Map of Phoenicia, Mesopotamia, and Babylonia

The map is a late Ptolemaic chart depicting Phoenicia, Mesopotamia, and Babylonia, following the geographical tradition of Claudius Ptolemy, transmitted in a Humanistic Latin version from around the 15th century. The territory is rendered in Ptolemaic projection, with the eastern Mediterranean coast, Persian Gulf, and Red Sea outlined in blue, and a dense network of ancient Latin toponyms derived from the coordinates of the original Geographia. Mountains are stylized as brown chains, while rivers like the Euphrates and Tigris flow in sinuous lines southwards, emphasizing the Mesopotamian valley. The sheet, made of parchment, was likely part of a luxury atlas intended for educated patrons in Renaissance Italy, interested in identifying ancient locations on the biblical and classical landscape.

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