1552 Munster Leaf Turkey Cilicia Lycia St.Paul Taurus

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1552 Description of Asia Minor from "Cosmographia" by Sebastian Münster
Caria, Lycia, Pamphylia, Lycaonia, Cilicia
One woodcut picture

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 985/6.

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. 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.

Click here for more information about Münster and Cosmographia, including the content and list of editions and artists

This authentic leaf from the early Latin edition of Cosmographia is devoted to several provinces of Anatolia (Turkey): Caria, Lycia, Pamphylia, Lycaonia, and Cilicia. Page 985 (top) is deals with Caria, an ancient district of southwestern Anatolia. Münster writes about Mausolus, Persian satrap of Caria from 377/376 to 353. He is best known from the name of his monumental tomb, the so-called Mausoleum - considered one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World - a word now used to designate any large and imposing burial structure. By moving his capital from Mylasa in the interior to Halicarnassus ("Helicarnasso") on the coast, Mausolus indicated that he would attempt to make Caria an expansionist power. The planning of his great tomb was begun by Mausolus; after his death, Artemisia, who was both his sister and his widow, directed the construction. Although now a ruin, the tomb was an enormous structure containing colossal figures of the Carian king and his queen. The leaf contains one woodcut picture of the sarcophagus of Mausulous

Lycia was an ancient maritime district of southwestern Anatolia. It lay along the Mediterranean coast between Caria and Pamphylia, and extended inland to the ridge of the Taurus Mountains. Lycia was annexed to Roman Pamphylia in AD 43 and became a separate Roman province after the 4th century. The text mentions towns of Lycia: Xanthus, Patara, Myra, and Olympus. It mentions Chimaera - a volcanic site on the Lycian Way. Thereafter follows a paragraph on Pamphylia, originally a narrow strip of land that curved along the Mediterranean between Cilicia and Lycia but that, under Roman administration, included large parts of Pisidia to the north.

Lycaonia was an ancient region in the interior of Anatolia north of the Taurus Mountains, inhabited by a wild and warlike aboriginal people who pastured sheep and wild asses on the bleak central highlands. Under Roman administration, Lycaonian territory was attached to Galatia to the north and Cappadocia to the east. Iconium was its capital and principal city. Lycaonia, visited by St. Paul, was Christianized early, and by the 4th century it possessed a more completely organized ecclesiastical system than any other region of Anatolia.

The last, fairly long section talks about Cilicia, an ancient district of southern Anatolia, bounded on the north and west by the Taurus Mountain Range ("Tarsus"), on the east by the Anti-Taurus, and on the south by the Mediterranean Sea. During the 14th and 13th centuries BC , eastern Cilicia was at first independent but subsequently became a vassal of the Hittites. About 1000 BC Mycenaean settlers arrived along the coast, and in the 8th century Cilicia was subject to the Assyrians. Under the Persians (from the 6th to the 4th century) the district enjoyed semiautonomous status; in the 4th century it came successively under Macedonian and Seleucid rule. Macedonian king Alexander the Great conquered Cilicia in the summer of 333. In the 1st century BC Cilicia became a Roman province. St. Paul ("Paulo apostolo") visited Cilicia, and the district is rich in early Christian monuments. See pictures for more details; click image to view larger version.

The leaf measures 8.2 x 12.3 inches. Printed on laid paper. Wide margins suitable for framing. The leaf is in very good condition. Imperfections: age toning. This is an exceptionally interesting historical document which will look great with a mat and frame.

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