Greek and Latin Classics. The map depicts the journeys of Aeneas, hero of Virgil’s Aeneid, following the conclusion of the Trojan War. The path of Aeneas and his men is marked in red, and principle events from Virgil’s Aeneid are marked, including the Curetes in Crete, the Strophades off the coast of the Peloponnese, the straits of Scylla and Charybdis, the Cyclopes of Mount Etna, Dido in Carthage, and the end of their journey in Hesperia. The sea coasts of the various regions encountered by Aeneas in his journey are outlined in hand colour, as are mountain ranges, and the fiery peak of Etna.

Condition: Central vertical fold as issued. Minor time toning to margins.

[41367] £125

Condition: Central vertical fold as issued. Minor printers crease to right hand side of map.

[41368] £125

Myth as History

29. Navigatio Ænææ in Primo Libro Dionysii Halycarnassensis adnotata Moll, Herman Copper engraved with hand colour London: Printed for the Proprietor Carington Bowles, at his Map and Print Warehouse, No. 69, St Paul’s Church Yard. MDCCLXXXIV [1784] 150 x 223 mm A map of the ancient Mediterranean, from Bowles’ Geographia Classica, or the Geography of the Ancients, as contained in the Greek and Latin Classics. The map depicts the journeys of Aeneas, the Trojan hero, following the conclusion of the Trojan War, as recounted by the 1st century BC historian Dionysius of Halicarnassus.

The path of Aeneas and his men is marked in red, and differs in a number of important respects from the later, and much more famous, literary tradition established by Virgil in his Latin epic, the Aeneid.

In Dionysius’ version of the wanderings of the Trojan hero, his men bypass Crete, instead hugging the coast of the Peloponnese to reach the Ionian Sea, and sail directly from Sicily to the coast of Latium, skipping entirely his meeting the Phoenician Queen Dido in Carthage, a plot device used by Virgil to presage Rome’s great wars against this maritime superpower.

The sea coasts of the various regions encountered by Aeneas in his journey are outlined in hand colour, as are mountain ranges, and the fiery peak of Etna.

Dionysius of Halicarnassus (c.60-7 BC) was a Greek rhetorician, historian, and scholar, who flourished in the early years of the reign of Augustus. A prolific writer in Atticistic Greek, his most famous work was a twenty book history of Rome, the Roman Antiquities, which covered the period from Rome’s mythical foundation to the outbreak of the First Punic War. Condition: Central vertical fold as issued.

[41369] £125

The Greek World

30. Hellas sive Græcia, Imperiumque Cræsi ad Herodotum Moll, Herman Copper engraved with hand colour London: Printed for the Proprietor Carington Bowles, at his Map and Print Warehouse, No. 69, St Paul’s Church Yard. MDCCLXXXIV [1784] 195 x 306 mm A map of ancient Greece and Turkey, from Bowles’ Geographia Classica, or the Geography of the Ancients, as contained in the Greek and Latin Classics. The map depicts the ancient Greek city-states, as well as the Kingdom of Croesus, following the 5th century BC Greek historian Herodotus. Coasts and territories are outlined in hand colour, as are mountain ranges.

The map is very detailed, with an exhaustive range of towns, cities, regions, kingdoms, and countries marked.

Croesus was a King of Lydia in the sixth century BC, and by Herodotus time a century later, had come to be an almost mythic figure, emblematic of wealth and prosperity, but also pride and misfortune. In this, he was the perfect real-world example of the central Greek concept of hubris.

He was credited with the invention of coinage, held a famous discussion with the the Athenian sage Solon, and presented the oracle of Delphi with a number of votive offerings. His misunderstanding of a prophesy given by the latter, that he ‘would destroy a great empire,’ was proved correct by his disastrous attempt to wage war on the Persians. The victorious Persian king Cyrus annexed the kingdom of Lydia into his own dominions.

