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Description

The 11 Regions of Italy During Roman Times -- Including Roman Roads

Rare map of ancient Italy, engraved by Joanne Baptiste Liebaux for Guillaume De L'Isle in 1715.

The map illustrates the 11 regions of Italy established by Augustus.  At the beginning of the Roman Imperial era, Italy was a collection of territories with different political statuses. Some cities, called municipia, had some independence from Rome, while others, the coloniae, were founded by the Romans themselves. Around 7 BC, Augustus divided Italy into eleven regions, as illustrated by the map.

The present example bears the later imprint of De L'Isle's successor, Philippe Buache.

Rarity

The map is rare on the market.  The last example in a dealer catalog was Tooley Adams, in 2006.

Philippe Buache Biography

Philippe Buache (1700-1773) was one of the most famous French geographers of the eighteenth century. Buache was married to the daughter of the eminent Guillaume Delisle and worked with his father-in-law, carrying on the business after Guillaume died. Buache gained the title geographe du roi in 1729 and was elected to the Academie des Sciences in the same year. Buache was a pioneering theoretical geographer, especially as regards contour lines and watersheds. He is best known for his works such as Considérations géographiques et physiques sur les découvertes nouvelles dans la grande mer (Paris, 1754).