Erschröcklicher Untergang und Verbrennung der Statt Ragusa.

Title

Erschröcklicher Untergang und Verbrennung der Statt Ragusa.

The map shows from an aerial view the southern part of Sicily with the towns of Ragusa, Castel Nuovo, Cataro, and a wind rose. A inset map shows the earthquake and the destruction of the town Ragusa. From Merian's 'Historische Chronick'.

ca. 1693

Artist

Merian (1593-1650)

Matthäus Merian (1593 – 1650) , born in Basel, learned the art of copperplate engraving in Zurich and subsequently worked and studied in Strasbourg, Nancy, and Paris, before returning to Basel in 1615. The following year he moved to Frankfurt, Germany where he worked for the publisher Johann Theodor de Bry. He married his daughter, Maria Magdalena 1617. In 1620 they moved back to Basel, only to return three years later to Frankfurt, where Merian took over the publishing house of his father-in-law after de Bry's death in 1623. In 1626 he became a citizen of Frankfurt and could henceforth work as an independent publisher. He is the father of Maria Sibylla Merian, who later published her the famous and wellknown studies of flowers, insects and butterflies.

Historical Description

The central location of Sicily in the Mediterranean Sea has shaped the eventful history of this island. As bases for seafaring and trade, the cities of Sicily have always had great importance. Time and again, therefore, new conquerors seized the island, stayed, mixed with the already resident population and left their mark on the culture of Sicily. Only rarely was the island politically independent, mostly it was ruled by empires or states that had their political center elsewhere. From about 800 B.C. began the period of colonization by Phoenicians, mainly from the Phoenician planting city of Carthage, and somewhat later by Greeks, for whom Sicily became part of Greater Greece. In 264 BC, a Roman army crossed into Sicily, triggering a war with the Carthaginians that resulted in heavy losses. By late antiquity, Sicily was largely Romanized. After the fall of the Western Roman Empire in the late 5th century, Sicily was first dominated by the Vandals and Ostrogoths and became part of the Eastern Roman-Byzantine Empire in the mid-6th century. The first attempt at Christian reconquest of the island was still a Byzantine initiative; the imperial commander Georgios Maniakes conquered Messina in 1038 and Syracuse in 1040. Now Sicily experienced another period of prosperity and became an independent kingdom in 1130. A symbiosis of Byzantine, Arab and Norman traditions produced many important works of art. Thereafter, Sicily again fell under the control of other powers: Aragon, Spain, Savoy and Austria followed one another. With the unification of Italy, which began with Garibaldi's invasion of Sicily, Sicily became part of the new Kingdom of Italy in 1861.