- Title: Mappa Maris Mediterranei
- Author: Athanasius Kircher
- Date: 1665
- Medium: Copperplate engraving
- Condition: Very Good - age toning, tide marks lower margin, surface dirt, issued center fold
- Inches: 22 1/2 x 14 1/2 [Paper]
- Centimeters: 57.15 x 36.83 [Paper]
- Product ID: 100501
Mappa Maris Mediterranei Fluxus Currentes et Naturam Motionum explicans.
Map of the Mediterranean Sea by Athanasius Kircher detailing his interpretations of its currents. Labeled regions include Africa, Libya, Egypt, Palestine, Asia Minor, Cyprus, Crete, Greece, Macedonia, Italy, Sicily, Corsica, Sardinia, Venice, Majorca, France ('Gallia'), and Germany. Topographic features include the Alps, the Strait of Gibraltar, the Adriatic Sea, the Nile River, the Red Sea, the Black Sea, and part of the Caspian Sea.
Athanasius Kircher (1602-1680) was a celebrated Jesuit Scholar and one of the first compilers of semi-scientific knowledge about the physical features of the Earth. His interpretations were based on personal observations and beliefs about how the world's geological systems worked. He suggested the tides and currents of the ocean flowed through subterranean tunnels, and that mountains represented the exposed skeletal structure of the Earth.