Herodotus (c.484-425 BC) was a Greek historian from the Ionian city of Halicarnassus, now Bodrum, in modern Turkey. His Histories, the first known work to approach a historical subject from a position of enquiry, earned him the title of ‘Father of History.’

The Histories sought to trace the origins of the 5th century BC Persian Wars, drawing upon Greek geographic and ethnographic knowledge of the Persian Condition: Horizontal and vertical folds as issued.

Minor foxing to folds.

[41370] £175

The Greek World

31. Grecia Antiqua secundum Cornelium Nepotem, Cellarium &c.

Moll, Herman Copper engraved with hand colour London: Printed for the Proprietor Carington Bowles, at his Map and Print Warehouse, No. 69, St Paul’s Church Yard. MDCCLXXXIV [1784] 182 x 234 mm A map of ancient Greece and Turkey, from Bowles’ Geographia Classica, or the Geography of the Ancients, as contained in the Greek and Latin Classics. The map depicts the ancient Greek city-states of mainland Greece, the Greek Islands, the Thracian and Epirote coasts, and Ionia. Regions are outlined in hand colour, as are mountain ranges and forests. The map’s main sources are given as Cornelius Nepos and Cellarius.

Cornelius Nepos (c.110-25 BC) was a Roman biographer from Cisalpine Gaul, and a friend of the poet Catullus, the orator Cicero, and the publisher Titus Pomponius Atticus.

Despite the majority of his work being now lost or fragmentary, he was one of the most popular and frequently cited Roman authors during the Renaissance and early Enlightenment.

Christoph Keller, often known simply as Cellarius, (22nd November 1638 - 4th June 1707) was a German author and academic of Weimar, most famous for his work on classical history and literature. His most lasting legacy was the standardising of the tripartite division of history into the Classical, Medieval, and Modern eras.

Condition: Central vertical fold as issued. Minor timetoning to edges of sheet.

[41371] £150

The Greek World

32. Expeditio Agesilai Ducis Spartani secundum Xenophontem Moll, Herman Copper engraved with hand colour London: Printed for the Proprietor Carington Bowles, at his Map and Print Warehouse, No. 69, St Paul’s Church Yard. MDCCLXXXIV [1784] 150 x 224 mm

33. Reditus decem Millium Græcorum, iuxta Xenophontem Moll, Herman Copper engraved with hand colour London: Printed for the Proprietor Carington Bowles, at his Map and Print Warehouse, No. 69, St Paul’s Church Yard. MDCCLXXXIV [1784] 150 x 224 mm

A map of ancient Greece and Turkey, from Bowles’ Geographia Classica, or the Geography of the Ancients, as contained in the Greek and Latin Classics. The map depicts the theatres of war for the campaigns of the Spartan King Agesilaus, as recounted in the biographical history of the king by his personal friend, the Athenian soldier and historian Xenophon. The map focusses on the ancient Greek city-states of mainland Greece, the Greek Islands, the Thracian and Epirote coasts, and Ionia. Regions are outlined in hand colour, as are mountain ranges and forests, while the cities of Athens and Ephesus are picked out in red.

A map of ancient Greece and Asia Minor, from Bowles’ Geographia Classica, or the Geography of the Ancients, as contained in the Greek and Latin Classics.

The map depicts the famous ‘March of the 10,000,’ as related by the Athenian soldier and historian Xenophon in his Anabasis. The coasts of modern-day Greece and Turkey are outlined in hand colour, as are mountain ranges, while the path of the Greeks on their journey is picked out in red.

Agesilaus II (c.444-360 BC) was a Eurypontid king of Sparta, and greatly admired in the ancient world for his civic and military virtue. Agesilaus came to the throne late in life, following the death of his brother Agis II. Agis’ son had been banished due to fears over his legitimacy. Although lame in one leg, Agesilaus was a capable soldier and commander, leading successful military engagements in Asia Minor against the Persians, and against fellow Greeks in the Corinthian War. Condition: Central vertical fold as issued. Minor timetoning and foxing to edges of sheet.

