Environs of Ancient Rome and Latium, d'Anville Roman History Map, 1818

An original copper engraved map, uncolored, of the country around ancient Rome. It runs from Vulsinii and its lake in the north to Terracina and the Circaeum Prom. in the south, and from the Tyrrhenian coast inland to the Apennines. The peoples are lettered in French across it, among them the Volsques, Herniques, Eques, Rutules, Falisques and Capenates, with Etrurie to the northwest. Rome stands at the center on the Tiber, with Veii, Fidenae, Tibur, Praeneste, Tusculum, Gabii, Alba-longa, Aricia, Lavinium, Ardea, Ostia and Antium around it, and the Pomptinae Paludes to the south. The roads are drawn and named, including the Via Appia, Latina, Praenestina, Tiburtina, Aurelia, Cassia, Flaminia and Valeria. Modern names such as Tivoli, Frascati and Albano are underlined beside the ancient ones.

The cartouche reads Les Environs de Rome pour l'intelligence de l'Histoire Romaine de Rollin, par d'Anville, Géographe ord.re du Roi. The plate is numbered Pl. 14 above the upper right corner of the border. Six scale bars stand below it, from Milles Romains anciens, évalués 756 Toises and Milles Romains modernes, de 764 Toises through Greek stades, the stades of Polybius and of Strabo, to the French league, with a ruled comparison of Pieds Romains, Pieds Grecs and Pieds Français. A light center fold runs through the double sheet.

The plate comes from the Atlas de Géographie Ancienne, published in Paris in 1818 by Ledoux et Tenré and printed by Didot le jeune to accompany the works of Charles Rollin (1661 to 1741), the French historian, author of the Histoire ancienne and the Histoire romaine. Its maps are engraved after the originals of Jean-Baptiste Bourguignon d'Anville (1697 to 1782). In the foreword, signed by Ambroise Tardieu, géographe-graveur, Tardieu writes that the maps were copied with religious fidelity and that, charged with reviewing the proofs, he corrected only negligences and faults of execution. The map serves the opening books of Rollin's Roman history, when Rome fought its neighbors in Latium and southern Etruria.

This is an original antique map, not a modern reproduction. This item is sold unframed.