Claudius Ptolomaeus’ Cosmography: a source of knowledge donated by the emperor D. Pedro II to the National Library

Abstract

The Geographia, by Claudius Ptolomaeus, an amount of knowledge donated by the emperor D. Pedro II to the National Library, constitutes a multiple work of a peculiar feature: the text is almost totally composed of toponyms (8.000) but the ideas expressed are so important that although being written in the II Century B. C., thus near the turn of the century (1472-1475), it is republished in Latin, considered the language of culture at that moment. Two aspects were chosen to be studied here: 1. The life of the work since its first publication, up to the beginning of the Middle Ages, its survival supported by the innovating ideas in the elaboration of maps, which are the source of great questionings about the geographic space in the period of the great discoveries. Written in Alexandria, in Roman Egypt, the Geographia called the Arab’s attention, in the IX Century, and in the beginning of the XV (1406), translated into Latin, it is presented in Europe as codex manuscript. In this century a number of handwritten copies were made and they are still preserved. In the last quarter of the century (1472/1475) the first editions in closed version were published, all in Latin. 2. Linguistic commentaries and analysis of the characteristics of the 1486 edition, of the collection of Empress Thereza Christina Maria, donated by the emperor D. Pedro II to the National Library.