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Abraham Ortelius, Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, 1570 The sea monsters on old maps appear in almost every variety imaginable: Some are armored in scales, others maned like lions or finned like giant fish. Legends of ships sunk by mighty serpents date at least back to Aristotle, who wrote, “In Libya, according to all accounts, the length of the serpents is something appalling; sailors spin a yarn to the effect that … just as they were putting out to sea, serpents came chasing their galleys at full speed and overturned one galley and set upon the crew.” The great diversity in the sea serpents’ appearance may reflect the fact that monster stories brought home from the sea were probably exaggerated from a number of sources: whale carcasses, perhaps, or giant squid, or the rare oarfish, which can grow up to 50 feet in length.

Abraham Ortelius, Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, 1570

The sea monsters on old maps appear in almost every variety imaginable: Some are armored in scales, others maned like lions or finned like giant fish. Legends of ships sunk by mighty serpents date at least back to Aristotle, who wrote, “In Libya, according to all accounts, the length of the serpents is something appalling; sailors spin a yarn to the effect that … just as they were putting out to sea, serpents came chasing their galleys at full speed and overturned one galley and set upon the crew.”

The great diversity in the sea serpents’ appearance may reflect the fact that monster stories brought home from the sea were probably exaggerated from a number of sources: whale carcasses, perhaps, or giant squid, or the rare oarfish, which can grow up to 50 feet in length.

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17 notes
Saturday Mar 3 @ 07:20pm
tagged as: map. history. maps. art. cartography. monsters. serpents.

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