Cartographica Neerlandica Background for Ortelius Map No. 183

Title: ABRAHAMI PATRIAR:|CHAE PEREGRINATIO, | ET VITA. | "Abrahamo Ortelio Antverpiano auctore". [Wanderings and life of the patriarch Abraham, by Abraham Ortelius from Antwerp.] (Banners along top and bottom of map area:) ABRAHAM EGREDERE DE TERRA TVA, ET DE COGNATIONE TVA, ET VENI IN TERRAM QVAM MONSTRAVERO TIBI. | ET DABO TIBI ET SEMINI TVO POST TE, TERRAM PEREGRINATIONIS TVAE, OMNEM TERRAM CHANAAN, IN POSSESSIONEM AETERNAM. [Abraham, you must depart from your land, and leave your relatives, and come to the land which I will show you, and I will give you and your children after you the land to which you will wander, all the land of Canaan in eternal possession]. (Cartouche middle right:) "Dño Ioanni Moflinio, | Montis S. Winoxij ab:|bati reverendo, viro | humanitate & can:|dore eximio, multi:|plicique rerum cog:|nitione nobili; Ab. | Ortelius in perpetuæ | amicitiæ pignus DD". [Dedicated as a sign of eternal friendship by Abraham Ortelius to lord Ioannes Moflinius of the mountain Saint Winoxius, respected clergyman, a man of great humanity and excellent candidness.] (Above middle, left:) "Priuilegio Imperiali, Regno, et | Belgico decennali. 1586". [With an Imperial, Royal and Belgian privilege for ten years 1586] (Inset, 44 x 124 mm:) "ARABIA Iter Abrahami patriarchæ". [The road taken by Abraham the patriarch.]

Plate size: 357 x 462 mm.
Scale: 1 : 1,200,000.
Identification number: Ort 183, (not in Koeman, Meurer: 39P/IV should be 25P/I, not in Karrow, van der Krogt AN: 8020H:31B).

Occurrence in Theatrum editions and page number:

very few 1590L4Add blank (10 copies printed)(last line, in cursive script, left aligned, identical in text and typesetting to 1592L but without page number: "nire , scriptum reliquit".),
few 1592L24 (25 copies printed) (identical with some 1590L4Add, but here with page number 24; last line, left aligned, in cursive script, identical to 1590L4Add but here with page number 24: "nire , scriptum reliquit".),
few 1595Le (100 copies printed) (last line, left aligned, in cursive script: "hodie facies:qui olim, teste Moyse,tanquam paradisus domini erat conspiciendus".),
most 1598/1610/1613D87 (90 copies printed) (last line, first text page, in Gothic script, right aligned: "een sone"; penultimate line: Abimelech Saram "sonder haer te schenden laten varen/ende met geschencken wech gesonden. Doen is" Abraham),
1601Lv (200 copies printed) (last line, left aligned, in cursive script like the entire section on the Dead Sea: "manu satis hoc euenire,scriptum reliquit. Atque hæc huius loci hodie facies: qui olim,teste Moyse,tanquam paradisus Domini erat conspiciendus".),
1602G2 (200 copies printed) (last line, left aligned, in Gothic script like the entire text: zweyfachter hölen/da Sara begraben war.),
1603Lv (300 copies printed) (text and page number, but not typesetting, identical to 1609/1612S/L, last line, left aligned, in cursive script: "reliquit. Atque hæc huius loci hodie facies: qui olim,teste Moyse,tanquam paradisus Domini erat conspiciendus".),
1606Ev (300 copies printed) (last line first text page, left aligned, mostly italic like the rest of the text: "sonnes buried him by" Sarah "in the caue of" Machpelach, v.9.10. Of ; last line second text page, left aligned: remaineth that we do in like manner begin and go on forward with these PROPHANE histories.),
1608/1612Iv (300 copies printed) (last line first text page, right aligned, in cursive script like 4 lines above it: "con" ; last line second text page, centred like one line above it: IMPRENDIAMO LE PROFANE.),
1609L/1612L/Sv (300 copies printed) (text in Latin, last line, left aligned, in cursive script like the entire Dead Sea section: "hoc euenire,scriptum reliquit. Atque hæc huius loci hodie facies: qui olim,teste Moyse,tanquam paradisus Domini erat conspiciendus".),
few 1624LParergoniiij (100 copies printed) (last line second column first text page: illi Dominus in planitie Mambre , cùm ad ianuam/taber- ; last line second column second text page: Domini erat conspiciendus.).

Approximate number of copies printed: 1650.

States: 183.1 as described.
183.2: Between 1595 and 1601, most of the medallions around the map received additional engraving:
Starting at the right of the top cartouche and going clockwise, a non-exhaustive survey of changes is presented here:
1. Horizontal hachuring of the sky starting at the top extends to 5 mm of the leftmost building in state 1, to 2 mm in state 2.
2. Additional cloud hachuring in state 2 as compared to state 1.
3. Foreground floor below closest person has little hatching in state 1, heavy hatching in state 2.
4. Hatching to the left of the distant people in state 1, also below these people in state 2.
5. Hatching of the sky ends well above the mountain top in state 1, close to the mountain top in state 2.
7. Additional hatching of the sky and foreground in state 2 as compared to state 1.
8. Lower left of foreground has no hatching in state 1 and heavy hatching in state 2.
9. Horizontal hatching to the right of the two foreground people in state 1, oblique hatching in state 2.
11. Oblique hatching of the triangular end of the left curtain in state 1, vertical hatching in state 2.
14. Light hatching of foreground in state 1, heavy hatching in state 2.
16. Diagonal cross-hatching of black inner triangle at the inside back of the tent in state 1, vertical hatching in state 2.
19. Horizontal hatching of the cloud to the left of the angel in state 1, oblique hatching in state 2.
21. Light hatching of the sky beneath the arch in state 1, heavy hatching in state 2.

Cartographic sources: made by Ortelius, based on information from Ptolemæus, but mostly on the bible, particularly for the illustrations of Abraham's life from his departure from Ur to his death, depicted in 22 medallions.

References: Laor (1986) "Maps of the Holy Land", Meridian, Amsterdam, map 547, p. 78-79. M. van den Broecke and D. Günzburger "The Wanderings of Patriarch Abraham", p. 319-329, in: M. van den Broecke, P. van der Krogt and P. Meurer (eds.) "Abraham Ortelius and the First Atlas", HES Publishers, 1998.

Remarks: From some copies of 1590L4Add onwards this new plate Ort 183 appears, and is used side by side with the old plate Ort 182 in 1592L and 1595L, some copies of these editions having the early plate, some the late one. The early plate Ort 182 has the background hatching running from lower left to upper right, whereas this later plate Ort 183 has the hatching from upper left to lower right. It is argued in Van den Broecke & Günzburger (1998) that Ort 182 was replaced by Ort 183 because of the superior engraving quality of the later plate.
Note that where the discussion on Abraham is very biblical, the description of the Dead Sea is of a traditional geographical nature.
The medallions have been engraved after designs drawn by Maarten de Vos, an Antwerp artist. Eight of these drawings have been preserved in the Antwerp Municipal "Prentenkabinet".
The topographical information contained on this plate is identical to that of the previous plate Ort182, even as regards the breaking of words over lines.

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Bibliographical sources

Topographical names