Ptolemy - first to draw a systematic map

By Amal Hewavissenti

The art of map drawing may have been high on the list of demands by travellers, explorers and traders in the days of yore. A map, in the simplest analysis is what primarily assists man in his basic planning and varied researches made on the face of the earth.

The map sketched in a clay tablet discovered among the ruins of an ancient city in Iraq is generally thought to be the oldest existing map. Almost 4,000 years previously, a Mesopotamian had outlined the details of his garden on this clay slab.

What is remarkable about the map is that it indicates the precise location of rivers and mountains with scales and directions, Another map drawn on a clay slab which dates back to 1500 BC, marks the Thippur cities on the banks of the river Euphrates of Mesopotamia.

This map highlighted the temples, ram parts and gardens to be preserved against possible enemy attacks.

Later in the third century BC, Eratosthes, a Greek, had calculated the size of the earth and had prepared a map of what he had known of the world.

However, Claudius Ptolemy merits the credit of being the first to have drawn a systematic map of the world. Ptolemy was a Greek geographer, astrologer and a mathematician who is believed to have lived in the first century AD.

Claudius Ptolemy prepared an exclusive map of Sri Lanka and called it Taprobane (Probably derived from "Tamraparni"). What is interesting about his world map is that it exaggerates the size of our island - a concept of an island with greater reputation as an important trade centre during Ptolemy's time.

Authority

This once again proves the idea that traders and travellers who had become the sole authority for Ptolemy, viewed Sri Lanka as one of the most significant places or a heaven on earth. Even-though Ptolemy had never visited Sri Lanka personally. He recreated a Taprobane based chiefly on the stories and records of international traders and envoys.

Recreating Taprobane (and the world map indeed) involved an arduous process of gathering vital data from explorers and international merchants.

Ptolemy banked much more on these stories and accounts to prepare the most authentic map of the time. In whatever way, Ptolemy took particular care to guarantee accuracy as far as he could in marking the places on the country.

Claudius Ptolemy did an excellent job in preparing the map of Taprobane with a fair degree of accuracy though he knew nothing of modern technology in satellites and aerial photographs. Sri Lanka was marked on a world map for the first time as Taprobane and as a significant trade centre in the east. Ambassadors, explorers and traders supported Ptolemy in his preparation of the map of Taprobane in 100 AD even if he himself had never seen Sri Lanka. But an unfavourable commentary on Ptolemy says that he has underplayed the true size of the earth and has represented certain countries in shapes totally different from what they really are.

He has laid out some countries, specially Sri Lanka in a comparatively larger size on his map of the world.

This shows that the information he received from travellers and explorers made him visualise Sri Lanka (Taprobane) as a big and prosperous country.

Without a shadow of doubt, Sri Lanka had been an internationally renowned country because the ruler has reached trade pacts with Greece, Rome, Egypt and some Arabian countries.

Though this astrologer and mathematician represented Sri Lanka in a bigger size than what it really is, he has succeeded in marking the cities and important places in Sri Lanka correctly in the map.

However, Claudius Ptolemy has been capable of placing major cities and areas on correct points on the map of an island that he never visited, with a high degree of precision, Ptolemy has marked the location of 'Anurograman' on his map of the Taprobane. This is how the mathematician of Alexandria caught the word Anuradhagama (the then capital of Sri Lanka) from the travellers and envoys to Sri Lanka at the time.

He has identified the southern end of the island as Rohana danawwa and central hills as Malaya Kandu, from the ancient times, the central hills of Sri Lanka was called Malaya Rata.

Furthermore, Ptolemy has correctly identified the river Mahaweli and labels it 'Ganges'. Commenting on the city of 'Dagana' (the city of Devundara) he states that it was a terrain dedicated to the god of moon.

On the North Western coast of Taprobane, Ptolemy highlights a city called 'Margana' which is supposed to be a prosperous trade city with a harbour.

However, the world maps prepared by Ptolemy and Eratosthes have been found to be with several technical flaws and wrong calculations.

The basic reason behind these misrepresentations is the map maker's tendency to recreate a map on the details provided by a visitor to the particular country.

The Greek mathematicians and astrologers mistakenly believed that the continents of Asia and Europe cover more than half of the earth.

They had this misconception in mind when they prepared the world maps that were in great demand.

The explorers of the time relied totally on these maps and sometimes could not reach their destinations.

Even Columbus failed in his precision to detect America and disembarked on a place totally different from his destination.

However, the map makers in the past obviously did a praiseworthy job in the total absence of satellite facilities and modern technology.