[41372] £75

The Anabasis recounts the journey undertaken by a force of Greek mercenaries to join the armies of the Persian prince Cyrus the Younger in his unsuccessful bid to overthrow his brother, the Great King Artaxerxes II. Xenophon was himself a participant.

When Cyrus was killed by a javelin during the Battle of Cunaxa, here labelled by Moll as ‘Connax,’ near Babylon in Mesopotamia, his Greek forces found themselves stranded in enemy territory and had to make their way past hostile tribes back to the Ionian coast and the safety of the Aegean Sea. As well as being a favourite of Medieval chroniclers, the Anabasis was also the inspiration for the cult novel ‘The Warriors’ and its 1979 film adaptation.

Condition: Central vertical fold as issued.

[41362] £100

Alexander and the Hellenistic World

34. Alexandri Magni Expeditio ex Q. Curtio, Arriano aliisq.

Moll, Herman Copper engraved with hand colour London: Printed for the Proprietor Carington Bowles, at his Map and Print Warehouse, No. 69, St Paul’s Church Yard. MDCCLXXXIV [1784] 154 x 224 mm

35. Regiones quas devicit Demetrius cognomine Poliorcetes Moll, Herman Copper engraved with hand colour London: Printed for the Proprietor Carington Bowles, at his Map and Print Warehouse, No. 69, St Paul’s Church Yard. MDCCLXXXIV [1784] 152 x 225 mm

A map of the ancient eastern Mediterranean and Near East, from Bowles’ Geographia Classica, or the Geography of the Ancients, as contained in the Greek and Latin Classics.

The map depicts the expedition of the armies of Alexander the Great, as described in the histories of Quintus Curtius Rufus, Arrian, and others. The path of the armies is marked in red, beginning in Macedonia and winding its way through Asia Minor, Egypt, Babylonia and Mesopotamia, Parthia, and the Indus Valley.

A map of the ancient eastern Mediterranean, from Bowles’ Geographia Classica, or the Geography of the Ancients, as contained in the Greek and Latin Classics. The map depicts the various theatres of war involving Demetrius the Besieger, son of Antigonus the OneEyed, general of Alexander the Great. Demetrius’ life, like that of his contemporaries, was one of almost constant conflict and political machination.

Sites of important battles are marked with small sword icons, and significant places, including Gordion, the oracle of Zeus Ammon, the plains of Gaugamela, and the death of Alexander’s horse Bucephalus, are labelled in italic. Mountain ranges and forests are picked out in hand colour. The borders and coasts of Europe, Asia, and Africa, are likewise outlined in hand colour, appropriate for Alexander, hailed as conqueror on three continents.

Condition: Central vertical fold as issued.

[41363] £125

The first member of the Antigonid dynasty to rule Macedonia, Demetrius’ military career involved conflicts in Syria, Cilicia, and Cyprus against Ptolemy, Babylonia and the Levantine Coast against Seleucus, Greece against Demetrius of Phalerum, and Phrygia against Cassander and Lysimachus. Despite being a relatively successful general, Demetrius is predominantly known for his abortive siege of the island of Rhodes. Demetrius seige-engines, many of which were of his own design, were abandoned, and the jubilant Rhodians used them in part to construct the massive bronze Colossus of Helios, one of the seven ancient wonders, as a thanks offering for their delivery from the siege.

Condition: Central vertical fold as issued.

[41364] £75

Alexander and the Hellenistic World

36. Acquisitiones Pyrrhi Epirotarum Regis sicut in Plutarcho Moll, Herman Copper engraved with hand colour London: Printed for the Proprietor Carington Bowles, at his Map and Print Warehouse, No. 69, St Paul’s Church Yard. MDCCLXXXIV [1784] 153 x 224 mm A map of the ancient Mediterranean, from Bowles’ Geographia Classica, or the Geography of the Ancients, as contained in the Greek and Latin Classics. The map depicts the theatres of war for the campaigns of the Hellenistic King Pyrrhus, as described in the Lives of Plutarch. Pyrrhus’ conquests, in Greece, Macedon, and Southern Italy, are marked in yellow, though the constant and shifting struggles of the Hellenistic era meant that he never held these regions simultaneously as a unified territory. The coasts and borders of Pyrrhus neighbours and enemies are likewise outlined in hand colour, as are mountain ranges.

