Carte De La Grece Ancienne Par Delamarche

Description

This 1838 map is a detailed representation of the political and geographical structure of the ancient Greek world. It describes the settlements, trade and maritime routes, important city-states, and mythological geography of ancient Greek civilization using classical terminology. Therefore, cartographer Delamarche drew on ancient sources, particularly the descriptions of geographer Strabo, the epic poems of Homer, and the historiography of Herodotus, in preparing this map. The map, based on the political, cultural, and geographical distribution of ancient Greek civilization in the 18th century BC, encompasses not only present-day Greece but also the western coast of Anatolia, Thrace, the Aegean Islands, parts of southern Italy (Magna Graecia), Cyprus, and surrounding islands. To the north lie Macedonia and Thrace; to the west lies Epirus and the Adriatic coast; to the east lies the western coast of Anatolia (ancient regions such as Ionia, Lydia, and Phrygia); and to the south lies the island of Crete. The map clearly shows the locations of ancient Greek city-states (poleis), mountain chains (e.g., Taygetos, Parnassus), major rivers, and gulfs. Major cultural and military centers such as Athens (Athènes), Sparta (Lacédémone), Corinth (Corinthe), Thebes (Thebes), Delos, and Rhodes are clearly marked. Sea names are written with their ancient names: for example, "Mer Égée" (Aegean Sea), "Mer de Crète" (Sea of Crete), "Mer Ionienne" (Ionian Sea), "Propontide" (Sea of Marmara), and "Mer de Carpathos" (Carpathian Sea). In western Anatolia, ancient cities such as Troy, Pergamon, Smyrne (Izmir), Éphèse (Ephesus), and Halicarnassus (Bodrum) are prominently featured. This shows that the map covers not only Greece but the entire geography where Hellenistic culture spread.