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Detailed map of the lands of the Tribe of Naphtali in the Holy Land, from Christian van Adrichom's Theatrum Terrae Sanctae, first published in 1590.
Following the completion of the conquest of Canaan by the Israelite tribes after about 1200 BCE, Joshua allocated the land among the twelve tribes. The Tribe of Naphtali was allocated the eastern side of the Galilee (on the immediate west of the Sea of Galilee), in the areas now known as the Lower Galilee, and Upper Galilee, and was bordered on the west by Asher, in the north by Dan, in the south by Zebulun, and by the Jordan River in the east. (Joshua 19:32-39) The most significant city was Hazor.
In this region, bordering the Sea of Galilee, was the highly fertile plain of Gennesaret, characterized by Josephus as the ambition of nature, an earthly paradise, and with the southern portion of the region acting as a natural pass between the highlands of Canaan, several major roads (such as those from Damascus to Tyre and Acre) ran through it. The prosperity this situation brought is seemingly prophesied in the Blessing of Moses, though textual scholars view this as a post diction, dating the poem to well after the tribe had been established in the land.
The Theatrum Terrae Sanctae was an atlas and history of the Holy Land and was Adrichom's most important and famous work. Born in Delft, Christian Kruik van Adrichem, or Christianus Crucius Adrichomius, was a priest and theologian. Adrichom worked for thirty years on his three-part history of the Holy Land, but only published the first part, Urbis Hierosolyma Depicta, during his lifetime. The remaining two parts were published posthumously by Georg Braun in 1590, with subsequent editions in 1593, 1600, 1613, 1628, and 1682.
The Theatrum Terrae Sanctae contained 12 maps and plans: one of the Holy Land, nine of territories of the Tribes of Israel, one of the Exodus, and a town plan of Jerusalem.
Christian Kruik van Adrichem, or Christianus Crucius Adrichomius, was a Dutch Catholic priest, theologian, and biblical geographer whose Theatrum Terrae Sanctae et Biblicarum Historiarum (Cologne, 1590) became one of the most influential sacred atlases of the early modern period. Ordained in 1566, he served as Director of the Convent of St. Barbara in Delft until the upheavals of the Protestant Reformation forced his expulsion. He spent the remainder of his life in exile, dying in Cologne in 1585.
Van Adrichem's Theatrum—first published posthumously in 1590 by Gerardus Bruyns, canon of Deventer—offers a detailed historical and theological description of the Holy Land, including its biblical geography, a chronology from Adam to the death of John the Apostle (109 AD), and a study of Jerusalem and its sacred sites. The work was part of a broader Catholic effort to reclaim biblical narrative through scholarship and printing in response to Protestant interpretations. It was reprinted multiple times (1593, 1600, 1613, and 1682), translated widely, and became a model for sacred cartography for more than a century.
The Theatrum is particularly valuable for its twelve engraved maps, including a detailed plan of Jerusalem and individual maps of the territories of the Twelve Tribes. These were widely copied, adapted, and reissued by leading Dutch cartographers such as Jodocus Hondius, Johannes Janssonius, Nicolaes Visscher, and Daniel Stoopendaal. Van Adrichem's account is also important as it draws on now-lost sources—including a description of Jerusalem by his brother-in-law, Ysbrand Godfriedsz.—making it a document of lasting relevance to the historical geography of Palestine and Israel.
In addition to the Theatrum, Van Adrichem authored the Vita Jesu Christi (Antwerp, 1578), a devotional life of Christ. His legacy lies in the enduring influence of his biblical geography, which helped shape both confessional cartography and European understanding of the biblical world well into the 18th century.
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