Tabula superioris Indiae et Tartariae maioris (Modern map of Upper India and Greater Tartary), in the 1541 Vienne Ptolemy
Tabvla Svperioris Indiae & Tartariae maioris. (to accompany) Claudii Ptolemaei Alexandrini Geographicae enarrationis libri octo. Sed ad Graeca & prisca exemplaria a Michaele Villanouano secundo recogniti & locis innumeris denuo castigati. Prostant Lugduni Apud Hugonem a Porta. M.D.XLI. (1541).
Lorenz Fries (map), Michael Servetus (Villanovanus, editor), Ptolemy; Vienne 1541 edition (Gaspar Trechsel)
How we know
compilation Assembled from earlier sources. The author did not observe it directly.
Compilation: Fries's reduction of Waldseemueller's 1513 modern tables and Carta marina; 'Tartaria maior' is the Polo-derived Mongol Asia; no observation.
Research notes
- Fries copied Waldseemueller 1513; same blocks used in 1522, 1525, 1535 and 1541 editions. Not independent.
- Rumsey note: Engraved modern map of East Asia.
Why it matters
Shows how the Ptolemy editions of 1522-1541 added a 'modern' table titled Greater Tartary next to the ancient Scythia/Serica plates, which is the mechanism by which Tartaria displaced Scythia in learned geography.
Places named
Upper India; Tartaria maior; Cathay; Mangi; Tangut; Tenduc; Caspian; Ob region
Who copied whom
- Carta marina M044, 1516this one was drawn from it (stated)Fries 1522 from Waldseemüller's modern tables and the Carta marina 1516
Keep exploring
The maps drawn just before and just after this one.
