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NOTES SUR CHYPRES DANS LE PREMIER ATLAS MODERNE:“THEATRUM ORBIS TERRARUM” PAR ABRAHAMUS ORTELIUS
«NOTES ON CYPRUS IN THE FIRST MODERN ATLAS:“THEATRUM ORBIS TERRARUM” BY ABRAHAMUS ORTELIUS»
by Ioan Mircea
Source:Apulum (Apulum), issue: Vol. 37/2 / 2000, pages: 110, on www.ceeol.com.
ISTORIE - CULTURĂ
NOTES ON CYPRUS IN THE FIRST MODERN ATLAS: “THEATRUM ORBIS TERRARUM” BY ABRAHAMUS ORTELIUS
Acquiring knowledge of a certain region of the world is the privilege of study, of investigation but only the travelling can offer the identification with it.
The opportunity of travelling, of a direct contact with a very special place of the Hellenic world, due to its apparent isolation, Cyprus, stimulated us to know it as first, to prepare for the travel.
The fulfilment of this desideratum is facilitated by the existence of the Batthyaneum Library, an invaluable treasure of universal spirit, in our town, Alba Iulia.
By its impressive collection of manuscripts (1230 manuscripts, especially codices dating from the IXth century to the XVIIIth century), by its inestimable collection of incunabula (530 incunabula, the oldest dating from 1465), by the great number of books printed in the XVI-XVIII centuries, precious reference material for many fields (medicine, chemistry physics, mathematics, geography, astronomy, nature study, architecture, theology, philosophy, literature, history etc). by all these, the famous house of books, founded at the end of the XVIIIth century (1792-1798) by the roman-catholic Bishop of Transylvania, Ignatius Batthyany and established as a public institution, stands among the great libraries of Europe1.
A remarcable part of the vast and invaluable books treasure of the Batthyaneum Library is the work belonging to the well-known Flemish geographer and map-maker, Abrahamus Ortelius (1527-159)2, entitled Theatrum orbis terrarum3, the first modern book of maps which, first printed in Anvers, in 1570, had later on some more editions4.
Printed in Anvers, in 1595, the edition preserved in Alba Iulia is extremely valuable both for the content and for its shape.
The value of the content is due to the quality of last edition issued while Ortelius was still alive, a real author edition, revised, increased, reorganized.
Including a number of 115 maps compared to the 53 ones included in the first edition published in Anvers, in 1570, the edition of 1595 is obviously the vastest.
The edition of 1595 stands out, at the same time, by a new structural configuration materialized in the following facts:
1 - the atlas proper, entitled Theatrum orbis terrarum , which includes a number of 115 maps (each map is numbered with an Arabic figure from the series 1-115
1 Biblioteca Batthyaneum din Alba Iulia, Bucureşti, 1957, p. 1-37. 2 Albert Flocon, Universul cărţilor. Studiu istoric de la origini până la sfârşitul secolului al XVIII-lea,
Bucureşti, 1976, p. 279; Dicţionar cronologic al ştiinţei şi tehniciii universale, Bucureşti, 1979, p.282. 3 The pressmark of Abrahamus Ortelius’book of maps is L2I1. 4 Jacques – Charles Brunet, Manuel du librarie et de l’amateur de livres, Paris, 1921, IV, p. 242.
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Ioan Mircea 2
accordingly and provides in addition a comment containing elements of contemporary physical, economical and political geography) and an index which notifies the names of 183 geographers of that time, used in order to elaborate the work.
2 - an appendix entitled Parergon sive veteris geographiae aliquot tabu1ae (mentioned later only Parergon) in the author's opinion a real historical atlas made of 32 plates marked with the series of capital letters A - Z and that of small, ones a - i, each plate having a comment inspired from the ancient Greek and Latin authors.
3 - Nomenclator Ptolemaicus, totalizing 30 pages, included in the edition of 1595 in order to supply Synonymia geographica wich was present in the previous editions as part of the atlas, but this time being out of it, because, as a result of its encreasting from one edition to another, it became in the end an independent work entitled Thesaurus geographicus (a real dictionnary of the ancient world, which, besides, would be printed the next year, in 1596, in Anvers, in the printing office founded by Christophe Plantin)5. Based on the Greek geographer's work, Ptolemaeus, this “nomenclator” is conceived by Ortelius as a concise geographical dictionary of the antiquity.
