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Siwa and its region in the geographical maps "Tertia Africae Tabula" published at Rome in 1478

During the Middle Ages Western cartography knew practically nothing of the interior of Africa and reported, in an uncertain way, what was asserted by the Greek geographers of antiquity mostly by Claudius Ptolemy who lived in the imperial era in Alexandria in Egypt.

In the map of North Africa entitled "Tertia Africae Tabula" published in Rome in 1478, the Siwa region is well indicated, even if it is too south-east of the Nile. This region called in Latin "Ammonica Regio" includes the main city referred to as "Ammon Civitas", the small oasis of El Gara referred to as "Alexandri Castra" and the "Solis Fons" taken from Herodotus, erroneously located far from the center of the oasis by Siwa.












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