4 replies to this topic

[Martti Kujansuu]

Here's a sketch of the islands based on data from Ptolemy's book "Geography". I'm hoping to recreate his world map bit by bit using tools like reed pens and carbon ink (on modern paper).

I draw the sketch only to see how would the islands look so the lines are a bit sketchy! The lines along the coastline are resembling mouths of rivers and the little boxes are islands mentioned at the text.

Ptolemy: the Geography

Scetis = Isle of Skye
Dumna = Isle of Lewis
Toaliapis = Thanet
Counus = Canvey Island / Unknown
Vectis = Isle of Wight

Martti

Attached Files

•  kartta.png   47.9K   141 downloads

[Jean-Louis]

A very interesting project Martti.
The first thing that struck me was how computerish the lines looked. When I checked the link you included, I wondered if you simply traced the digital version.This would somewhat contradict the idea of redoing it in pen. Do you have a sample or a reference of how the original Ptolemy rendition of Britain looked? If you take the trouble of doing it in pen, I think you should try to replicate a looser rendition or even your own interpretation of a hand-drawn coastline rather than follow a vectorized version.

[Martti Kujansuu]

The first thing that struck me was how computerish the lines looked.

It's my scanner.

The first thing that struck me was how computerish the lines looked. When I checked the link you included, I wondered if you simply traced the digital version.This would somewhat contradict the idea of redoing it in pen. Do you have a sample or a reference of how the original Ptolemy rendition of Britain looked? If you take the trouble of doing it in pen, I think you should try to replicate a looser rendition or even your own interpretation of a hand-drawn coastline rather than follow a vectorized version.

The original maps are lost in time so all the maps out there are based on the coordinates from the book. This is the reason my version looks like the same as the one at the Web. For the final version I'll use more colors (red for the cities, blue band for the coastline and some green on the inland?) and more loose line and maybe some reference from satellite photos for the islands.

Martti

[DaveB]

Do you know about the Swiss researchers and Ptolemy?

Of course, there have been maps made from Ptolemy's work in the past, such as this one. I guess some of those mappers interpolated a bit...

[Martti Kujansuu]

Added a little bit of French coastline.

Attached Files

•  GBkartta.jpg   61.4K   29 downloads