This library is built in the open.
If you spot an error, have a suggestion, or just want to say hello — we’d love to hear from you.


Wikimedia Commons · Public domain · Hover to magnify, click for fullscreen
Original file"Tabula Freti Siculi Charybdis et Scyllae aliorumque aestuum rationes explicans." (22042600098)
This black-and-white print presents a bird's-eye map of the strait separating Sicily (labeled SICILIA) from Calabria. On the left, a personified wind head blows toward the strait. A prominent, shaded diagonal tube labeled 'Canalis subterraneus' runs through the land, connecting the Mediterranean to the vortex of Charybdis near the city of Messina. In the center, Mount Etna is depicted with smoke rising from its peak. To the right, at the narrowest point of the strait, Scylla is marked near the promontory of Pelorum. The composition is structured with topographical labels, lines indicating subterranean currents, and a decorative cartouche in the bottom right corner containing the title.
This print is from Athanasius Kircher's 'Mundus Subterraneus' (1665), a seminal work in early modern natural philosophy that attempted to explain geological phenomena, tides, and volcanoes through a system of subterranean fires and channels.
S I C I L I A Mylce Mare Thyrrenum five Siculum Syrophenia Os Canalis Ex mari Canalis subterraneus in Charibdin Meßana Pelorum Premont. Scylae Charybdis Aitna Canalis ex Aetna Charubdis Taurominia FRETUM MAMERTINUM Regum Rheggio C A L A B R I A Tabula Freti Siculi Charybdis et Scyllae, aliorumque aestuum rationes explicans
Translation
Sicily. Mylae. Tyrrhenian Sea or Sicilian Sea. Syrophenia. Mouth of the canal. From the sea. Subterranean canal into Charybdis. Messina. Promontory of Pelorus. Scylla. Charybdis. Etna. Canal from Etna. Charybdis of Taormina. Mamertine Strait. Reggio. Calabria. Table explaining the Strait of Sicily, Charybdis and Scylla, and the reasons for other tides.
Athanasius Kircher, Mundus Subterraneus
This print is an original plate from Book II of Kircher's 1665 encyclopedic study of the Earth's interior.
Object
etching
laid paper
Baroque
German
map
Digital Source
Wikimedia Commons · Public domain
3464 × 2280 px
Linked Data
AI AI-cataloged fields generated by gemini-3.1-flash-lite-preview on April 20, 2026. Getty identifiers are AI-inferred and may require verification.