Tabula Asiae X

n.d but circa 1570s

Original hand-coloured woodcut on paper

Without mount: 7.4 x 10.4 in (19 x 26.5 cm)
With mount: 13.9 x 17 in (35.5 x 43.2 cm)

This is a rare Ptolemaic map of India from circa 1570s, published for Girolamo Ruscelli's Italian version of the Geografia di Tolomeo. Cartographically, Ruscelli based this map on Bernard Sylvanus and Sebastian Munster's interpretations of Claudius Ptolemy's Geographica. The map includes the areas between the Indus River valley and the Ganges, as well as the Himalayas.

Though rather difficult to interpret at first look, this map matches to numerous genuine sites and reveals some of its mysteries upon closer inspection. The Indus Valley may be seen to the west, and the Ganges River Valley to the east. The Himalayas dominate the northern portion of the map, while the Indian Ocean (Mare Indicum) and the island city of Talacori - an old Ptolemaic allusion to Ceylon's northern point - may be found on the southern extension. The Indian subcontinent is scarcely visible.

The odd peninsula between the Sinus Colcicus and Sinus Agaricus that divides the key ancient world marine commercial ports of Colchi and Aruarni can only be an early mapping of Rama's Bridge (Adam's Bridge), the limestone ridge between India and Ceylon. The major city further east, in the Sinus Gangeticus or Bay of Bengal, is Sipara, an early name for modern-day Narsapur. The inside is really perplexing. Some people identified Adisathra with the modern-day city of Chattisgarh. The Western Ghats are potentially the Orudij Montes, also known as the Oroudian Mountains. However, this is questionable, and despite the fact that volumes have been published on the subject of Ptolemaic India, particularly in the nineteenth century, no clear agreement has been developed.

An excellent, collectible, early map required for any serious collection focusing on India's cartographic rise on European maps. Published in Girolamo Ruscelli's Italian edition of the Geografia di Tolomeo.

Claudius Ptolemy (83 - 161 AD)
He is regarded as the founder of mapping. Ptolemy, an Alexandrian who lived at the height of the Roman Empire, was a famous student of astronomy and geography. His astronomical work, as published in his Almagest, had a significant effect on western thought until Isaac Newton. His cartographic effect is still felt today. Ptolemy was the first to use projection methods and create an atlas, the Geographiae. Ptolemy based his geographical and historical information on Strabo's Geographica, Marinus of Tyre's cartographic resources, and current tales supplied by the various traders and navigators travelling through Alexandria. Ptolemy's Geographiae was a pioneering achievement well ahead of any known pre-existing mapping, not because of its data correctness, but because of his approach. His projection of a conic piece of the globe on a grid, as well as his painstaking tabulation of known cities and geographical characteristics of his world, enabled researchers to create a mathematical model of the earth's surface for the first time. Ptolemy's work laid the groundwork for all subsequent mapmaking. His inaccuracies in estimating the extent of the globe (which were more than 20% off) led to Columbus' fatal expedition to India in 1492.

The text of Ptolemy was lost to Western Europe throughout the Middle Ages, but it survived in the Arab world and was transmitted down to the Greek world. Although maps were very definitely not included in the original text, the guidelines in Ptolemy's Geographiae enabled for the creation of such maps. When vellum and paper books were accessible, Ptolemy manuscripts began to contain maps. The earliest known manuscript the Geographia date from the fourteenth century; of Ptolemy’s works that have survived to the present day are based on manuscript editions produced in the mid 15th century by Donnus Nicolaus Germanus, who provided the basis for all but one of the printed 15th-century editions of the work.

Girolamo Ruscelli (1500 - 1566)
He was an Italian polymath, humanist, editor, and cartographer who lived in the early 16th century. Ruscelli was born in Viterbo and lived in Aquileia, Padua, Rome, and Naples before relocating to Venice, where he spent the most of his life. Ruscelli is most known in cartography for his modification of Ptolemy's Geographia, which was published posthumously in 1574. Basghis work on Gastaldi's 1548 extension of Ptolemy led to Ruscelli's addition of 37 new "Ptolemaic" maps to his Italian version of the Geographia. Ruscelli is also credited with editing key works such as Boccaccio's Decameron, Petrarch's poetry, Ariosto's Orlando Furioso, and others. Many researchers identify Ruscelli with Alexius Pedemontanus, author of the famous De' Secreti del R. D. Alessio Piemontese, in addition to his well-known cartography work.

This well-known publication, sometimes known as the "Book of Secrets," was a collection of scientific and quasi-scientific medicinal recipes, domestic advice, and technical commentary on a variety of themes such as metallurgy, alchemy, dyeing, and perfume creation. As Alexius, Ruscelli established the "Academy of Secrets", a gathering of noblemen and humanists committed to uncovering "forbidden" scientific knowledge. This was the earliest known experimental scientific organisation, and it was afterwards replicated by a number of other organisations around Europe, notably the Naples Accademia degli Secreti.

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