THE MAP OF DACIA BY ABRAHAM ORTELIUS

DOINA IONESCU 1, ELENI ROVITHIS-LIVANIOU.2

1
Astronomical Institute of the Romanian Academy
Str. Cuitul de Argint 5, 040557 Bucharest, Romania
E-mail: [email protected]
2

Department of Astrophysics, Astronomy and Mechanics

Faculty of Physics, Athens University
Panepistimiopolis, Zografos 157 84, Athens, Greece
E-mail: [email protected]

Abstract. The paper attempts to make short presentations of the famous cartographic
representation of the territory of Dacia, the heart of the ancestors of the Romanian people.
This will be achieved via a historical approach of two such maps: the one made by Abraham
Ortelius and the ancient one of Claudius Ptolemy.
Key words: cartography maps maps of Romania.

1. INTRODUCTION

During the period of the Renaissance the rediscovery of the Latin and Greek
classics, the appearance of the printing press and of the techniques of cartographic
engraving (in copper), the development of mathematical cartography, as well as the
development of observational instruments and of technique in general led to more precise
cartographic measurements and to a special evolution of the science of cartography.
Especially in the 16th century cartography registered a great progress from ancient
historical cartography. Based on the work of ancient scholars and geographers, such as
Strabon, Renaissance maps represented the world in a more comprehensive manner,
under the form of atlases. Abraham Ortelius created the first modern atlas of the world,
by putting together all ancient sources available. It was a piece of cartography that served
geographers and cartographers many decades from then on. It also preserved for posterity
historical and geographical sources that otherwise might had been lost.
On the other hand, many centuries ago, Claudius Ptolemy had made a map of the
world known at that time, (2nd century AD). Thus, in the following we shall present these
two great geographers, their work, as well as their historical maps limited to the area
covered by Romania today. Furthermore, we shall examine and compare the areas in
Rom. Astron. J., Vol. 21, No. 2, p. 000000, Bucharest, 2011

Doina IONESCU, Eleni ROVITHIS-LIVANIOU

which the Gets and Dacians lived along with the areas presented in the two foregoing
mentioned maps.

2. ABOUT THE WORK OF ABRAHAM ORTELIUS

Ortelius is generally recognized as the creator of the first modern atlas, the
Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, (Theater of the World). This is considered the first true atlas
in the modern sense: a collection of uniform map sheets and sustaining text bound to
form a book for which copper printing plates were specifically engraved. It was published
in a first edition in 1570, in Latin, and consisted of seventy maps (56 of Europe, 10 of
Asia and 4 of Africa) on fifty three sheets with accompanying texts. By 1612 it was
issued in 31 editions and due to the fact that Ortelius constantly improved it, it came to
number 167 maps and 183 references.
The atlas is sometimes referred to as the summary of sixteenth-century cartography.
Many of the atlas maps were based upon sources that no longer exist or are extremely
rare. More than an original concept, Theatrum Orbis Terrarum was also the most
authoritative and successful such work during the late sixteenth and early seventeenth
centuries. Cut to uniform size and printed as a single-sized compilation of maps,
historical narratives and source references, the atlas was from the start an unprecedented
encyclopedic description of the world. Ortelius was not only a historical geographer, but
also a great empirical scientist and the maps were logically organized to represent
continents, groups of regions and nation states, with a text providing relevant information
and further references. For the first time so far maps were represented according to the
scale of the format adopted.

Fig. 1 The map of Dacia by Ortelius, 1612.

