Asia in the Form of Pegasus

This is an interesting map, one of the earliest maps in the form of an animal (or a human). This map as it is quit creative. Armenia is situated at the brains of the Pegasus.

Title: Asia Secunda Pars Terrae in Forma Pegasi [Asia in the Form of Pegasus]

Map Maker: Heinrich Bunting

Date: Hannover / 1581

Description:

Unusual variant edition of Bunting’s map of Asia in the shape of the mythical winged horse Pegasus. The horse is drawn fairly realistically, with a good deal of imagination required to view the map. The head represents Asia Minor with the brains in Armenian Highlands. The wings portray Central Asia and Siberia. The Caspian Sea appears horizontally between the wings and the saddle. Persia is delineated on the horse blanket with the forelegs forming Arabia. The hind legs represent the Indian and Malay Peninsulas. 

The map is among the earliest representations of a land mass in the form of an animal (or human).

16th century maps of the Caucasus

Some more maps of ancient Armenia

Title: Tabula Asiae III [Black & Caspian Sea Region]

Map Maker: Sebastian Munster

Place / Date: Basle / 1542
Description:  Excellent example of Munster’s Ptolemaic map of the region between the Black Sea and Caspian Sea extending south to include all of Armenia Maior and part of Armenia Minoris.

Munster’s map shows Noahs Arc in the Caspian Sea, believed to have come to rest in a mountain in Armenia according to the map. Shows Armenia Maior, Iberia, Albania, Colchis, Porte Albanie, the Euphratis River, the Tigris, Assyriae, and many other place names in the cradle of civilization.  The map is unchanged from the 1540 edition.

Munster’s Geographia was a cartographic landmark, including not only Ptolemaic maps, but also a number of landmark modern maps, including the first separate maps of the 4 continents, the first map of England and the earliest obtainable map of Scandinavia. Munster dominated cartographic publication during the mid-16th Century. Munster is generally regarded as one of the three most important map makers of the 16th Century, along with Ortelius and Mercator. Munster was a linguist and mathematician, who initially taught Hebrew in Heidelberg. He issued his first mapping of Germany in 1529, after which he issued a call geographical information about Germany to scholars throughout the country. The response was better than hoped for, and included substantial foreign material, which supplied him with up to date, if not necessarily accurate maps for the issuance of his Geographia in 1540.

Map of Armenia Major, Colchis, Iberia, Albania,-1535-1400

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Description:  Jacob d’Angelo after Claudius Ptolemaeus, “Cosmographia Claudii Ptolomaei Alexandrini”
Date: 1467

1467 Jacob d’Angelo after Ptolemy, Cosmographia

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Description: Tabula Asiae III, Armenia, Iberia, Colchis, etc…
Date: 1579
Author: Gerardus Mercator (1512–1594)

Tabula Asiae III, map of Armenia Major, Colchis, Iberia, Albania -1579

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Map of Armenia Major, Colchis, Iberia, Albania 1655

Description: ArmeniaMaior, Colchis, Iberia, Albania
Date: 1655 A.D.
Source: Bibliothèque nationale de France
Author: Jan L’Huilier (17th century) – Engraver: Nicolas Sanson (1600–1667)

Map of the Caucasus C. Weigel 1720

German printer and engraver Christopher Weigel, portrays Armenian territory as the land between the Black and Caspian seas. During this time, Armenia was greatly elated by the emergence of new generation of artists, songwriters, lyricists, led by the legendary Armenian poet and musician Sayat-Nova (“Master of songs”).

In his “Armenia: Survival of the nation” (Routledge, revised second edition, 1990), British historian and author Christopher J. Walker writes:

“Almost without, exception Armenians are Christians, although often in a sociological rather than a religious sense. Their devotion to their ancient Church as the main embodiment of their traditions, and as the one institution which remained alive when their country was enshrouded in the might of alien empires, is immensely strong”.

1720 Weigel Map of the Caucuses

Map of Armenia by F. V. Dourado 1570

On the map below, Portuguese cartographer Fernao Vaz Dourado depicts Armenia Minor and Armenia Major stretching across Black and Caspian seas, occupying the territories that are now known as Georgia, Azerbaijan and most of eastern Turkey, including Mount Ararat.

Map of Near East – Fernão Vaz Dourado 1570. Nautical chart of Portuguese cartographer Fernão Vaz Dourado (c. 1520 – c. 1580), part of a nautical atlas drawn in 1570 and now kept in the Huntington Library, San Marino, USA.