Naval Battle of Ecnomus, First Punic War Fleet Plan, Rollin Atlas, 1818

An original copper engraving, uncolored, showing the order of battle at the naval battle of Ecnomus. It is a view rather than a map: the two fleets are drawn as rows of warships under sail, each flying a pennant, on a sea worked in close engraved strokes beneath a ruled sky with banked cloud. The Carthaginian fleet, marked 1, stretches in a long line across the upper part of the view and bends forward at the right. The Roman fleet below, marked 2, is drawn in a triangular formation with its point toward the enemy, its squadrons numbered 3 to 5, and a broad line of ships behind it marked 6 and 7. A faint coastline is drawn on the horizon at the far left.

The title below the image reads Plan du combat naval d'Ecnome. A numbered key in two columns flanks it: 1. Flotte Carthaginoise. 2. Flotte Romaine. 3. Première Escadre. 4. Seconde Escadre. and 5. Troisième Escadre. 6. Vaisseaux de charge remorqués à la 3e Escadre. 7. Quatrième Escadre. The plate is numbered Pl. 18 above the upper right corner of the image. There is no scale bar and no author or engraver line on the plate, and it is a single sheet with no center fold.

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. Ecnomus was a sea battle of the First Punic War, fought between Rome and Carthage off southern Sicily in 256 BC.

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