Claudius Ptolemy was a mathematician, astronomer and geographer who worked in Alexandria, then a part of the Roman Empire, in the 2nd century AD. One of the most learned and influential men of his time, his theories dominated both astronomy and geography for nearly 1500 years. His writings were kept alive by Arabic scholars during the Middle Ages and reemerged in Europe during the Renaissance. The birth of printing led to wide dissemination of his great works on astronomy and geography. There were a number of editions of his Geographia beginning in 1477. These early editions contained maps based on his original writings, known as Ptolemaic maps. As geographic knowledge increased with the explorations of Columbus, Magellan, Cabot and others, maps of the New World were added, and maps of the Old World were revised. Ptolemy's Geographia continued to be revised and published by some of the most important cartographers including Martin Waldseemuller, Sebastian Munster, Giacomo Gastaldi, Jodocus Hondius, and Gerard Mercator (whose last edition was published in 1730).

Ptolemaic map of the Arabian Peninsula based on the 1548 map of Giacomo Gastaldi. It covers nearly all of the peninsula, but does not include the heads of the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea. The coastlines are more accurate than earlier Ptolemaic maps although the southern part of the peninsula is still too wide. A large spurious lake (Stag lago) is shown in the southern region. Major towns are named, although not accurately located, and the rivers are entirely imaginary. This is from the first plate, which was engraved with two map on the same plate - as evidenced by the lack of a plate mark in the upper margin. Latin text on verso.

References: Mickwitz & Miekkavaara #218-50; Tibbetts #27.

Condition: A

On a clean sheet of watermarked paper. The impression is slightly weak at top left, otherwise fine.