Search by keywords to view downloadable images of Ptolemaic maps.

Using the collections of the Geography and Map Division at the Library of Congress, this Story Map will explore the changes in world maps throughout the centuries and how as a result perceptions of the world have shifted. Created by Julie Stoner, Rodney Hardy, and Craig Bryant, Geography and Map Division.

John Hessler, Cartographic Specialist in the Geography and Map Division (retired), speaks about the Library of Congress' collection of Ptolemaic maps printed between 1475 and 1600.

Chet Van Duzer discusses Ptolemy's "Geography." Claudius Ptolemy wrote his "Geography" in the second century A.D., and following its rediscovery in Constantinople in about 1300, it became one of the most popular geographical texts of the European Renaissance, copied in many manuscripts and printed in many editions. But Ptolemy offers very little in the way of description of different regions and peoples, so the work came to be supplemented in various ways. Non-Ptolemaic descriptive texts were added to printed editions of the book, and users of the book added descriptive material from various sources, providing excellent evidence regarding the reception of the work and early modern reading practices. In this talk, Van Duzer examined the schemes of annotation in four different copies of "Geography": the 1511 Thacher copy at the Library of Congress; the copy of the 1513 edition at the Lilly Library; the 1486 Thacher copy at the Library of Congress; and the copy of the 1525 edition at Princeton. By comparing these different schemes of annotation, Van Duzer revealed the extraordinary nature of the annotations in the Princeton 1525 Ptolemy, which is the object of his current NEH-Mellon fellowship research.

Amelia Raines, Reference Librarian, Geography and Map Division, writes about how the world’s major landmasses received their names.

Cynthia Smith, Reference Specialist, Geography and Map Division, writes about how the Greek explorer and historian Megasthenes wrote that Taprobana was divided by a river and abundant in pearls and gold. Taprobana was located somewhere in the Indian Ocean and usually shown on historical maps as a large island south of India. There have been many theories about the identity of the island. Some thought Taprobana could have been a phantom island, Madagascar, or the lower peninsula of India; however, most geographers believed that the island was either Sumatra or Sri Lanka (Ceylon). This blog posts includes many images of early Ptolemaic maps.

Cynthia Smith, Reference Specialist, Geography and Map Division, writes about 1535 edition of Ptolemy’s Geography that was edited by Michael Servetus. Denounced as a heretic in 1553, Servetus was burned at the stake along with many copies of his atlas. This rare edition that survived the widespread destruction of his works is housed in the Geography and Maps Division.

Background on Ptolemy's Geographia from the National Library of Scotland, with links to two online versions of the Geographia and suggestions for further reading.

Online exhibit from Stanford Libraries highlighting and describing three editions of Ptolemy's Geographia.

Blog post from the National Library of Finland which provides background on Ptolemy's atlases and digital images of several maps. The post explores the atlases in the broader context of 15th and 16th century publishing, and describes the digitization process.