The edition of 1595 of Ortelius` atlas distinguishes itself not only in the content but also in its appearance due to the printing in the famous printing office founded in Anvers by the man of Tours, later a Flemish, Chrisitophe Plantin (1520- 1589) who, by the technical and esthetic care given to his printings, succeeded in turning skill into art, actually in honouring his printing emblem (a pair of compasses and the motto “labore et constantia”), precision, work and perseverence being the sacred trinity of his profession. Jan Moretus, his successor as chief of the printing house since 1589, would keep its prestige and perpetuate Plantin's notable feat, that was to give a perfect shape to book.
Outcoming from Plantin’s printing office in Anvers, the edition of 1595 of Abrahamus Ortelius’ work, Theatrum orbis terrarum, is an “in folio” book which comprises all the characteristics of the printing art inaugurated by Christophe Plantin: the title engraved in an emblem type, author portrait in the frontispiece, illustrations often engraved in copper6.
Inside this important and valuable geographic work, the Cyprus island is present both in the at1as, strictly speaking, and in the two complementary appendices, Prergon and Nomenclator Ptolemaicus.
Since the maps dedicated to Cyprus, both the one showing its XVIth century configuration (Theatrum orbis terrarum -90)* and the one reproducing its aspect in antiquity (Parergon - X** ). are going to illustrate this study (see the 1ist of plates) and the comments accompanying these maps, as well as the information about Cyprus registered in Nomenclator Ptolemaicus, they will be entirely reproduced in appendixes (the Ist appendix comment upon the map in Theatrum orbis terrarum; the IInd appendix -comment upon the map in Parergon; the IIIrd appendix - the fragment dedicated to Cyprus in Nomenclator Ptolemaicus) we are only going to present them briefly.
Unlike the maps of the world in Middle Age which were drawn according to the
5 Ibidem. 6 Albert Flocon, op.cit., note 2, p. 277-284. * The figure represents the number given to the Cyprus map in Theatrum orbis terrarum. ** The capital X represents the place confered to the Cyprus map in Parergon as a result of noting the
maps by the whole series or letters of the Latin alphabet.
Notes on Cyprus in the first modern atlas: “Theatrum orbis terrarum” 3
representation of the theocentrical symbolism, unlike the "portulans" of the XVth century, limited to the coastal navigation and to the description of the port surroundings7, the map of the Cyprus island, registered in Ortelius’ atlas at number 90, is expressive for the progress made in cartography in the second ha1f of the XVIth century, thus imposing an image made up under the sign of scientific rigorism.
Synthesizing the information provided by the Greek and Latin authors (Diodorus Siculus, Strabo, Pomponius Mela, Ammianus Marcellinus and Sextus Rufus) referring to the past of the island but especially the information offered by the authors of the XVth and XVIth centuries(Benedictus Bordonius, Vadianus, Pope Pius the IInd, Dominicus Niger, Sabellicus, Volaterranus, Iacobus Zieglerus and Stephanus Lusignanus) through the comment which accompanies the map, Ortelius completes the picture of the island with socio-economical and political aspects.
According to his relating, Cyprus is one of the larger islands in the Mediterranean Sea as it is 427,000 feet round. Nicosie, the capital, and Famagusta, a famous harbour, are the main towns. The island is under the authority of Venice and it is ruled by a governor.
A major wine and oil producer, Cyprus provides the necessary cerea1s, distinguishing itself, at the same time, by vast sugarcane plantantions meant to important sugar crops.
In the past, the island was also famous for its copper mines. It intensively exports native products and need very few foreign goods. Concerning the morals and manuers it is noticed that, even since antiquity, the native people, especially the women, were famous for their tendency towards love pleasures.
If the map and the suitable comment in Theatrum orbis terrarum point out the configuration of the island about the end of the XVIth century, the map included in Parergon and its comment place Cyprus in another period, that of antiquity.
Thanks both to the map proper which reveals a vast documentation from the classical Greek and Latin authors (Herodotus, Strabo, Hyginus, Plinus Secundus, Mela, Florus, Dio Cassius, Aelianus Claudius, Athenaios of Naucratis, Antigonus of Carystos, Ammianus Marcellinus, Sextus Rufus and Eustathios) and a drawing-up based on scientific cartographic principles, and a1so to the comment which accompanies it in order to supply the aspects that couldn't be graphically rendered, Abrahamus Ortelius succeeded in reconstituing the image of the ancient Cyprus, presenting elements of physical, socio - economic and political geography.
Placed the sixth in size among the islands of the Mediterranean Sea, Cyprus is well-known in antiquity, too, for its wealth materialized in vast woods, fertile grazing fields metals (especially copper and silver), precious stones, resins, oils and perfumes. The riches of the island rouse the strangers' either greediness or neediness. Therefore, the native kingdoms are conquered by the Egyptian Pharaohs at the beginning and finally by the Romans.
