Description:

FULL TITLE:Smirna

A rare panoramic view of the port of Izmir (Smirna, Smyrna). The original settlement was established in the third millennium BCE, and at that time-shared with Troy the most advanced culture in Western Anatolia. By 1500 BCE it had fallen under the influence of Central Anatolia's Hittite Empire. In the first millennium BCE, Izmir, then known as Smyrna, ranked as one of the important cities of the Ionian Federation. The town was controlled by the Roman Empire between 27 BCE and 324 CE, who transformed it into an important trading point. At that period, from a western prospective, Izmir was seen as the center of Asia. The engraver has noted the word TELONIUM in the sea area below the port. This word comes from the latin, meaning an excise duty paid by merchants, or a toll. .

From a book by A M Myller recounting his travels from 1725 to 1727. Myller journeyed from Rome to Jerusalem then on to Troy, Gallipoli and Constantinople. From Constantinople he travelled to Egypt and then to Syria. Finally from Syria he travelled to Malta and back to Rome.

Publication: Peregrinus in Jerusalem (Fremdling zu Jerusalem), by A. M. Myller, published inVienna & Nurnberg.

Rare.

ConditonGG

CartographerMyller

Date1735

TechniqueCopper Engraving

ColourUncoloured

Width (cms) x Height (cms)17.2 x 14.2

Ref: JJB0452