Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Cartographic Pics




From: A Geographical Rendering of Judaea, or the Land of Israel, in Which the Positions of the Most Famous Places in the Old and New Testament are Precisely Depicted a hand-colored copperplate map of the Holy Land, featuring notable cities from the Bible, appeared in Le theatre du monde ou nouvel atlas (Theater of the world, or new atlas), a work by Jan Jansson (1588-1664) that was published in Amsterdam circa 1658. It depicts the kingdoms of Judea and Israel, along with territory stretching north to present-day Beirut and land on both sides of the Jordan River as far south as the Dead Sea. It also includes a key to major cities, priestly towns, and towns belonging to the Philistines. The map is an exact copy of the “Typus chorographicus” of Abraham Ortelius (1527-98), which was adapted from a map by the German cartographer, geographer, and mathematician Tilemann Stella (circa 1525-89). This map was first published by Jansson in 1652 in his Accuratissima orbis antiqui delineation (Atlas of the ancient world).

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From: Palestine, Tribes, and Jerusalem by Jean Baptiste Bourguignon d’Anville (1697-1782), published 1783. D'Anville was one of the most important French geographers of the 18th century. He worked during the reigns of Louis XV and Louis XVI. D’Anville’s approach to geography was geometric; he believed that man’s presence was worthy of acknowledgement only insofar as it helped the cartographer to establish the boundaries of a place. He focused on fidelity to what was documented about the territory in question using knowledge gleaned from travel journals, historical accounts, old maps, poems, and more. D’Anville was especially passionate about mapping ancient civilizations. This map of Palestine was part of his attempt to re-map the lands of the Old Testament. It displays insets of the city of Jerusalem, the territories of the Twelve Tribes of Israel, and the locations of the region’s cities in relation to each other.

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