Plan of ancient Jerusalem and its suburbs as it looked at the time of Jesus Christ. TRANSLATION OF CAPTION: Jerusalem and its suburbs, as it flourished in the time of Christ; with the places where Christ suffered. Preserved with reverence by the Christians, they are still venerated today. Described by Christian Adrichom of Delft.

COMMENTARY BY BRAUN (on verso): "Dear Reader, three parts of the city of Jerusalem are distinguished. The first is called the City of Justice (Isaiah 1), the second the Holy City (Isaiah 52), the third the City of Truth (Zechariah 8). And because the City of Justice in times past [...] was also the Daughter of Zion, it has for this reason also been called the new and different city and was between the new enceinte and the old or first city wall.

The Holy City, however, was so named because of the Temple there, the holiest of sites. This extended from the old wall to the Valley of Mello, which was also called the Water Gate Road and the Valley of the Cheesemakers (Tyropoéon).

The City of Truth is the third section of the city. It was also called Mount Zion and the City of David (who had sworn to tell the truth to God), after David, the first king chosen from the tribe of Judah. Just as the Promised Land itself was divided into three parts in the time of Christ, namely Galilee, Samaria and Judea, so is the chief city at the center, situated like the center point in a circle drawn with compasses, divided into three parts."

Looking north, this view of Jerusalem has been schematically rendered as the scene of events in both the Old and the New Testament. The tripartite division of the city refers to the historical enlargements recorded in Josephus: in the south, the City of David with Mount Zion (3); at the center the city as it was enlarged in the 10th-8th centuries BC with Mount Moriah, the Temple Mount and in the north the extensions made in Hellenistic and Roman times.

The almost rectangular shape of the city as depicted here might be interpreted as an allusion to the Heavenly Jerusalem of the Revelation of St John the Divine. Similarly, the Temple is represented as a square, open complex encompassed by concentric ring walls. In the south is the Cenacle (6), with Jesus and the Disciples depicted at the Last Supper; to the left, the Palace of Caiaphas (17); south of the Temple Mount, the palace (59) and the throne (113) of Solomon. The Palace of Herod, built-in 23 BC, is shown (137) in the north.

In the east is the Mount of Olives with Gethsemane (210); north of the Temple is the Antonia Fortress (29), the seat of the Roman governor. From there the Via Dolorosa, with the Stations of the Cross indicated, runs before the city to Calvary, situated in the northwest (Golgota, 235), the site of the Crucifixion.

At first glance, this illustration would almost seem to draw on the symbolic allegory informing medieval depictions of cities. Here, however, an effort has obviously been made to link the events of the Passion and the holy places mentioned in the Bible with the actual topography of Jerusalem, thus elucidating the nature of the place as the scene of historical events.

The formulaic quality of the present representation expresses the principle of the divine order.

Hence the map might also have been intended for use by contemporary readers as a devotional image for meditation. (Taschen)

From the greatest publication in this genre!. The Civitates was compiled and written by George Braun, Canon of Cologne Cathedral. Braun gathered together vast amounts of information and draft plans to produce over 500 city views/maps published in six parts between 1572 and 1617. Most of these engravings were made by Simon Novellanus and Frans Hogenberg, many after drawings by Joris Hoefnagel.

Reference: Taschen, Braun and Hogenberg, p.344.