First edition of the map depicting Italy as it was known in Roman times. Taken from Abraham Ortelius’s Theatri Orbis Terrarum Parergon; Sive Veteris Geographiae Tabulae, the first historical atlas ever published, printed in Antwerp in 1584. The first edition of this beautiful map is easily recognizable by the presence, at the bottom, of an elaborate decorative cartouche enclosing the title “Italia” and the allegorical figure of the peninsula, instead of the double medallion that will characterize subsequent editions (here is a copy in the catalog for comparison). As far as cartographic sources are concerned, the map was based on Gastaldi’s prototype and filtered by Ortelius through the writings of Virgil, Pliny, Strabo, and Alberti. The drawing of the complex river system of the peninsula is interesting, and the representation of the mouth of the Po, called Septem maria because of the numerous mouths of the river delta, is remarkable. The decorative apparatus includes two elegant Renaissance-style cartouches for the title and privilege with Ortelius’ signature and is completed by a rich insert with two medallions, one of which represents “… perhaps the oldest allegorical representation of Italy in a printed map” (Borri 2010: 77).
The Parergon was initially conceived by Ortelius as an appendix to his terrestrial atlas Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, but given the remarkable success of these historical maps, it later became an independent work and remained the main source of cartographic productions of this type throughout the 17th century. “The maps and plates in the Parergon have to be evaluated as the most outstanding engravings depicting the widespread interest in classical geography in the 16th century” (Koeman). Unlike the maps of the known world, which were drawn from multiple sources, the historical maps in the Parergon are the original work of Ortelius himself, and all these curious maps reveal Ortelius’ love and passion (as a scholar of the ancient world, antiquarian, and tireless visitor to ruins and archaeological sites) for ancient history.
