Bowen   1740                         

               
                           
                                          
                Sicard c 1690                 c1810                        c1786                    Dunn 1774      

                                 
                D'Anville,1738                  c1820                   Tallis c 1850             Clarke,1811
                             
                               
               Map, circa 1760           Lavoisnes 1813           Cary, 1836               Fuller 1650 

                                                                                       
                                      ANCIENT EGYPT  -  LAND OF THE PHARAOHS      

        The history of maps is as old as the history of man,necessary for hunting and escape, necessary to assert property as well as to plan freedom. In old maps history breathes again before you. The earliest maps were not printed, but hand-drawn manuscripts usually on parchment or animal skins.
        Undoubtedly the greatest influence on mapping was Claudius Ptolemy the Egyptian astronomer and mathematician from Alexandria, who as early as the 2nd century, produced a set of twenty-seven manuscript maps of the known world, which were the basis of all maps for the following fourteen hundred years. It was the second half of the 15th century that maps began to be printed, but it was not until the 16th century that printing methods had improved sufficiently for maps to be made in any quantity, printed mainly from engraved copper plates. The most famous map publisher of this period was Abraham Ortelius from Antwerp who produced the earliest large scale map of Ancient Egypt published in 1584. This map illustrates most accurately what was the Kingdom of the Egyptian Pharaohs.    
        In 1988 Edinburgh was host to the most memorable exhibition to come to Scotland, 'Gold of the Pharaohs', a fascinating display of treasures from Tanis, an ancient capital city of Egypt and residence of the Tanite Pharaohs. The first excavations at Tanis in the 1880s uncovered the remains of many buildings, but it was not until the 1920s that Pierre Montet a French archaeologist working at this site, discovered an ancient burial chamber in 1939. It was in this chamber that Montet found the tombs of several Pharaohs. The treasures taken from these Royal tombs, including the striking funeral mask of Psusennes 1, comprised the 'Gold of the Pharaohs' exhibition. To coincide with this exhibition a facsimile map was produced of Ortelius's map and never before had this important map been reproduced so accurately or to such exacting standards, a breathtaking map of Egypt with its delicate colours and intricate detail and a constant reminder to those who visited the 'Gold of the Pharaohs'   exhibition.
 
                    
                
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