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Works that focused on the islands of Mediterranean, known under the title of “Isolario,” flourished in the 15th and 16th centuries and included both maps and island lore.

In the example above, Vincenzo Coronelli of Venice, one of the leading mapmakers of the early 18th century, situates the extent of modern Athens within the context of its ancient ruins. ( Coronelli’s work is well represented in Princeton’s Historic Maps collection.) Given the significance of ancient Greece for the European renaissance and the Mediterranean Sea for early modern commerce, it is hardly surprising that the Balkan peninsula and its surrounding islands were the frequent focus of mapmakers. Greece was often depicted to reflect the geography found in its ancient authors, but sometimes these maps were supplemented by more contemporary detail. Tabula topographica Athenarum veterum et novarum (1720?). His observations and calculations, both his own and those he borrowed from earlier traditions, formed the basis of early attempts to graphically represent the earth’s land masses. The first maps printed in Europe were included in editions of his Geographia, of which Princeton owns several. The history of Western cartography begins with the works of Ptolemy, a second-century, Greek-speaking native of Alexandria, who wrote widely on mathematics, astronomy, and geography. This collection documents the entire history of early modern cartography and includes examples of all types and from all periods and centers of production up to present day. Seeger Hellenic Fund has also contributed to the acquisition of almost 300 maps, which make up a significant portion of Princeton’s online and Historic Maps collections related to the Hellenic world. In addition to its support of the purchase of thousands of books and manuscripts, the Stanley J. Princeton’s Hellenic Studies collections are renowned for their breadth and depth and for the variety of their material formats.

Written by David Jenkins, Classics, Hellenic Studies, and Linguistics Librarian

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This series highlights the impact of Seeger’s gift on the collections of Princeton University Library and the research opportunities they afford.

’52 transformed Hellenic Studies at Princeton University. Photo by Princeton University Libraryįorty years ago, a gift from Stanley J. Woodcut of the Balkan peninsula from Claudii Ptolemaei Geographicae enarrationis libri octo (1525).

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