Athene oder minerna / der welt Das xxix. Blat

Title

Athene oder minerna / der welt Das xxix. Blat

Description

Illustration of the city of Athens in Greece and three illustrations of Estrom, Aram and Minerna. Back side with eight kings and prophets. From Liber chronicarum, the so-called Little Schedel, published by Johann Schönsperger the Elder, 1497. The first major pirated edition in the history of book printing.

ca. 1497

Artist

Schedel (1440-1515)

Hartmann Schedel (1440–1515) from Nuremberg is best known for the 1493 publication of the Schedel’s World Chronicle (Liber chronicarum), a universal history featuring 1,809 woodcuts—making it the most richly illustrated book of early printing. The chronicle, written in Latin by Schedel for merchants Sebald Schreyer and Sebastian Kammermeister, was translated into German by Georg Alt and printed by Anton Koberger. The illustrations came from the workshop of Michael Wolgemut and Wilhelm Pleydenwurff. The work covers world history up to 1492/93, divided into eight ages of the world, and draws on numerous sources, including Jacobus Foresta and Enea Silvio Piccolomini. Notably, it features highly accurate city views, many depicted in detail for the first time. Pleydenwurff introduced a new perspective by portraying cities from a fixed viewpoint, emphasizing their unique architectural and landscape features. The project was funded in part by the patron Sebald Schreyer.

Historical Description

According to legend, the goddess Athena and the sea god Poseidon courted the favor of the inhabitants of the then still nameless city. Both were supposed to give a gift each to the inhabitants - whoever gave the most beautiful gift to the city was to be chosen as the patron saint. According to another tradition, Athens was founded by King Kekrops, which is why Kekropia (Κεκροπία) is an ancient name of Athens. The settlement history of the area of the city of Athens goes back about 7500 years, to the Neolithic period. The area was leveled very early and surrounded with a strong wall, which was secured with nine gates arranged in a row (Enneapylai). This site was named after the Pelasgians, to whom the construction was attributed. Athens reached the height of its political and cultural influence as an Attic democracy and leading power in the Attic naval league during the 5th and 4th centuries B.C. Even when the city was incorporated into the Roman Empire in 86 B.C., it retained its status as an intellectual center and reached the peak of its urban development in the 2nd century A.D. It was not until the 9th century that the city became an episcopal see with the Parthenon as its episcopal church. After the fall of Constantinople in 1453, the Athenian lower city was conquered by the Ottomans in 1456 and the strategically important upper city with the Acropolis was also conquered in 1458 by Sultan Mehmed II's commander Omar Pasha. The Parthenon was transformed from a Latin church into an Orthodox church and in 1460 into a mosque. The Erechtheion served as a harem for the Ottoman commander. The city was now losing more and more importance. After several destructions between the 17th century and the 19th century, the city sank to an insignificant provincial town. Athens grew extremely fast to its current size in the past 150 years.