Pyrrhus (319-272 BC) was a Hellenistic Greek general, statesman, and King of Molossia, Epirus, and Macedon. Aside from his various conflicts with other Hellenistic kings and generals, Pyrrhus was also a key agitator against the western Mediterranean’s two superpowers, Carthage and Rome. Against the former, he fomented rebellions in the Greek communities of Punic Sicily. Against the latter, he launched a series of successful, but increasingly draining, battles in Southern Italy. The heavy losses sustained during his successful campaigning in Lucania are the origin for the term ‘Pyrrhic victory.’

Condition: Central vertical fold as issued. Minor timetoning and foxing to edges of sheet.

[41373] £75

The Rise of Rome

37. Romani Imperii Primordia ut apud Florum Moll, Herman Copper engraved with hand colour London: Printed for the Proprietor Carington Bowles, at his Map and Print Warehouse, No. 69, St Paul’s Church Yard. MDCCLXXXIV [1784] 150 x 223 mm A map of ancient Italy, from Bowles’ Geographia Classica, or the Geography of the Ancients, as contained in the Greek and Latin Classics. The map depicts the regions of Latium and Campania, and parts of Etruria and Samnium, in Rome’s early history, following the work of the second century AD author, Florus. Coasts and lakes are outlined in hand colour, as are mountain ranges, forests, swamps and marshes, and the fiery cone of the volcano, Vesuvius. The principle cities of the region, Rome, Capua, and Neapolis (Naples), are picked out in red. The map also plots the traditional homelands of the various pre-Roman tribes, including the Sabines, Samnites, Marsi, Aurunci, Aequi, Umbri, and others.

Lucius Annaeus Florus (c. AD 74 -130) was a Roman compiler and historian. Little is known of his life, though tradition suggests he was born in Roman Africa. His most famous work was an Epitome of Roman history, largely based on the History of Titus Livy. Despite its numerous errors of chronology of geography, the book was a favourite of Medieval audiences, providing a succinct and lively account of Rome’s greatness, from its mythic origin to the reign of Augustus. In essence, the Epitome was a biography of the Roman World, describing it sequentially as infant, juvenile, and man.

Condition: Central vertical fold as issued. Minor time toning and staining to edges of sheet, not affecting plate.

[41379] £50

The Rise of Rome

38. Romanum Imperium Iuvenile Secundum L. Florum Moll, Herman Copper engraved with hand colour London: Printed for the Proprietor Carington Bowles, at his Map and Print Warehouse, No. 69, St Paul’s Church Yard. MDCCLXXXIV [1784] 152 x 224 mm A map of ancient Italy, from Bowles’ Geographia Classica, or the Geography of the Ancients, as contained in the Greek and Latin Classics. The map depicts, following Florus, the Roman world before the first Punic War, when Rome had annexed most of modern day Italy, but had not yet stretched to Sicily, Sardinia, Corsica, or north of the Arno river. Rome’s expansion to control the Italian peninsula was the result of almost three centuries of constant war, against the Latins, Samnites, Etruscans, and finally, the Hellenistic king, Pyrrhus of Epirus, who had temporarily held the Greek and Lucanian territories of Southern Italy. Coasts and borders are outlined in hand colour, as are mountain ranges and the fiery cone of Mount Etna on Sicily.

Rome itself is picked out in red.

Lucius Annaeus Florus (c. AD 74 -130) was a Roman compiler and historian. Little is known of his life, though tradition suggests he was born in Roman Africa. His most famous work was an Epitome of Roman history, largely based on the History of Titus Livy. Despite its numerous errors of chronology of geography, the book was a favourite of Medieval audiences, providing a succinct and lively account of Rome’s greatness, from its mythic origin to the reign of Augustus. In essence, the Epitome was a biography of the Roman World, describing it sequentially as infant, juvenile, and man.

