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Focusing on related works and relevant documentary and literary evidence, this book uncovers the layers of accrued thinking about cities over time. Uncovered also is the way in which these Renaissance maps reflect the transformation from a cartography based on sacred, mythological and historical events to one determined by topography, new visualization of spatial relationships, and new modes of design. Throughout, the reader is invited to appreciate the importance of maps for understanding urban civilization. The author further celebrates maps as works of art which serve not only practical needs, but function as emblems of civic humanism.
The rediscovery of Ptolemy's Geography has long been hailed as a key moment in the emergence of Renaissance culture, symbolizing a new rational spatiality, and preparing the way for the Age of Discovery. And yet, the process of the Geography's introduction, integration and impact in Western Europe, as the essays in this volume collectively suggest, was more complex and less predictable than has been traditionally assumed. Whereas previously Ptolemy's maps attracted most scholarly attention, in this volume the textual tradition of the Geography - Ptolemy's text, added prefaces, annotations and treatises - stand at the centre. Bringing together a wealth of previously unexplored sources and con...