https://hist231.hist.sites.carleton.edu/files/original/bd8e4d81741db57ffc050820ee1190fa.jpg 6e4d045026f9b10bf8f56e3ad2415673 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource True Description of Cairo Alternative Title An alternative name for the resource. The distinction between titles and alternative titles is application-specific. La vera descritione dela gran cita del Caiero Description An account of the resource The True Description of Cairo is a remarkable 2 meter by 1 meter woodcut attributed to Matheo Pagano and printed in 1549. The view focuses on the dense residential center of Cairo, with narrow streets and little room between buildings. Surrounding the city itself, Pagano portrays historical events through vignette illustrations, as well as key pieces of the landscape such as the Nile, the Sphinx, and the Pyramids of Giza. Key pieces to note in the city itself are the numerous mosques throughout the city, with detailed depictions of the different types of domes on these mosques. Urban lakes supplied with water from the Great Canal of Cairo are shown. No interiors of buildings nor courtyards within building complexes are portrayed, suggesting that someone like Pagano did not go into many buildings and thus could not accurately depict what they would look like. Beginning just outside the city limits to the northeast, the Nile flows out of the large mountains depicted along the east edge of the view. Emphasis is placed on the Nile and the various ways people interacted with the Nile. Vignettes abound throughout the map, and along the Nile, we see people bathing, washing clothes, collecting water, and even defecating into the river. Ships are also shown throughout the river, suggesting the key role the Nile played in transportation and trade. Amidst the mountains to the east of the city are the Pyramids of Giza. The sculpture of the Sphinx is also shown a bit further south. This Sphinx appears to be female, which was the common opinion among Europeans, while it was always considered to be male by Muslims. The extensive Venetian trade network could explain the numerous city views produced in the 15th and 16th centuries. A view like this one would have been used by merchants, geographers, humanist scholars, and aristocrats to learn something about the landscape of Cairo, the people who lived there, or the things to be traded for. The accompanying text was written by the French humanist and cosmographer, Guillaume Postel. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Matheo Pagano Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Matheo Pagano, La vera descritio ne dela gran cita del Caiero. London, Arcadian Library. Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Sheet map Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Pagano, Matheo, and Guillaume Postel. The True Description of Cairo: a Sixteenth-Century Venetian View, edited by Nicholas Warner. Oxford: Arcadian Library in association with Oxford University Press, 2006. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1549 Medium The material or physical carrier of the resource. Woodcut Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Special Collections, Carleton College, Northfield, MN Relation A related resource <a href="https://id.smb.museum/object/987806/ansicht-der-stadt-kairo-la-vera-descritione-de-la-gran-cita-del-caiero" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">"La vera descritione de la grand cita del Caiero" (ca. 1549) from the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Kuperstichkabinett </a> Language A language of the resource Latin Type The nature or genre of the resource City View Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context <a href="https://bridge.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/01BRC_INST/1tn7c8c/alma991012074329702971" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Special Collections (Map, Rolled) DT144.P34 2006</a> <a href="https://bridge.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/01BRC_INST/1tn7c8c/alma991012074329702971" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Special Collections (Books, Quarto) DT144 .P34 2006</a> Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Cairo References A related resource that is referenced, cited, or otherwise pointed to by the described resource. Pelletier, Monique. "National and Regional Mapping in France to About 1650." In The History of Cartography, vol. 3, edited by David Woodward, 1480-1503. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2007. Warner, Nicholas. "The True Description of Cairo" April 10, 2012. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKDlo3dTwl4%C2%A0">The Metropolitan Museum of Art (lecture)</a>. Woodward, David. "The Italian Map Trade, 1480-1650." In The History of Cartography, vol. 3, edited by David Woodward, 773-803. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2007. Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Rights for maps held by individual publishers and institutions. Thumbnails displayed constitute fair use.