1552 Munster Leaf: Asia Minor Ionia Lydia Earthquake

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1552 Description of Asia Minor from "Cosmographia" by Sebastian Münster
Ionia, Ephesus, Lydia, Mysia, Pergamon, Caria
Two woodcut pictures

Single authentic woodcut leaf from "Cosmographia" by Sebastian Münster. Latin edition; Basel printing house of Sebastian Heinrich-Petri 1552. Book V ("De terris Asiae minoris"), pages 983/4.

Sebastian Münster (1488-1552) was a German cartographer, cosmographer, and Hebrew scholar whose Cosmographia (1544; "Cosmography") was the earliest German description of the world and a major work - after the Nuremberg Chronicle of 1493 - in the revival of geographic thought in 16th-century Europe. Altogether, about 40 editions of the Cosmographia appeared during 1544-1628. Although other cosmographies predate Münster's, he is given first place in historical discussions of this sort of publication, and was a major influence on his subject for over 200 years.

In nearly all works about Münster, his Cosmographia is given pride of place. Despite this, we still lack a detailed survey of its contents from edition to edition, during the years 1544 to 1628, and an account of its influence on a wide range of scientific disciplines. Münster obtained the material for his book in three ways. He used all available literary sources. He tried to obtain original manuscript material for description of the countryside and of villages and towns. Finally, he obtained further material on his travels (primarily in south-west Germany, Switzerland, and Alsace). Cosmographia contained not only the latest maps and views of many well-known cities, but included an encyclopaedic amount of detail about the known - and unknown - world and undoubtedly must have been one of the most widely read books of its time. Aside from the well-known maps and views present in the Cosmographia (including the first separate printed map of the Western Hemisphere), the text is thickly sprinkled with vigorous woodcuts: portraits of kings and princes, costumes and occupations, habits and customs, flora and fauna, monsters and horrors. Münster divided his material into six books. Book I is a useful summary of astronomical-mathematical and physical geography. Book II deals with England, Spain, France, and Italy. Book III deals with Germany and surrounding lands. Book IV embraces northern, eastern, and south-eastern Europe. Books V (Asia and America) and VI (Africa) are of modest proportions.

This authentic leaf from the early Latin edition of Cosmographia is devoted to Asia Minor (Anatolia): Phrygia, Ionia, Lydia, Mysia, and Caria. Page 983 (top) describes Phrygia, ancient district in west-central Anatolia. Münster writes about Tantalus, an extremely wealthy king of Phrygia who enjoyed the friendship of the Gods, and about Pelops, his son. Thereafter follows desciption of Ionia, an ancient region comprising the central sector of the western coast of Anatolia. Ionia was bounded by the regions of Aeolis on the north and Caria on the south and included the adjacent islands. Münster writes about Ephesus - the most important Greek city in Ionian Asia Minor. The Temple of Artemis, or Diana, to which Ephesus owed much of its fame and which seems to mark the site of the classical Greek city, was probably on the seaboard when it was founded (about 600 BC, one mile east by northeast of Pion.

Pages 984 (bottom) and 985 (top) deal with Lydia (or Maeonia), an ancient land of western Anatolia, extending east from the Aegean Sea and occupying the valleys of the Hermus and Cayster rivers. The kingdom reached its zenith under Alyattes (c. 619-560), who parried a Median threat, pushed back the Cimmerians, and extended his rule in Ionia. The kingdom seemed destined to reach even greater heights under Alyattes' son, the wealthy Croesus, when the Persians under Cyrus brought the Lydian monarchy to a final and dramatic end (c. 546-540). Münster describes the Meander river and writes about the city of Sardis (Sipylus or Tantalus, Tatalis). In 17AD, a serious earthquake caused a catastrophe (Pliny is cited as saying that it was the greatest disaster in human memory).

The remaining part of the leaf talks about Mysia and Caria. Mysia was an ancient district in northwest Anatolia adjoining the Sea of Marmara on the north and the Aegean Sea on the west. A vague inland perimeter was bounded by the districts of Lydia on the south and Phrygia and Bithynia on the east. Homer mentioned the Mysians (for whom the region was named) as primitive allies of the Trojans, but historically there is no record of their action as an independent nation. Mysia was ruled successively by Lydia, Persia, and Pergamum, after which it was incorporated into the Roman province of Asia (129 BC). Münstermentions Pergamum (Pergamon) - ancient Greek city in Mysia, situated 16 miles from the Aegean Sea. Caria was an ancient district of southwestern Anatolia. One of the most thoroughly Hellenized districts, its territory included Greek cities along its Aegean shore and a mountainous interior bounded by Lydia in the north and by Phrygia and Lycia in the east.

The leaf contains two woodcut pictures:

1. Temple of Diana in Ephesus. The great temple was built by Croesus, king of Lydia, in about 550 BC and was rebuilt after being burned by a madman named Herostratus in 356 BC. The Artemesium was famous not only for its great size (over 350 by 180 feet) but also for the magnificent works of art that adorned it. The temple was destroyed by invading Goths in AD 262 and was never rebuilt.
2. An earthquake in Lydia

The leaf measures 8.25 x 12.25 inches. Printed on laid paper. Wide margins suitable for framing. The leaf is in good condition. Imperfections: minor soiling; one faint diagonal fold; some handling in the lower margins, including three small tears (far from the printed area; can be covered or trimmed). This is an exceptionally interesting historical document which will look great with a mat and frame.

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