Condition: Central vertical fold as issued.

[41380] £75

The Rise of Rome

39. Expeditio Hannibalis Pænorum Imperatoris, uti describitur in Livio & Cornelio Nepote Moll, Herman Copper engraved with hand colour London: Printed for the Proprietor Carington Bowles, at his Map and Print Warehouse, No. 69, St Paul’s Church Yard. MDCCLXXXIV [1784] 152 x 224 mm A map of the ancient western Mediterranean, from Bowles’ Geographia Classica, or the Geography of the Ancients, as contained in the Greek and Latin Classics. The map depicts the Roman and Carthaginian territories at the outbreak of the Second Punic War, as described by the Roman historians Livy and Cornelius Nepos.

Roman territories, including Sicily, Sardinia, and the ancient Catalonian coast captured in the First Punic War, are outlined in red. Carthaginian territory, at the time extending for the majority of the North African coast, the Balearic islands, and most of ancient Spain, is outlined in blue. Mountain ranges are also picked out in hand colour. The Second Punic War, while eventually ending in Roman victory, is chiefly remembered for the famous march of Hannibal across the Alps and into Italy itself.

Titus Livius, known simply as Livy, (64 BC - AD 17) was a Roman historian of Patavium, modern Padua.

His Ab Urbe Condita was a monumental historical work, which chronicled the development of Roman power, from the early mythic foundations of the city to the reign of Augustus. Livy’s early life coincided with the turmoil of the Roman Civil Wars and the fall of the Republic, and despite his Republican, and pro-Pompeian, leanings, he was tolerated and even patronised by Augustus. The length of Livy’s work meant that much only survives in Epitome, but Livy remained a constant source for Roman history in the Middle Ages, and experienced a dramatic resurgence in popularity during the Renaissance.

Cornelius Nepos (c.110-25 BC) was a Roman biographer from Cisalpine Gaul, and a friend of the poet Catullus, the orator Cicero, and the publisher Titus Pomponius Atticus. Despite the majority of his work being now lost or fragmentary, he was one of the most popular and frequently cited Roman authors during the Renaissance and early Enlightenment.

Condition: Central vertical fold as issued.

[41381] £100

Caesar and the Late Republic

40. Romanum Imperium sicut in Cæsaris Commentariis et Silio Italico Moll, Herman Copper engraved with hand colour London: Printed for the Proprietor Carington Bowles, at his Map and Print Warehouse, No. 69, St Paul’s Church Yard. MDCCLXXXIV [1784] 155 x 258 mm A map of the ancient Mediterranean, from Bowles’ Geographia Classica, or the Geography of the Ancients, as contained in the Greek and Latin Classics. The map depicts the Roman world during the Late Republic, following the commentaries of Julius Caesar, and the Punica of Silius Italicus. Coasts and borders are outlined in hand colour, as are mountain ranges. The map is heavily annotated with the Roman names of provinces, kingdoms, cities, tribes, and key battle sites.

Tiberius Catius Asconius Silius Italicus (c. AD 28-103) was a Roman orator and poet, who was consul in the final years of Nero’s reign, and a friend of Vitellius, one of the short-lived rulers in the infamous Year of the Four Emperors. Silius Italicus does not seem to have suffered from his friendship with Vitellius, serving the Flavians as proconsul of Asia in AD 77. The rest of his life was dedicated to a leisurely retirement, during which time he composed the Punica, an epic poem based upon Rome’s wars with Carthage.

Condition: Central vertical fold as issued.

