Histoire Profane du 5e Age Suite du Royaume d’Egypte

Chronological cartograpy of Ancient Egypt.

This striking sheet was published in Paris around 1762 as part of Claude Buy de Mornas’ Atlas Méthodique et Elémentaire de Géographie et d’Histoire. Buy de Mornas was a French geographer who served as the tutor to the Duke of Berry (the future King Louis XVI), and the work was an important learning mechanism by which geography and history were taught to the aristocracy.

A rather straightforward map of ancient Egypt, Syria, and the Arabian desert includes a handful of toponyms that identify important settlements (notably, Babylon and Memphis) and geographic features. Blocks of text on either side offer a chronological summary of major events between 3442 BC (lower right) and 3033 BC (upper left). The entire work is enclosed by an elaborately decorated Rococo border, characteristic of the refined French aesthetic of the mid-18th century.