Ptolemy's Geography
First edition 1535
Second edition 1541
Context
At a time of growing interest in empiricism, Ptolemy's popularity
was increasing, and the Trechsel asked Servetus to create
a better Ptolemy. This meant that Servetus (writing as Michael
Villanovanus) was responsible not only for translating and
correcting the text but also for composing entirely new sections
to update the work.
Servetus chose to use the Pirkheimer edition as his base
but compared it to the oldest Latin and Creek editions he
could find in order create a more authentic book. He entitled
his edition The Eight Books of the Account of Geography by
Claudius Ptolemy of Alexandria, now for the first time edited
according to the translation of Bilabald Pirkhheimer, but
compared to the Greek and early editions by Michael Villanoanus:
This version was so extensive, so much of an improvement on
what had gone before, that there are some who have claimed
that Servetus was the father of comparative geography. Ahhough
this is probably an overstatement, the 1.536 edition was both
the most careful rendition available of Ptolemy's original
conception and as exhaustive an ethnological treatise as had
been done anywhere.
It was an enormous job, taking over two years. Tire book
included fifty maps, all of which were accompanied by a statistical
abstract and a commentary on the populace, climate, and industry
of the area. Servetus carried over Pirkheimer's notations
if he felt they were appropriate, but overwhelmingly the notes
that made up the commentaries were his.
Some excerpts
Servetus being Servetus (or Villanovanus), he could not resist
expressing himself pointedly, provocatively, and with wit.
The English, he noted, were brave, the Scots fearless, the
Italians vulgar, and the lrish "rude, inhospitable,
barbarous and cruel:' Opposite the map of Germany, he wrote,
'Hungary produces cattle, Bavaria hogs, Franconia onions,
turnips and licorice, Swabia harlots, Bohemia heretics, Bavaria
again thieves, Helvetia bangmen and herdsmen, Westphalia liars
arrd all Germany gluttons and drunkards:' He was a good deal
more kind to France, except that he atempted that “I
have seen myself seen the king (Francis I) touching many laboring
under, but I did not see that they were cured”
About Palestine, the legendary land of milk and honey, Servetus
retained Pirkheimer’s general description bu added a
joke:
“Know, however, most worthy reader, that it is mere
boasting and untruth when so much excellence is ascribed to
this land; the experience of merchants and others, travelers
who have visisted it, proving it to be inhospitable, barren,
and altogether without amenity. Ehrefore you may say that
the land is promised, indeed, but it is os little promise
when spoken in every-day terms”
This passage, which he did not even really write, was to
come back and haunt him later because, unfortunately, one
of those who ascribed ecellence to the Holy Land had been
Moses.
Prints
Fist Edition
Claudii Ptolemaei Alexandrini Geographicae enarrationis libri
octo. Ex Bilibaldi Pirckeymheri tralatione, sed ad graeca
& prisca exemplaria à Michaële Villanovano
iam primum recogniti. Adiecta insuper ab eodem scholia, quibus
exoleta urbium nomina ad nostri seculi morem exponuntur ....
Lugduni, ex officina Melchioris et Gasparis Trechsel fratrum,
MDXXXV (1535). Several copies are preserved in various libraries
Second Edition
Claudii Ptolemaei Alexandrini geographicae enarrationis libri
octo.... à Michaële Villanovano secundó
recogniti .... Prostat Lugduni apud Hugonem à Porta,
M.D.XLI. Lyon 1541. Book is dedicated to Servetus's protector,
Archbishop Palmier
Translations
English: Fragments translated byCharles David O'Malley, op.
cit., pp. 15-37 in 1953
Spanish: Descripciones geograficas del estado moderno de
las regiones, en la geografía de Claudio Ptolomeo Alejandrino
por Miguel Vilanovano (Miguel Servet) precedidas de una biografía
del autor y traducidas del Latin por Dr. José Goyanes
Capdepvilla. Madrid, Imprenta y Encuadernación de Julio
Cosano, 1932
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