This rare woodcut map of the world was published in Ambrosius Macrobius' commentary on Cicero's Dream of Scipio and illustrates Cicero's interesting theories. This diagrammatic map shows two distinct regions of the earth. The inhabited Afro-Eurasian continent was balanced by an unknown, and relatively equal, landmass (Temperata Antipodum Nobis Incognita) on the other side of an impassable torrid zone (Perusta) and a great boiling sea (Alveus Oceani). It was this notion of antipodean balance and landmass equivalence that continued to attract Renaissance minds to the otherwise outmoded geographical ideas of Macrobius. Distinguished cartographers like Mercator and Ortelius would later incorporate Macrobius' model into an immense southern continent (Australis Incongita) to balance the known lands of the world. The division of the world into climactic zones is still in use today.

This is the sixth in a series of nine miniature woodcuts that appeared in various editions of Macrobius' work. This example was published by Johann Gryphius in Venice in 1565; this woodcut was also used in Gryphius' 1560 and 1574 editions. On a full sheet of Latin text measuring 4.0 x 5.8".

Macrobius was a 5th century Roman neoplatonic philosopher. His commentary on Cicero’s Somnium Sciponis was of great influence in the Middle Ages and gained popularity with the advent of printing. First published in Brescia in 1483, numerous editions appeared throughout the 16th century. His commentary includes several chapters dealing with his own conception of the world and the universe. It also contains references to many facets of the scientific knowledge of his time, including references to physics, astronomy, and mathematics.

See also lot 714 for Rodney Shirley's The Mapping of the World - Early Printed World Maps 1472-1700 that describes this map.

References: Shirley #13; King (3rd ed.) #1489; Moecker (MapForum #4), pp. 26-30.

Condition: A

Minor mat burn outside the image and a few spots of foxing along the edges of the sheet.