Map of Dacia by Abraham Ortelius

There is a map of Dacia included by Ortelius into the historical section of the book
of maps Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, called Parergon sive Veteris Geographiae Tabulae
(Addenda to the Theater of the World or the Maps of Old Geography), started in 1578.
Parergon is the Greek word and means secondary work, not the principal
one. The map is called Daciarum, Mosesiarumque vetus description, (A Description of
Dacia and Moesia), and was made in 1595. It was engraved on a cartoon with a copper
printing plate and has the size of 35.2 cm 46.3 cm. It was rendered at a scale of
1:3,000,000. It was issued several times, the reproduction presented here being printed in
1612, (Fig. 1). It is accompanied by an explicative text in Latin printed on the back of the
map. It was inspired from ancient authors such as Herodotus, Strabon, Plinius, Jordanes.
The territory named Dacia had the following boundaries: N- the Carpathian
Mountains, S-W the course of the Danube, E- the mouths of the Danube flowing into
the Black Sea. It was a territory inhabited by a branch of Thracians called Gets.
Herodotus called the inhabitants of these territories , Gets, saying that they lived
on both sides of the river Danube. Strabon in his work with the title ,
Geographica, made the distinction between the Gets that inhabited the eastern part of the
above mentioned territory and the Dacians situated to the west: But there is also
another division of the country, because some of the people are called , Dacians,
whereas others are called , Gets. Gets: these who lived to east and the Pontus and
Dacians: those who incline in the opposite direction towards Germany and the
fountains of the river Istrus. The strength of the nation of the Gets got its maximum
during Boirebista times, and although was injured (diminished) by their disagreements
and by the Roman attacks, they are able to prepare 40,000 men for the army,
(Strabon, Geographica, VII, Chapter 3, 12).
And Strabon continues: Their whole country is crossed by the river Marisos,
which is finally flowing into the Danube; and the Romans used this river to carry
supplies to their army in case of war. Actually the Romans called Danube the upper
part of the river, from its fountains, the falls, and the part crossing the Dacians
country. Its down (lower) part that crosses the Gets country till Pontus they called
Istrus, (Geographica, VII, Chapter 3, 13).
Strabon continues referring that the Gets and the Dacians had the same language,
and that they had a strong nation in the past: The language of the Dacians is the same
as that of the Gets. The Greeks know better the Gets, because they move continuously
from one side of the Istrus to the other, and because they are intermingled with the
Moisians. The same happens with the other Thracian race, the Trivallous. The nation
of the Gets and Dacians was so strong that was capable to send outside their country
200.000 soldiers (fighters). This number has been now limited to 40.000 at the most.
Thus, they have been almost subdued by the Romans; but they have not been entirely
submitted, because they hope to the Germans who are Romans enemies,
(Geographica, VII, Chapter 3, 13).

Doina IONESCU, Eleni ROVITHIS-LIVANIOU

Strabon describes the Gets plain, too: Between the Gets and the coasts of
Pontus, which is extended from Istrus to Tyra, there is the so called Gets plain, a big
plain without water, (Geographica, VII, Chapter 3, 14).
Strabon refers, too: Well, the ancient Greeks considered the Gets as being
Thracians. They lived originally on both banks of the (river) Istrus, together with the
Myssians, or Moissians, as are now called, who are Thracians, too...,
(Geographica, VII, Chapter 3, 2).
Moesia was the territory south of the Danube, controlled mostly by the GetDacians, as mentioned also by Strabon and also the first Dacian territory occupied by the
Romans in the 1st century BC. The name of the region comes from Moesi, ThracoDacian peoples who lived there before the Roman conquest.
The map of Dacia by Abraham Ortelius includes much geographical, historical and
ethnographic information about the Gets and Dacia gathered from the ancient Greek and
Roman historians and also from the geographer Claudius Ptolemy. This map is decorated
with three Latin text cartouches. The one on the lower left side comprises the names of
Dacians places, waters and mountains. Another text cartouche in the upper right corner
mentions that Ortelius was librarian to the Duke of Bavarias court. On the lower right
side are recorded 4 verses written by the poet Ovidius (exiled on the shore of the Black
Sea in the 1st century BC), where he praises the Get-Dacians bravery. Villages and
towns are shown as miniature views. The capital Sarmizegetusa is located for the first
time on a map on the river Sargetia, a short note in Latin saying that Sargetia flu in
quo Decebalus rex thesaurus occultaverat, namely that the river Sargetia was the
place where king Decebal had buried his treasure. It is a historical map of Dacia covering
mainly the territory in the southern part of present day Romania, (i.e. the territory south
of the Carpathian Mountains, also called Wallachia) and also a part of the territory of
present day Bulgaria. These areas are placed between 4058 longitude and 4350
latitude. Although the longitude is totally wrong, the latitude coordinates are quite
approximate, as the present coordinates of Romania are situated between 20 15' and 29
41' eastern longitude and 43 37' and 48 15' northern latitude. This was certainly due to
the fact that from the time of Claudius Ptolemy to the epoch of Ortelius, most
cartographers had agreed on latitude, which was calculated starting from the equator, but
there was no agreement yet on longitude.
The starting point to count the geographic longitude, i.e. the first meridian, was the
, Makaroi Islands, i.e. the Islands of Happiness, which now are
called Canary Islands. It was defined so by Ptolemy, because these islands were the
Western known inhabitable world in his times. More accurately, according to Ptolemy,
the first meridian was that crossing the Hierra island. Later, some of the new geographers
rather from ambition and not because of any other reason did not continue to use this
ancient meridian, but they moved it to other places causing useless confusion, (

