Ptolemy world map taken from the first printed edition of 1472 (the first book to have printed maps) and the famous Rome edition of 1508. The Ptolemy world map is a map of the known world to Hellenistic society in the 2nd century AD. It was based on the d
Ptolemy world map taken from the first printed edition of 1472 (the first book to have printed maps) and the famous Rome edition of 1508. The Ptolemy world map is a map of the known world to Hellenistic society in the 2nd century AD. It was based on the description contained in Ptolemy's book Geographia, written 150 AD. Although authentic maps have never been found, the Geographia contains thousands of references to various parts of the old world, with coordinates for most, which allowed cartographers to reconstruct Ptolemy's world view when the manuscript was re-discovered around 1300 AD. Perhaps the most significant contribution of Ptolemy and his maps is the first uses of longitudinal and latitudinal lines and the specifying of terrestrial locations by celestial observations. When his Geographia was translated from Greek into Arabic in the 9th century and subsequently into Latin in Western Europe at the beginning of the 15th century, the idea of a global coordinate system revolutionized medieval Islamic and European geographical thinking and put it upon a scientific and numerical basis. The map also includes the twelve winds designated by Aristotle. The twelve-wind system remained throughout the Middle Ages as the one most commonly used. In keeping with the mythologic origin of winds for direction finding, they are of necessity placed beyond the confines of the known world-beyond the earth itself, in an outer, celestial sphere.
Size: 4200px × 3012px
Photo credit: © Photo Researchers / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: -, 15th, 2nd, ages, ancient, antiquity, cartography, century, claudius, famous, geographia, geographic, geographical, geography, historic, historical, history, important, map, medieval, middle, myth, mythic, mythological, mythology, notable, ptolemaeus, ptolemy, system, topography, twelve, twelve-wind, wind, winds, world
