1581 / 1600 Bunting View of the Temple of Solomon

The Temple Revealed.

This is Heinrich Bünting's 1581 view of the Temple of Solomon in Jerusalem. This fascinating view appeared in Bünting's Itinerarium Sacrae, the first and for many years the only complete work of biblical geography. As such, this map's representation of the temple at the heart of Jerusalem would be for many years the armchair pilgrim's best visualization of that lost landmark.

A Closer Look

The temple is presented in oblique perspective, oriented to the south. (The cardinal directions are given at each side of the woodcut.) Bünting's work is derived from Biblical descriptions and the reports of 1st-century Roman historian Flavius Josephus.

Publication History and Census

This map first appeared in Bünting's Itinerarium in 1581 and appeared in the work's many editions for the rest of the century. The block appears in most editions of the work with various typographical changes. The present example, with the large font used for 'Guelden Dach des' conforms to the 1608 Magdeburg edition.

Cartographer

Heinrich Bünting (1545 – 1606) was a Protestant pastor and theologian. He was born in Hanover, and studied theology at the University of Wittenberg. He earned his Master's degree in 1569. He remained in Wittenberg as a pastor there, before being appointed to that same position at Alt Calenberg, in the service of the Dukes of Saxony. The estate was dissolved when the marriage of the Duchess Sidona and Duke Eric the Younger foundered, and Bünting became pastor in Gronau in 1575. In Gronau, he wrote his two major works - the 1581 Itinerarium Sacrae Scripturae, and the 1584 Brunswick and Lüneburg Chronicle. He produced a smaller work on Biblical coins and measures in 1582. He would briefly serve as superintendent in Goslar, but he would be dismissed as a result of theological differences. Stung, he returned to his hometown and changed to the less controversial profession of a beer brewer, until his death in 1606. The work for which he is best known, Itinerarium Sacrae Scripturae, was the first complete summary of biblical geography. It remained in print in more than sixty editions, long after his death. Earlier editions contain some of the most distinctive and sought after maps, most notably his map of the world in the shape of a cloverleaf, and an allegorical map of Asia in the form of a Pegasus.   Further Details...

Source

Bünting, Heinrich, Itinerarium Sacrae Scripturae, (Magdeburg: Kirchner) 1608.    

Condition

Very good. Margins close but complete. Marginal mend to bottom centerfold.

References

OCLC 1606095734. Not in Laor.