Map of Dacia by Abraham Ortelius

, , , Notaras,
Introduction to Geographical and Spherical, Part , Chapter H). And Notaras
continues: Stevin, for instance, defined the first meridian from the mount Pico at the
Tenerife island, which although one of the Canary Islands, is far from Hierra about
5.5. Similarly, some others defined it to pass via the Cove and Flores Islands that
belong to the Azores. Thus, Ptolemy first meridian is 5.5 western than this defined by
Sevin, and 9.5 eastern than that defined by the others.

3. THE MAP OF DACIA BY CLAUDIUS PTOLEMY

Earlier maps had been based on the work of Claudius Ptolemy, title
, i.e. Narration of Geography recorded the classical Greek geographic
knowledge in the second century AD and was the chief source for cartographic
publications in the early Renaissance era.
Ptolemys Narration of Geography is extremely important due to that it introduced
the mechanism of cartographic projections, thus facilitating the technique of cartographic
representation.The projection is not only a piece of geographical knowleddge. It is the
instrument for the representation of a point, a region, independently of localization or the
dimension of the area represented. It introduces the principle of analogy in the
representation of the terrestrial landscape forms. Consequently, projection is a method of
universal description of the world.
It is well known that Ptolemy was the first one to make the distinction between
, choros and , topos, i.e. between location and region. According to
Ptolemy, geography does not mean chorography (the qualitative description of the world)
but topography and cartography (the description of the world by means of the projection
techniques) through the principle of the analogies. To western civilisation, as well as to
the evolution of geography, Ptolemys work is of capital importance, as it generated a
mathematical tradition that meant a great progress from philosophical and historical
geography.
Claudius Ptolemys main reference for the map of Dacia included in his work
Narration of Geography was Marinos von Tyros, a geographer who lived at the
beginning of the 2nd century, the first one who determined the longitude and the latitude
of land places. Marinos von Tyros sources of inspiration are not very well known. It is
believed that he used Roman military maps, Emperor Trajans writings on his wars with
the Dacians and the maps draw by the Roman general and cartographer Vispanius
Agrippa, in 12 BC.
According to Ptolemy To the north Dacia borders on that part of the European
Sarmatia that stretches from the Carpathian mountains to the mentioned branch of the
river Tyras, which, as I have already stated, is placed at 534830. To the west Dacia

Doina IONESCU, Eleni ROVITHIS-LIVANIOU

borders on the Metanasti Iazigis people, along the river Tibiscos, and to the east on
that part of the river Danube that flows from the outflow of the river Tibiscos up to
Axiopolis, from there up to Pont and to its mouths the Danube is called Istrus
(Narration of Geography, III, 8,1).
One can see that Ptolemy gave an almost accurate latitude (48) for the river Tisa
(Tyras). He also gave the positions and the names of 15 Get-Dacian tribes ordained on
three columns, as well as the names and positions of other tribes situated in Moesia
Inferior, also of Get-Dacian origin. Besides these, Ptolemy quoted a number of 42 places
in Dacia and in Moesia, whose names ended in dava and for some of these he also
indicated the latitude and the longitude. He also wrote down places with Roman names.
Sarmizegetusa is called , basileion=kingdom. The limits of Dacia are much
more modest than those presented in the texts of Agrippa or Strabon, but much more
extended than those of the Roman province with the same name.
The Dacia described by Ptolemy seems to correspond to a large extent to the Dacia
ruled by king Decebalus (the last Dacian king) in the 1st century AD, before the Roman
conquest. The northern border is represented by the Carpathian Mountains. The western
frontier is the river Tisa, to the south the border is the Danube and to the east is the river
Siret. The eastern border is also made up of the shore of the Black Sea but an analysis of
Ptolemys map of Dacia shows that the country of the Dacians extended, in his opinion,
only up to the mouths of the Danube. A detailed analysis of Ptolemys text led to the
conclusion that it presents the situation of Dacia from the 1st century AD, but it also
reflects older situations.

