Description

Ptolemy's mythical island of Taprobana originally became associated with Sri Lanka although it was sometimes confused with Sumatra. Taprobana, as it was called on most early maps, was an important post for trade between the east and the west, and was drawn too large on many maps because of its importance.
But Marco Polo states: It has a circumference of some 2400 miles. And I assure you that it used to be bigger than this. For it was once as much as 3500 miles, as appears in the mariners' charts of this sea. But the north wind blows so strongly in these parts that is has submerged a great part of this island under the sea.

The line across the lower part of the island represents the equator, and the numbers below the line indicate the degrees east of Ptolemy's prime meridian in the Canary Islands.



Claudius Ptolemy (c. 85-165)

Ptolemy mapmaker Claudius Ptolemaeus, better known as Ptolemy, was the most accomplished and influential astronomer of the ancient world, and his work dominated the field until the mid-17th century. He lived in Alexandria, Egypt. Almost nothing is known about Ptolemy's life, as historical sources from the time period are scarce. Today, Ptolemy is known almost exclusively through his work and they have influenced other thinkers over the centuries.
Ptolemy wrote his Geographia around the year 150 AD which compiled existing knowledge about the world’s geography at the time. The work refered to a system of latitude and longitude, as well as a means of describing locations on earth based on astronomical observations from those areas. Ptolemy’s original maps from the work were never found, having presumably been lost over the years, but his work was descriptive enough that cartographers were able to recreate his observations in 1300 AD, and create the Ptolemy map.
His world map is notable for its probable role in the Roman expansion. Ptolemy’s idea of using a latitude and longitude system had a significant impact on the work of later cartographers.

Astronomy
There were many accomplished Greek astronomers before Ptolemy (and many Babylonian astronomers before them), but Ptolemy stands out because he wrote a complete treatise on the principles and techniques of astronomy, and that treatise survived to be translated into Arabic and Latin and shape the course of medieval and Renaissance astronomy. Ptolemy's book is often referred to as the Almagest, from an Arabic title meaning "the greatest," i.e., the largest of his astronomical treatises.
The Almagest was translated into Arabic during the Golden Age of Islam, and later, in the medieval West, into Latin, first from Arabic, and eventually from the original Greek, when Greek manuscripts became available in the Renaissance.





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Rare, antique map of .Taprobana Ins. Tabula XII Asiae. [Sri Lanka.]Rare, antique map of .Taprobana Ins. Tabula XII Asiae. [Sri Lanka.]
.Taprobana Ins. Tabula XII Asiae. [Sri Lanka.]

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