The island is famous not only for its riches but also for the inhabitants' charm, particulary for the native women's one. Their grace during the pleasures of love imposes Cyprus to antiquity also as "insula laeta choris, blandorum et mater amorum".
7 Idem, p. 285.
Ioan Mircea 4
The last appendix of the atlas, entitled Nomenclator Ptolemaicus completes the picture of the ancient Cyprus with details on the territories, the promontories, the mountains, the rivers and the towns of the island, all these synthesized from the Ptolemaecus' work. The notification of Cyprus in this remarcable book, a geographical and equally typographical work, indicates the fact that the island always preserved both the importance offered by its quality of large island of the Mediterranean Seat, lying at the crossing of two different worlds, the East and the West, and also its charm due to the wonderful native people.
IOAN MIRCEA
APPENDIX I
C Y P R U S
Cyprus inter maiores maris Mediterranei insulas locum sibi vendicat. Tota insulae figura parte altera longior est. Huius metropolis et regia est Nicosia. Est et Famagosta,. urbs nobilissima et totius insulae emporium, portu et vectigalibus dives. Nulla insularum est inferior; nam et vino abundat, et oleo; frumenti quoq<ue>satis habet. Aeris etiam metalla in ea fuerunt, in quibus vitriolum et rubigo aeris nascebatur, ad medicin<a>e usum idonea. Canna mellis multa in ea reperitur, ex qua saccarum excoquitur. Vini etiam, quod cum Cretico certare posset, est ferax. Ex pi1is quoque caprarum, pannus conficitur, cui Zambelloto nostra aetas nomen dedit. Multas res insula ad alias gentes mittit, ex quibus lucra non pauca redundant. Alienis non multum eget, sed aerem parum salubrem habet. Tota insula deliciis incumbit; feminae admodum lascivae sunt. Tam eximiae fertilitatis est, ut olim Macaria, id est, beata dicta sit et tantopere luxuriae dedita, ut ob id Veneri sacra credita sit.
Habet insula in circuitu quadringenta et viginti septem millia passuum, in longitudine vero ducenta, Bordonio teste. Veneti eam iure haerditario possident eamque per praetorem administrant. Diodorus Siculus lib<ro> 16 <to> scribit, in hac insula novem urbes insigniores fuisse habuisseque singulas singulos reges, quibus parebant ; qui tamen omnes regi Persarum audientes erant. Minora oppida quaeque suis regibus obsequium praebebant.
Sed ut huius insulae fertilitas magis elucescat, Am<miani> Marcellini de ea elogium adicere iuvat. Is emim in eius descriptione h<a> ec refert: Tanta tamque multiplici ferti1itate abundat rerum omnium Cyprus, ut nullius externi indigens adminiculi, indigenis viribus, a fundamento ipso carinae ad supremos usq<ue> carbasos aedificet onerariam navem, omnibusq<ue> armamentis instructam, mari committat.
Sex<tus> Rufus item de ea haec habet: Cyprus famosa divitiis, paupertatem populi Romani ut occuparetur sollcitavit, ita ut ius eius insulae avarius magis quam iustius simus assecuti. Sed hoc, o Rufe, non est Romanae virtutis praeconium mercenarium, ut dicitur.
Ex veteribus eam scriptis suis celebrarunt Strabo, Mela et ceteri geographi. Ex neotericis Benedictus Bordonius in suo opere insulari. Vadianus, Pius II, pontifex,
Notes on Cyprus in the first modern atlas: “Theatrum orbis terrarum” 5
Dominicus Niger, Sabellicus, Volaterranus et optime Iacobus Zieglerus. Peculiari etiam volumine nuper Stephanus Lusignanus sed, Gallico sermone.
APPENDIX II
C Y P R U S
Syriae hanc insulam aliquando annexam fuisse, tradit Plinus atq<ue> denuo continenti iunctum iri edidit oraculum, teste Strabone. Inter insulas maris Mediterranei, aliqua magnitudine insignes, sextum obtinet locum. Formam eius velleri ovino comparari, auctor Eustathius. Scuto Gallico, Hyginus. Altera parte longiorem esse, apud Strabonem legitur, qui addit nulli insulae cedere praestantia. Novem olim reges in ea sedem habuisse, testantur Plinius et Mela. Amasim regem primum fuisse mortalium, inquit Herodotus, qui eam ceperit tributariamque fecerit.
Tota quondam arboribus adeo occupata fuit, ut agri eius coli minime possent, quarum magnam partem qamvis aere argentoque (est enim insula admodum metallifera) conflando navibusque fabricandis consumsissent, neque sic tamen silvarum luxuriem evincere posse viderent. Liberum fecere, ut arbores qui vellent ac possent excinderent et quod quisque agri extirpatis silvis purgasset, id tamquam proprium, immune possideret.
