1770 Delisle de Sales Map of the Retreat of the Ten Thousand Greeks
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Description: This is a fascinating example of the 1770 Jean-Baptiste-Claude Delisle de Sales' map of Turkey illustrating the historic Retreat of the Ten Thousand Greeks. This map was drawn as a record of the History of Greece. From 401 BC and 399 BC, a group of ten thousand Greek mercenaries marched to the battle of Cunaxa (Connaxa). The mercenaries, under the command of Cyrus the Younger, hoped to unseat the Persian king Artaxerxes II in favor of Cyrus. The Greeks marched from the Agaean coast inland as far as Mesopotamia where the forces of Artaxerxes II were crushed. The military victory however, proved pointless as Cyrus himself was slain in the battle. Several important cities, rivers, mountains and other topographical details are noted. This map was issued as part of Delisle de Sales' Histoire des hommes. Partie de l'Histoire Ancienne. Becasue most of Sales' work was burnt under the censorship of heresy, this volume is exceedingly rare.
Date: 1770 (undated)
Source: Delisle de Sales, Histoire des Hommes. Partie de l'Histoire Ancienne (Paris) 1770.
Cartographer: Jean-Baptiste-Claude Delisle de Sales or Jean-Baptiste Isoard de Lisle (1741–1816) was a French philosopher, historian, and heretic active in the late 18th century). Sales is best known for his publication of the multi-volume opus The Philosophy of Nature: Treatise on Human Moral Nature. The work, among other ideas, challenged the Biblical theory that the earth was created in 4004 BC. Instead, Sales asserted, supposedly based upon astronomical observations, that the earth was 140,000 years old. Sales' revolutionary ideas saw him heretic and his works were censored, and for the most part destroyed, by the Catholic Church. Consequently all of his works are extremely rare. Sales was also, notably, a close friend of Voltaire who in 1777 visited him in prison, gifting him 500 pounds towards his release. Delisle de Sales is unrelated to the more famous De L'Isle family of cartographers. Click here for a list of rare maps by Jean-Baptiste-Claude Delisle.
Size: Printed area measures 13.5 x 9 inches (34.29 x 22.86 centimeters)
Condition: Very good. Blank on verso. Minor wear along original centerfold. Some offsetting. Minor damage near lower left border. Professionally flattened and backed with archival tissue.
Code: TenThousandRetreat-sales-1770 (to order by phone call: 646-320-8650)