[41382] £175

Caesar and the Late Republic

41. Gallia Vetus, ad Julii Cæsaris Commentarios Moll, Herman Copper engraved with hand colour London: Printed for the Proprietor Carington Bowles, at his Map and Print Warehouse, No. 69, St Paul’s Church Yard. MDCCLXXXIV [1784] 150 x 223 mm A map of ancient France, from Bowles’ Geographia Classica, or the Geography of the Ancients, as contained in the Greek and Latin Classics. The map depicts Roman Gaul, using the tripartite division made famous by Julius Caesar’s Bellum Gallicum, a commentary in eight books of his campaigns in Gaul during his proconsulship between 58 and 50 BC. The three regions of Gaul are outlined in hand colour, as are the neighbouring regions of Hispania, Britannia, and Cisalpine Gaul. Mountain ranges and forested areas are also picked out in hand colour. The map is heavily annotated, providing names for each region, tribe, and town featured in Caesar’s commentary. Moll has even provided a key for four towns of the Veneti tribe on the coast of modern-day Bretagne, which are discussed by Caesar, but not named.

Gaius Julius Caesar (100-44 BC) was born into a prominent but impoverished patrician family, which claimed descent from the goddess Venus, through the hero Aeneas. Well connected politically from an early age through his aunt’s marriage to Gaius Marius, the young Caesar established his reputation as an able military strategist, orator, and politician. His skills as a writer of the first rate are evident in his military commentaries.

The Gallic Wars, document his command against the Celtic tribes of France, Belgium, and Britain following his consulship in 59 BC. The Civil War outlines his movements following the crossing of the Rubicon in 49 BC, a move which labelled him and his troops as enemies of Rome. Following his success in the Civil Wars, Caesar was declared Dictator, a position he held until his assassination in a Senate meeting at the Theatre of Pompey, on the Ides of March, 44 BC. Condition: Central vertical fold as issued.

[41378] £75

Caesar and the Late Republic

42. Africa ex Bello Africano C. Julii Cæsaris Moll, Herman Copper engraved with hand colour London: Printed for the Proprietor Carington Bowles, at his Map and Print Warehouse, No. 69, St Paul’s Church Yard. MDCCLXXXIV [1784] 150 x 223 mm A map of the ancient North African coast, from Bowles’ Geographia Classica, or the Geography of the Ancients, as contained in the Greek and Latin Classics.

The map depicts the North Africa coast and its division into Roman provinces, following the African campaign of Julius Caesar. The provincial borders are outlined in hand colour, as are the ranges of the Atlas mountains that formed the natural border of Africa province. The Republican province of ‘Africa’ was relatively small, encompassing the territory immediately surrounding Carthage, and roughly equal to modern day Tunisia.

Until the imperial period, the province was essentially surrounded by the much larger province of Numidia, which occupied the entire Libyan coast from Cyrenaica, and stretched beyond the Carthaginian coast towards the Kingdom of Mauretania, modern day Algeria and Morocco.

Important cities, such as Cirta and Zama, are marked, as well as Utica, the scene of a Caesarian victory and the suicide of the Republican hero Cato. The top right corner of the plate features an inset map of Caesar’s Alexandrine campaign.

Condition: Central vertical fold as issued.

[41376] £50

43. Bætica sive Hispaniæ Pars Australis ut in Cæsare descripta de Bello Hispanico Moll, Herman Copper engraved with hand colour London: Printed for the Proprietor Carington Bowles, at his Map and Print Warehouse, No. 69, St Paul’s Church Yard. MDCCLXXXIV [1784] 150 x 224 mm A map of ancient southern Spain, from Bowles’ Geographia Classica, or the Geography of the Ancients, as contained in the Greek and Latin Classics. The map depicts the Roman province of Hispania Ulterior, largely consistent with modern day Andalusia, which was split in the Roman imperial period into two further provinces, Baetica and Lusitania. The borders of each are outlined in hand colour, as are the many mountain ranges in the region.

Principal cities are picked out in red, including Hispalis (Seville), Munda, site of the final battle in the Civil War, and Corduba (Cordoba), hometown of Seneca.