Fig. 2 Ptolemys map.

Map of Dacia by Abraham Ortelius

4. CONCLUSION

The Gets or the Dacians, according to various ancient historical sources, the
ancestors of the Romanian people, made a name for themselves in ancient history. Their
deeds, character, as well as the territory they inhabited, found a way into the greatest
records of world history such as the representations of the world made by Claudius
Ptolemy. From there they entered Renaissance European culture through authors such as
Abraham Ortelius. Thus, in spite of their tumultuous history and initial lack of native
records, the Romanian peoples ancient hearth became a part of the world heritage. From
the epoch of Claudius Ptolemy until that of Abraham Ortelius cartography survived
mainly due to the historical and geographical records. It was the way in which the first
maps of Dacia have come down to us, along with other world geographical
representations, all due to brilliant traits of the human genius at the start of a new
domain: scientific cartography.
Acknowledgments. The topic of the paper was presented at the annual session of the Astronomical
Institute, Modern Topics in Astronomy, of 28 November, 2010.

APPENDIX

In this Appendix, short information concerning the various ancient philosophers

and authors is given in alphabetic order.
Jordanes: 6th century Roman historian of Got origin, born in Moesia (mid 6th
century). His major works are Romana about the history of Rome and Getica (551 AD)
about the early history of the Goths. In Getica he mistook the Gets for the ancestors of
the Goth people.
Herodotus (484420 BC): He is known as the Alikarnaseus, as he was born at this
town of Asia Minor. Alikarnassos is today named Bodrum. He is also called father of
History, because he was the first who wrote the History till the Persian wars.
Marinos von Tyros or Marinos of Tyr: Roman cartographer and geographer
whose works date from the end of the 1st century and the beginning of the second.
Notaras Chryssanthos (1665?1731): Patriarch of Jerusalem, 17071731. His
origin was famous Notaras family from Constantinople, and he was born in a small town
at Peloponnesus, Greece. He got excellent education at various European centres where
he studied from Theology to Geography and Astronomy. Considered as one of the most
educated persons of his epoch, and published the first universal map in the Greek
language. He organized both the elementary and the higher education not only in some
places of Greece as well as in Jerusalem, but at Jassy and Bucharest, too.
Ortelius Abraham (15271598): Flemish scholar, mathematician, cartographer

Doina IONESCU, Eleni ROVITHIS-LIVANIOU

and geographer. He is known as the creator of the first modern atlas of the world (1570)
and for the first issuing of the theory of continental drift.
Plinius Gaius Secundus (23 AD79 AD), better known as Pliny the Elder. He
was Roman author, naturalist and natural philosopher. He investigated and wrote on
natural and geographic phenomena. His major work is called Naturalis Historia.
Ptolemy Claudius (108160/168): Great mathematician, astronomer and
geographer. He born either at Pilousio, or at Ptolemaes, and died at Kanovos. Except his
great and significant work , Great Mathematical
Treasure, mostly known with its Arabic title: Al Mageste, i.e. the Great he has also
written , Narration of Geography, in which he described the
Earths surface known in his times. He also prepared a quit accurate universal map. The
latter was published at Vasileia, Switzerland, in 1545, while his whole work was
published in the same place, in 1551.
Stevin Simon (15481620): Flemish mathematician and physicist, professor at the
University of Leaden. His works were made mainly on mechanics.
Strabon (64/63 BC 23 AD): Greek geographer and historian. His work
Geographica has been a trustworthy source for archaeology.
Vispanius Agrippa: (12th century BC), Roman politician and general, also the
son-in-law of Augustus. Renowned cartographer, the author of a work on geography and
cartography called Commentaries and of the most comprehensive world map drew up so
far.

REFERENCES
Crian, I. H.: 2009, Civilizaia geto-dacilor, Ed. Dacica, Bucureti.
, Notaras Chryssanthos Introduction to
Geographical and Spherical, first edition Paris 1716 and new edition
Athens 2010, (in Greek language).
Oltean, D: 2009, Religia dacilor, Ed. Saeculum, Bucureti.
Ortelius, A.: 2009, Harta Daciei, Ed. Dacica, Bucureti.
, Strabon, Geographica, Chapter 3,
, 1, ,
, 1975, (in Greek language).
Received on 28 January 2011