LE SYMPOSIUM INTERNATIONAL LE LIVRE. LA ROUMANIE. L ...

410 VIcTOR GODEAnU
for his determinations and not of instruments on the field, the values in
question being similar to the display of that particular map of Walachia he
publishes. nevertheless, this map was not drawn by Chrysanthos himself,
but by a walachian intellectual of the time, Constantin Cantacuzino. 42
the fact that he was not the author is also obvious from the title itself:
“Geographical Map of the Kingdom of ungrovlachia Divided in 17 parts,
Faithful to the Description and to the Drawing Furnished by the Most
Illustrious Stolnic 43 Constantin Cantacuzino with the Aid of the Most high
physician and philosopher Ioan Comnen, published for the First time with
Greek Characters and respectfully Dedicated to the Most pious Governor
of the entire ungrovlachia the prince Ioan Constantin Bassaraba by
Chrysanthos, priest and Archimandrite of the Apostolic, patriarchal, Most
holy See of Jerusalem”. on this long titled map are specified padua as the
place of printing and the year 1700. In his book, Introduction… (Part Δ,
chapter Α), chrysanthos mentions the map “of the province of Walachia,
which I published in patavia in 1700”, in a context in which he emphasizes
the importance for the geographer of knowing and rendering the correct
locations of every object of the map.
In his geographical determinations, Chrysanthos may have taken the
opportunity to put into practice the teachings he got the very same year
from Cassini, about earth measurements – it seems also that he used as
guiding mark the first meridian located then in the so-called “Iron Island”,
called by him in his Introductio by the Greek name of Makaron. During
his three years stage in padua, Chrysanthos notaras acknowledged the
developing science of cartography. In fact, the sciences of the earth being
among the main intellectual preoccupations of the epoch, the university of
padua possessed a great collection of maps. Chrysanthos did not practice
cartography himself however, he did not take credit for personally drawing
any map, but published a number and proudly mentioned that he translated
them into Greek for the first time. other determinations he made were of
Jerusalem (“because I also measured the holy City’s latitude and found it
of 31°30’ ”), and Kiev (“the latitude of which I measured, and it is 49° ”).
Conclusion
In the 18 th century, the interest in the east toward the developing new
Science was so great that – unlike the never-ending religious conflictualism –
42 Constantin Cantacuzino, another important intellectual figure of Walachia, a
historian, diplomat and accomplished geographer. he studied also in padua, and wrote a
History of Walachia.
43 local title, equivalent to that of Count.