Carte Pour Introduire a la Chronologie & a Trouver les Annees Devant et Jesus Christ Par le Moyen des Periodes, Dionysienne & Par les Trois Cycles

18th-century Christian concepts on early history and the study of time.

“Map to Introduce Chronology & to Find the Years Before and Jesus Christ by Means of the Dionysian Periods & by the Three Cycles” – approximate title translation.

This unusual and somewhat confusing compilation of explanatory text and tables presents ‘the science of time that has elapsed from the creation of the world to the present.’ Descriptions of various terms and eras on the left are accompanied by remarks on the solar/lunar cycles, golden numbers, leap years, and calendar conversions. The right side lists epochs of the world from Creation (top) to the accession of Louis XV and the 1718 Treaty of Passarowitz, ending the Venetian-Ottoman Wars (lower center).

The copperplate-engraved sheet was originally published in Paris as part of Henri Abraham Chatelain’s important Atlas Historique. This monumental seven-volume set was first issued in Amsterdam between 1705 and 1720, but was reprinted until the late 1730s. The scholarly, but approachable, work was aimed at a broad audience, eager for new information during the Age of Enlightenment. The breadth of content offers a nuanced synthesis of geography, cosmography, history, religion, ethnology, and political science. The descriptive text (in French) and skillfully engraved maps, diagrams, and illustrations provide a fascinating window into the world of the early 18th century.