Also plotted are the towns of Italica, birthplace of the emperor Trajan, and Carmona, the Republican stronghold of Carmo. The map was intended to illustrate Julius Caesar’s Spanish campaign, a fastpaced bid to neutralise a general-less Pompeian army stationed there under the legates Petreius and Afranius.

Condition: Central vertical fold as issued.

[41377] £50

Caesar and the Late Republic

44. Typus Regionum per quas grassatum est bellum civile inter Pompeium et Cæsarem Moll, Herman Copper engraved with hand colour London: Printed for the Proprietor Carington Bowles, at his Map and Print Warehouse, No. 69, St Paul’s Church Yard. MDCCLXXXIV [1784] 154 x 257 mm A map of the ancient Mediterranean, from Bowles’ Geographia Classica, or the Geography of the Ancients, as contained in the Greek and Latin Classics. The map depicts the Roman world during the Late Republic, charting the advance of the Civil War between Julius Caesar and Pompey the Great. Coasts and borders are outlined in hand colour, as are mountain ranges, and the city of Rome is picked out in red. The map is heavily annotated with the Roman names of provinces, kingdoms, cities, tribes, and key battle sites.

Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus, usually referred to as Pompey the Great (106-48 BC), was a Roman general and statesman. His early military career, during the first Civil War between Marius and Sulla, was sanguinary, and earned him the nickname adulescens carnifex, the ‘teenage butcher.’

Following a number of extraordinary commands, against the Italian rebel Sertorius, the Cilician pirates, and King Mithridates of Pontus, he entered into a triumvirate with the plutocrat Marcus Crassus, and the younger Julius Caesar. Relationships between the three men deteriorated over the course of the next five years. Crassus was killed on a disastrous campaign in Parthia, and Pompey’s wife Julia, daughter of Caesar, died in childbirth in 54 BC. During Caesar’s Civil War, Pompey sided against his former colleague as the de facto leader of the Republican forces. After suffering defeat at the battle of Pharsalus, he fled to Egypt, where he was assassinated by the agents of King Ptolemy XIII, in an effort to ingratiate themselves with Caesar. When presented with Pompey’s head, Caesar supposedly wept at Pompey’s fate and executed the assassins.

Condition: Central vertical fold as issued. Minor foxing to centre fold, not affecting plate.

[41383] £175

Imperium Romanum

45. A Map of the Travels and Voyages of St. Paul.

Moll, Herman Copper engraved with hand colour London: Printed for the Proprietor Carington Bowles, at his Map and Print Warehouse, No. 69, St Paul’s Church Yard. MDCCLXXXIV [1784] 154 x 228 mm A map of the ancient Mediterranean, from Bowles’ Geographia Classica, or the Geography of the Ancients, as contained in the Greek and Latin Classics. The map depicts the journeys of St Paul, from the Holy Land to Rome.

The path of his travels is picked out in red, beginning in Jerusalem, passing Cyprus, the Mediterranean coast of Turkey, and Crete, pausing at Malta where he survived a shipwreck, and continuing through the Straits of Messina to Rome.

Coasts and Roman provincial borders, including the division of the various regions of ancient Turkey, are outlined in hand colour, as are mountain ranges. In the top right corner of the plate, an inset map of the Levantine coast shows the journeys of Jesus Christ, and the various places mentioned in the four Gospels.

Condition: Central vertical fold as issued.

[41388] £100

Imperium Romanum

46. Imperii Romani Iuxta Lucanum Typus Moll, Herman Copper engraved with hand colour London: Printed for the Proprietor Carington Bowles, at his Map and Print Warehouse, No. 69, St Paul’s Church Yard. MDCCLXXXIV [1784] 160 x 316 mm A map of the ancient Mediterranean, from Bowles’ Geographia Classica, or the Geography of the Ancients, as contained in the Greek and Latin Classics. The map depicts the Roman world at the time of the Civil War between Caesar and Pompey, following the Pharsalia of the epic-poet Lucan. Coasts and borders are outlined in hand colour, as are mountain ranges, and the cities of Rome and Babylon are picked out in red. The map is heavily annotated with the Roman names of provinces, kingdoms, cities, tribes, and key battle sites.

