Rome as “Part of the Heavens”? Leon Battista Alberti’s Descriptio urbis Romae (ca. 1450) and Ptolemy’s Almagest

In his Descriptio urbis Romae, Leon Battista Alberti provides step-by-step instructions for how to draw the outlines of Rome. The image transmitted through Alberti's text is so accurate that it is justly described as the first "map" of Rome after the Forma Urbis (3rd c. CE). Alberti&#...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of the history of ideas 2023, Vol.84 (1), p.1-27
Main Author: Schwab, Maren Elisabeth
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
15th century
2nd century
Accuracy
Alberti, Leon Battista (1404-1472)
Astronomy
Cities
Geography
Italian literature
Latin language
Ptolemy (Claudius Ptolemaeus)
Rome
Translation
Visualization
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Description
Summary:In his Descriptio urbis Romae, Leon Battista Alberti provides step-by-step instructions for how to draw the outlines of Rome. The image transmitted through Alberti's text is so accurate that it is justly described as the first "map" of Rome after the Forma Urbis (3rd c. CE). Alberti's idea was sparked by the renewed reading of the works of Claudius Ptolemy: the Geography, but also-as I argue for the first time-the Almagest. I show how this image blends the ways that terrestrial and celestial territories are commonly depicted and gives a fresh interpretation of this cosmologically overdetermined city.
ISSN:0022-5037
1086-3222
1086-3222
DOI:10.1353/jhi.2023.0000