Erythraei Sive Rubri Maris Periplus.

An unusual and attractive 1658 map of the Indian Ocean, or Erythraean Sea, as it was in antiquity. Composed by Jan Jansson after a similar 1597 map published by A. Ortelius in his Parergon. Covers from Egypt and the Nile valley eastward past Arabia and India, to Southeast Asia and Java. Cartographically, India, Arabia, and Africa roughly correspond to the conventions of the period. Southeast Asia is less recognizable, but the Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, and Java are clearly noted. Most of the place names used throughout are derived from Ptolemy, who himself based his description of the region heavily on records from Alexander the Great's conquests. Two smaller maps in the upper left and right quadrants are of exceptional interest. The upper left chart shows northwestern Africa and is titled Annonis Periplus. This is a reference to the legendary expeditions of the Carthaginian King Hanno, said to have been the first to access the Indian Ocean by sailing around the southern tip of Africa. Incidentally, en route, he is also said to have been the first to tame a lion. The upper right chart shows the northern polar regions as they were perceived at the time. A landmass covering the polar

Date

1658

Place

India

Archive

Wikimedia Commons

Type

atlas page

Original size

5,000 × 4,194 pixels

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