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1784 Bocage Map of the Battle of Plataea, Ancient Greece

BattleofPlataea-bocage-1791
$87.50
Essai sur la Bataille de platee Pour le Voyage du Jeune Anacharsis dresse uniquement sur le rapport des Auteurs Anciens. - Main View
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1784 Bocage Map of the Battle of Plataea, Ancient Greece

BattleofPlataea-bocage-1791


Title


Essai sur la Bataille de platee Pour le Voyage du Jeune Anacharsis dresse uniquement sur le rapport des Auteurs Anciens.
  1784 (dated)     9.5 x 14.5 in (24.13 x 36.83 cm)

Description


This is a fascinating 1784 map showing the Battle of Plataea by Barbie du Bocage. The battle of Plataea occurred in 479 BC and was the last battle in the second Persian invasion of Greece. It took place near the city of Plataea in Boeotia, and was fought by an alliance of the Greek city-states, including Sparta, Athens, Corinth and Megara, against the Persian empire of Xerxes I. The map features Mount Cithaeron, where the tide of the battle turned. It also notes the camp of Madonius, the Temple of Ceres, Road to Thespiae, Temple of Apollo, and other important landmarks. The battle concluded with a large portion of the Persian army trapped in their camp where they were slaughtered, essentially brining the invasion to a close. Prepared by M. Barbie de Bocage, after D'Anville, in 1784 to illustrate the Travels of Anacharsis.

Anacharsis was a Scythian philosopher who travelled from his homeland on the northern shores of the Black Sea to Athens in the early 6th century BCe. Apparently he made a great impression on the Greeks, who considered him a forthright, outspoken 'barbarian. He is considered a forerunner of the Cynics.

Cartographer


Jean Denis Barbie du Bocage (1760 - 1825) and his son Jean-Guillaume Barbie du Bocage (1795 - 1848) were French cartographers and cosmographers active in Paris during late 18th and early 19th centuries. The elder Barbie du Bocage, Jean Denis, was trained as a cartographer and engraver in the workshops of mapmaking legend J. B. B. d'Anville. At some point Jean Denis held the post of Royal Librarian of France and it was through is associations with d'Anville that the d'Anville collection of nearly 9000 maps was acquired by French Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The younger Barbie du Bocage, Jean-Guillaume, acquired a position shortly afterwards at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and, in time, became its head, with the title of Geographe du Ministere des Affaires Etrangeres. More by this mapmaker...

Source


Barbie du Bocage, J. D., Recueil de Cartes Geographiques Plans, Vues, et Medailles de l'Ancienne Grece, Reelatifs au Voyage du Jeune Anacharsis., (Paris, Chez Sanson et Compagnie), 1791.    

Condition


Very good. Original platemark visible. Original centerfold. Blank on verso. Dark clean impression.