Ancient Italy Map 1718 Augustan Regions Atlas Print - Rome, Naples, Genoa, Taranto, Syracuse

This Italia antiqua ab Octavio Augusto in Regiones XI descripta was engraved on copper by Christoph Weigel and published in Nuremberg in 1718. It shows ancient Italy divided into the eleven regions established under Augustus, from the Alps to Sicily, and includes Corsica and Sardinia. The Latin sea names include Mare Ligusticum, Tuscum sive Etruscum quod et Tyrrhenum Inferum, and Siculum Mare. Provinces and principal towns are distinguished with period hand color, and coastal place names are placed along both the Tyrrhenian and Adriatic shores. It was prepared for Weigel's Atlas Scholasticus et Itinerarius. The map was made for German schools and universities, which explains its clear divisions and heavy use of Latin names.

Weigel's hallmark is the numismatic cartouche, a wreath of coins around the title that alludes to the Augustan scheme. The map is full of Roman names, among them Liguria, Etruria, Latium, Samnium, Apulia and Bruttium, and the Aeolian Islands are named individually. Colonies and tribal territories are set in small capitals, and the seas are stippled, with orange coastlines. Augustus's division of Italy, reported by Pliny, structured taxation and census taking and became a standard framework for mapping Roman Italy. The atlas was a compact teaching atlas for German schools and universities. Maps like this connected classroom study with the older tradition of antiquarian scholarship.

A teacher or student of Latin, a family with roots in Rome, Genoa or Sicily, or a collector of German baroque school atlases will find a scholarly gift here. TheMapVault's 1903 Kiepert and 1835 Daggett sheets show the same ancient land in later centuries, whereas this Weigel map of 1718 is the oldest, with its coin cartouche and Latin sea names. Like every print in the collection, it ships unframed and is available in a full range of sizes, from a compact desk piece to a large-format statement print.