Ptolemy's World Map

Ptolemy was an ancient geographer working in Rome in the 2nd century AD. This famous map, that attempted to comprehend the entirety of the known world at the time, came from his popular and influential book "Geographia." Like all maps now, Ptolemy accounted for space in ways that geographers had never done before, based on mathematical calculations, offering coordinates for lands and cities while giving viewers a comprehensive sense of the size of the earth. His map would go on to influence later, medieval mapmakers once it was rediscovered during the Renaissance in the 15th century.