Agri eius fertilitatem Aelianus prodit, cum scribat cervos ex Syria in hanc insulam ad bonam pastionem transnatare. Multiplicem eius rerum abundantia<m>, Ammiani verba lib<ro> 14<to> satis declarant, quum tradat eam nullius externi indigentem adminiculi, indigenis viribus, a fundamento ipso carinae ad supremos usque carbasos, aedificare onerariam navem omnibusque armamentis instructam mari committere. Opulentiam eius indicant haec Sex<ti> Rufi verba: “Cyprus famosa divitiis paupertatem populi Romani ut occuparetur solicitavit, ita ut ius eius insulae avarius magis quam iustius simus assequuti”. Florus scribit huius captae insulae opes Romani populi aerarium latius implevisse, quam ullus alius triumphus. Carystius lapis reperitur hic, auctore Antigono et Plinio auctore, adamas, smaragdus, opalus, crystallus et cos, quem naxium vocant. Huius insulae resinam antecedere alias omnes idem inquit. Eius olea et unguenta in deliciis, ceram et arundinem in medicinis valde commendat. Eximias eius columbas celebrat Athenaeus.
Deam Venerem hic primum ex mari egressam, credidit antiquitas, in cuius fortasse honorem vel memoriam Cypriorum mu1ieres cuiusvis libidini se prostituere, idem affirmat. Iudaeis quare in Cyprum venire non liceat, vide historia<m> apud Dionem, in Hadriano.
Eius varia nomina apud auctores sunt haec: Acamantis, Aerosa. Amathusa, Aspelia, Cerastis, Citida, Colinia, Cryptus, Macaria, Meionis, Spechia, de quo in nostro Thesauro. De Cypriis multa apud Herodotum. Sunt et tres Cypriae insulae, sic dictae, circa hanc insulam, ut docet Plinius.
Ioan Mircea 6
APPENDIX III
C Y P R U S
REGIONES URBES
Salaminia Paphos nova Paphia Paphos vetus Amathusia Curium
PROMONTORIA Amathus Acamas Citium Zephyrium Ammochostus Drepanum Salamis Phrurium Cauda bovis Curias Clides extrema Dades Carpasia Throni Achaeroum littus Elaea Aphrodisium Crommyum Macaria
FLUMINA Ceronia Lycus Lapithus Tetius Soli Pedaeus Callinusa extremum Lapithus Arsinoe
MONS Chytrus Olympus Trimethus
INSULAE Tamassus Clides Carpasorum
NOTES SUR CHYPRES DANS LE PREMIER ATLAS MODERNE:
“THEATRUM ORBIS TERRARUM” PAR ABRAHAMUS ORTELIUS
(RÉSUMÉ)
La possibilité d’effectuer un voyage en Chypre a déterminée notre essai de connaître, au préalable, ce fascinant pays, de faire de recherches sur les ouvrages qui facilitent cette démarche initiatique.
La présence dans l’inestimable trésor de livres de la Bibliothèque Batthyaneum d’Alba Iulia du premier atlas moderne, intitulé Theatrum orbis terrarum, l’œuvre de fameux géographe et cartographe flamand, Abrahamus Ortelius (1527-1598), imprimée en 1595, dans la renommée imprimerie d’Anvers, fondée par Christophe Plantin (1528-1589), a offert la possibilité d’entreprendre, simultanément, un itinéraire spirituel cypriote et un bref voyage dans le monde du livre et de l’impression.
Notes on Cyprus in the first modern atlas: “Theatrum orbis terrarum” 7
Plate I - Abrahamus Ortelius (frontispiece from Ortelius' book of maps, entitled Theatrum orbis terraum, Anvers, 1595
Ioan Mircea 8
Plate II- “Theatrum orbis terrarum
”: tit1e - page.
Plate III-“ Theatrum orbis terrarum
”: map of C
yprus.
Notes on Cyprus in the first modern atlas: “Theatrum orbis terrarum” 9
Plat
e IV
- “P
arer
gon
sive
vete
ris g
eogr
aphi
ae
aliq
uot t
abul
ae”
(The
firs
t app
endi
x of
“Th
eatru
m
orbi
s ter
raru
m”)
: titl
e - p
age
.
Plat
e V-
“Pa
rerg
on”:
map
of a
ncie
nt C
ypru
s.
Ioan Mircea 10
Plate VI - “Nom
enclator Ptolemaicus” (The
second appendix of “Theatrum orbis terrarum
”): title – page.
Plate VII – “Nom
enclator Ptolomaicus”:
the descrption of Chyprus
