Germaniae Veteris Nova Descriptio

A New Description of Ancient Germany’ [Title]

This elaborate copperplate engraved map was engraved by Petrus Kaerius and published by Jan Jansson in Amsterdam around 1650. It’s a slightly revised version of a map of ancient Germany designed by Abraham Ortelius over sixty years earlier. The Renaissance period saw tremendous interest in Classical scholarship, and Ortelius leveraged a variety of ancient sources including Caesar, Tacitus, Strabo, Ptolemy, and Pliny in his efforts to recreate an image of centuries past.

Since such a disparate group of sources was utilized, the image presents a fascinating and diverse array of toponyms, geographic features, and other information. A panel on the left side indicates the nomenclature used was taken from the time of Charlemagne, but at the same time there are several Roman numerals that represent where various legions were stationed on the frontier of the Roman Empire. Major cities like Cologne and Vienna are identified by their Roman names (Agrippinen and Vindebona), though Venice is depicted in a ‘modern’ form in the Adriatic Sea.

The contrast between different periods is also reflected in the decorative title cartouches. The lower right shows two savage barbarian warriors, naked except for animal skins and wielding fierce weapons. These differ sharply from the plump puttis found immediately opposite.

Example at Yale.