Digital Maps and Geospatial Data | Princeton University

Reproduction of Cairo map from Braun and Hogenberg's Civitates orbis terrarum, Cologne, 1574; from a view by Matteo Pagano, approximately 1549. Bird's-eye view of Cairo sowing minarets, pyramids, the Sphinx, and gardens to the right side of the Nile. The left side illustrates scenes from daily life. In 1517 Cairo became part of the Ottoman Empire. The accompanying Latin text to right side of view says of the Sphinx: [This head consists of a single piece of stone; the face alone is ten lesser hexapedes. According to Strabo, it is a monument to a beautiful, tragic hetaera named Rhodopis. The king took her as his wife and after her death he had this head and pyramid built for her." The Latin text at the top runs: "These pyramids were nothing but an idle display of royal wealth. In this way the kings, or rather the crowned beasts, namely hoped to make their names immortal on earth and to keep their memory alive for a long time. Nothing in the world is of less fame, however, since neither the architect nor the insane king who built a pyramid is recorded.]