Indi, Ariane, Aria & Cedrosis Et Sibi & Ceteris usui futuro Waltham Savery a Slade ex Clariffima Familia Dan monius incidi jussit

1711

Later hand-coloured copper engraving on paper

Without mount: 7.2 x 9.6 in (18.5 x 24.4 cm)
With mount: 13.9 x 16.2 in (35.5 x 41.2 cm)

This is a fascinating, small, uncommon map with a skillful representation of a simplified India from an edition of Pomponius Mela's first century geographical work, De Situ Orbis Libri Tres, published in 1711 by the Exeter scholar John Reynolds (1671–1758), with an elaborate and elegant cartouche dedicated to Waltham Savery of Slade.

Written in approximately 44 AD, Pomponius Mela's De Situ Orbis Libri Tres is the first known geographical work in Latin. Drawing on previous Greek and Roman sources, it was likely intended for a general readership and did not include any maps at first. Two of the five climatic zones that make up the earth's sphere are thought to be habitable. In a Pythagorean word, the livable area to the south is referred to as Antichthon, or "anti-world," however Mela seems unsure if it actually exists. Because of this, he instead discusses the parts of the northern livable region that he is aware of and finds most intriguing and significant.

Throughout the eighteenth century, the book was utilised for the study of Latin. It was released in numerous editions, and the 1711 Exeter edition created by John Reynolds was republished for more than a century by different publishers.

The map of the present lot is able to capture the spirit of the geographical aspects of the continent despite using a simple design approach. The lack of an excessive number of place names in the cartographic depiction reflects the geographer's intention to prioritise the broad strokes of geographical context above the finer points of comprehensive site-specific identification.

While only illustrating the regions known to the Roman geographer, the maps update in light of eighteenth-century ideas both the shapes of the continents and the basic elements of hydrography and relief, rendered with the so-called “molehill” technique.

While describing Asia Mela mentions "The chief peoples of Asia we find in the East: the Indians, Seres, and Scythians. The Seres inhabit nearly the middle portion of the eastern part; the Indians and Scythians, live in the extreme parts, both nations being widely extended not reaching along the shores of the Eastern Ocean only. For the Indians also face the South, and occupy the shore of the Indian Ocean for a long time with one tribe after another (except where extreme heat renders it uninhabitable). And the Scythians lie toward the North, and have possession of the Scythian sea-coast (except in those places whence they are driven away by the coldness) as far as the Caspian Sea. Next to India is Ariane, then Aria, Cedrosis, and Persia proper, on the Persian Gulf. Persian tribes live around this, and Arabians about the Gulf of Arabia. After them whatever remains in the direction of Africa belongs to the Aethiopians."

The notes along the coasts describe, in the precise words of the geographer, certain characteristics of their inhabitants: in the west they have dark skin (“atrae gentes”) and bring to mind the Ethiopians, in the east they are shy and rich with objects from the sea.

The title translates as follows:
Indus, Ariane, Aria & Cedros And Sibi & Others for the future use of Waltham Savery by Slade from the Clear Family of Dan

Pomponius Mela
Pomponius Mela was the earliest Roman geographer. He reached his zenith in 43 AD. He is believed to have passed away in 45 AD and was born in Tingentera, which is now Algeciras. During his lifetime and in the decades that followed his passing, his writings were widely distributed in manuscript. His most well-known work, De Situ Orbis Libri Tres, was printed in the sixteenth century. The De Situ Orbis is the first geographical book written in Classical Latin, with the possible exception of Pliny's Historia Naturalis, which heavily references Mela in its geographical part.

The topography of Mela is unique. He created five zones throughout the world. Of these, two were thought to be livable. Mela believed that the Caspian Sea was an entrance to the Northern Ocean, just like his peers did. This matched the southern Persian and Arabian (Red Sea) Gulfs. He had a better understanding of geography than the Greeks had for western Europe; this could have been related to Mela's status as a Spanish subject of Imperial Rome. Compared to Eratosthenes or Strabo, Mela's description of the Iberian Peninsula is more accurate. He also had a more accurate understanding of the location of the British Isles than his predecessors did. The Orkney Islands were first named by Mela, who also had a good sense of where they were. But Father North's knowledge stumbled a little. He believed that there was a sizable bay (the Codanus sinus) with many islands, including a larger mass he named Codanovia, to the north of Germany. Scandinavia is rendered Scandinavian in Latin under both titles, which resurface in Pliny the Elder's writings as Scatinavia and Codanovia. Mela also believed that there was a sizable landmass to the world's south.

Without a doubt, one of the most important writers on ancient geography was Mela. In Europe during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, Mela's work was actively taught and published alongside that of the Greek geographers Strabo and Ptolemy. Curiously, though, in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, maps of Ptolemy and Strabo were faithfully plotted in both manuscript and printed copies; by contrast, the maps bearing Mela's name tended not to include his geographical teachings. For instance, rather than following Mela's geography, the first printed edition of Mela's work with a map (1482) shows the world according to Ptolemy, with a closed Indian Ocean. Similar to this, Mela's geographical material is mostly ignored in the 1414 manuscript map of Pirrus de Noah.

This work will be shipped unframed

NON-EXPORTABLE

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