Ludovico Valesio Inuic tissimo Principi, pari Fraclae, comti de Alais & Generli Equitum per Gailias magistro & Graeciae Antiquae Tabulam Hanc..

Title

Ludovico Valesio Inuic tissimo Principi, pari Fraclae, comti de Alais & Generli Equitum per Gailias magistro & Graeciae Antiquae Tabulam Hanc..

Description

Decorative map of Greece with its islands an a title cartouche.

ca. 1636

Artist

Tavernier/ Sanson Nicolas (1594-1665)

Melchior Tavernier (1594–1665) was a French engraver, printmaker and print publisher. In 1618 Tavernier became an intaglio engraver and printer to the king (graveur et imprimeur en taille-douce du Roi) with an emphasis on maps. He published composite atlases and also published works for other cartographers, including N. Sanson and P. Bertius.

Historical Description

Greece is considered the cradle of Western civilisation, being the birthplace of democracy, Western philosophy, Western literature, historiography, political science, major scientific and mathematical principles, Western drama and the Olympic Games. From the eighth century B.C., the Greeks were organised into various independent city-states, known as poleis (singular polis), which spanned the entire Mediterranean region and the Black Sea. Philip of Macedon united most of the Greek mainland in the fourth century BC, with his son Alexander the Great rapidly conquering much of the ancient world, from the eastern Mediterranean to India. Greece was annexed by Rome in the second century B.C., becoming an integral part of the Roman Empire and its successor, the Byzantine Empire, which adopted the Greek language and culture. The Greek Orthodox Church, which emerged in the first century A.D., helped shape modern Greek identity and transmitted Greek traditions to the wider Orthodox World. After falling under Ottoman dominion in the mid-15th century, Greece emerged as a modern nation state in 1830 following a war of independence.