This beautifully hand coloured original antique map of Greece was published by Abraham Ortelius in the 1st edition 1570 Latin edition of Theatrum Orbis Terrarum.
According to Marcel van den Broecke author and expert on Ortelius maps 7550 of these maps were originally published and there is an estimated 175 loose copies in circulation today.

From the early days of map-making, cartographers have always had a keen interest he mapping of Greece and of the particular continental and insular Greek areas. In other words the "Greek chorography", as it is often called had been a cartographic item of special importance, both in manuscript and printed cartography, the later having produced an impressive number of Greek maps. All of these have been include in almost all the European Atlases and travel books, since the first printed edition of Ptolemy's Gepgraphia in1447. This prominent presence of Greece in the field of European cartography is due to various historic, political and cultural reasons.
In the first place, the Eastern Mediterranean basin has been for many centuries the center of the civilized European world and, consequently, an area of special attraction. It was only natural, therefore, that from the early days journeys to Greece made necessary the cartographic description of the region. The relevant mapping of the ancients was followed up and developed by the efficient Byzantium administration, thus providing a rich material which was later used by European cartographers of the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries.
Secondly, like any other artistic and scientific activity of the period under review, cartography was influenced by and reflected intense interest in Greece, enhanced by the revival of Greek culture and the flourishing of Classical studies during and after the renaissance.
Finally, the prolific production of Greek maps is due to the fact that, quite often cartographers used to delineate "historical" maps of Greece, with the ancient nomenclature and state structure, based manly on the Ptolemaic cartography and the works of all the classical authors, as well "contemporary" ones, which were the outcome of the journeys of travelers, merchants and intellectuals at the time. Greece was usually depicted as a province of the Ottoman empire or the Greek Islands as territories of the Venetian republic. Hence the distinction between maps of "Graecia Antiqua" and maps of "Graecia Nova" or "European Turkey" or "Southern part of Turkey in Europe" and the use of such Latin explanatory terms as "Olim" (formerly) and "Nunc" (presently) for the identification of places, according to their ancient (Greek, Latin) or contemporary (modern Greek, Turkish, Slavic, Italian) names.

For the first time, in 1570, all the elements of the modern Atlas were brought to publication  in Abraham Ortelius' Theatrum Orbis Terrarum. This substantial undertaking assembled fifty-three of the best available maps of the world by the most renowned and up to date geographers.
Unlike earlier compositions, such as the Italian composite or "Lafreri" Atlases, each of Ortelius' maps was engraved specifically for his Atlas according to uniform format. Through its launching, pre-eminence in map publishing was transferred from Italy to the Netherlands, leading to over a hundred years of Dutch supremacy in all facts of cartographical production.   There were a total of 7300 copies of Theatrum  published between 1570 - 1612 from 31 editions. (Ref: Van Den Broecke; Tooley)

General Description:
Paper thickness and quality: - Light and stable
Paper color: - off white
Age of map color: - Original
Colors used: - Yellow, green, blue, pink
General color appearance: - Authentic
Paper size: - 21 1/2in x 16in (550mm x 405mm)
Plate size: - 20 1/2in x 14 1/2in (520mm x 370mm)
Margins: - Min 1/2in (12mm)

Imperfections:
Margins: - Uniform age toning in margins
Plate area: - Bottom 12cm of the centerfold re-joined, no loss. Small repair to Massio Island off Turkish coast
Verso: - Repairs as noted above

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