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Description

The present map is one sheet of a 4 sheet Greek language map of Asia, published in Vienna by Anthimos Gazi in 1802.

The map is one of at least 4 maps created by Gazis in Vienna, as part of an effort to educate the Greek populous.  Other maps include 4 sheet maps of the World and Europe and a larger map of Greece. 

Gazis map of Asia is extremely rare.  This is the first example we have ever seen on the market.

Anthimos Gazis

Anthimos Gazis or Gazes was a Greek scholar, revolutionary and politician. He was born in Milies (Thessaly) in Ottoman Greece in 1758. In 1774 he became a deacon.  Later he moved to Constantinople where he was promoted to archimandrite. He left for Vienna in 1789, where he preached at the Church of Saint George, while simultaneously pursuing his academic interests. His efforts to promote education in Greece through the Filomousos Eteria, translation work and contributions to the first Greek philological periodical, Hermes o Logios, played a significant role in the development of the Greek Enlightenment.

While in Vienna, Gazis was involved in the publishing of his maps and other printed works.  The peace treaties of Passarowitz and Belgrade had restored commercial activity between the Habsburg Monarchy and the Ottoman Empire. Vienna became an important center of the Greek diaspora, where both goods and ideas were exchanged freely. The religious life of the Greek community revolved around the Church of Saint George and the Holy Trinity Church. In May 1796, a twelve man commission voted Gazis as the new rector of the former. During this time frame he devoted time to the study of physics and mathematics while also translating Benjamin Martin’s “Philosophical Grammar” from French which he published in 1799. Gazis supplemented the translation with extensive notes of his own on the subjects of electricity, magnetism, chemical reactions and the propagation of light. In 1800, Gazis reissued an edited version of Rigas Feraios' Charta of Greece; dimensions were cut in half and Jean-Denis Barbié du Bocage's topographical plans were removed. The second edition was dedicated to the Greek nation and showed an allegorical figure representing the Greek civilization as being armed, with the motto "I shall follow your lead" appearing beneath her.  In 1802, he published Fourcroy's The Philosophy of Chemistry; the text also contains additions from Fourcroy's A General System of Chemical Knowledge, Scherzer's Journal der Chemie (Leipzig, 1792), Französische Annalen der Allgemeinen Naturgeshichte (Hamburg, 1802) and Gren's Grundriss der Chemie. In the same year his health deteriorated significantly due to an illness. He left Vienna, returning only in November 1804 to resume preaching. His stay would be brief as he soon left for Venice where he published Greek Lexicon and Greek Library, works based on Gesner's Bibliotheca universalis and Fabricius' Bibliotheca Graeca. He resumed his duties as rector in early 1808.

In 1817, he joined the Filiki Eteria secret society and returned to his homeland, recruiting others in preparation for an anti–Ottoman revolt. In 1821, with the start of the Greek War of Independence against the Ottoman Empire he led the Greek insurgents in Magnesia. After the suppression of the revolt there, he went to Central Greece. He represented Magnesia in National Assemblies of Epidaurus and Astros and worked in commissions regarding military affairs and education. In 1827, he fell ill and his condition steadily deteriorated until his death on 24 June 1828 in Ermoupoli, Syros. Gazis died in poverty, having donated most of his savings to the Greek army.

Condition Description
Southeastern sheet of a 4 sheet map of Asia. Minor toning and minor loss at the top left corner.