Marcus Annaeus Lucanus (AD 39-65) was born in Roman Spain to a wealthy equestrian family. His father’s brother was the famous Seneca the Younger, tutor to the emperor Nero. Lucan too was a member of the Neronian court, and, like his uncle, met his death as a result of the growing paranoia of the emperor. Lucan was a prolific writer, though most of his works are known only from fragments.

Even his most famous work, an epic poem about the Civil Wars of the Late Republic, is incomplete, probably a result of his suicide following his involvement in the failed conspiracy of Calpurnius Piso. The work, the Civil War, is known colloquially as the Pharsalia, and is constructed as a sort of antiAeneid, a lament for the death of the Republic. Its three main protagonists are the mercurial and amoral Caesar, the lethargic and insecure Pompey, and the noble and scrupulously moral Cato.

Condition: Central vertical fold as issued. Minor foxing to centre fold, not affecting plate.

[41384] £175

Imperium Romanum

47. Romanum Imperium ad Acmen evectum Moll, Herman Copper engraved with hand colour London: Printed for the Proprietor Carington Bowles, at his Map and Print Warehouse, No. 69, St Paul’s Church Yard. MDCCLXXXIV [1784] 204 x 316 mm A map of the ancient Mediterranean, from Bowles’ Geographia Classica, or the Geography of the Ancients, as contained in the Greek and Latin Classics. The map depicts the Roman world at its greatest extent, during the reign of the emperor Trajan. Coasts and provincial borders are outlined in hand colour, as are mountain ranges. The map is heavily annotated with the Roman names of provinces, kingdoms, cities, tribes, and key battle sites.

Trajan (b. 18th September AD 53) was Roman emperor from AD 98 until his death in AD 117.

Hailing from Italica in southern Spain, Trajan served as a military legate under the emperor Domitian, eventually being adopted by Domitian’s successor, the childless Nerva, in an attempt to gain popularity with the army.

An aggressive and capable military leader, Trajan expanded the empire to its greatest extent, annexing lands formerly controlled by the Parthians, Dacians, and Nabataeans. He was also an active civic leader, funding numerous building programs, and social welfare reforms. This combination of talents earned him the title of optimus princeps, the best leader, a reputation that continued into the Christian era, where he was considered as one of a select number of ‘virtuous pagans.’ Upon his death, he was succeeded by his adopted son, Hadrian.

Condition: Horizontal and vertical folds as issued.

[41385] £200

Imperium Romanum

48. Notitia Locorum apud Eusebii Historiam Ecclesiasticam Moll, Herman Copper engraved with hand colour London: Printed for the Proprietor Carington Bowles, at his Map and Print Warehouse, No. 69, St Paul’s Church Yard. MDCCLXXXIV [1784] 154 x 283 mm A map of the ancient Mediterranean, from Bowles’ Geographia Classica, or the Geography of the Ancients, as contained in the Greek and Latin Classics. The map shows the Roman Empire with particular reference to the Ecclesiastical History of the 4th century AD scholar, historian, and Christian polemicist, Eusebius. The greatest concentration of place names appear in the Eastern Mediterranean, in Asia Minor, the Levantine Coast, and Egypt, though bishoprics in the West are also labelled, including Carthage, Lyon, Arles, and Vienna. Sea coasts and provincial borders are outlined in hand colour, as are mountain ranges.

Eusebius (AD 260-340) was a Roman church historian of Greek descent, and bishop of Caesarea Maritima in Roman Palestine. Caesarea was, at the time of Eusebius, one of the key centres of Christian learning in the Mediterranean, having come to prominence under Origen a century earlier. Eusebius, as a contemporary of Diocletian, is also a key source for the persecutions and the lives of the early Christian martyrs.

Condition: Central vertical folds as issued. Minor time toning and creasing to margins.

[41365] £125

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