This morning I was looking through the digital collection of maps at the Geography & Mapping Division of the Library of Congress and found this astrological calendar on the 4th page of a Battista Agnese atlas published in 1544 (citation after the fold).

The calendar is built on two concentric circles; the inner circle depicts the Gregorian calendar and the outer circle shows the Zodiac calendar. According to the Wikipedia entry, the Gregorian calendar was not adopted for another 38 years after the atlas was published.

In the original drawing (below) the center of the astrological calendar was a very tiny earth. I believe it was drawn to show the earth’s celestial relationship to the seasons, and while the scale is off, the coloring is surprisingly accurate. By adding the satellite image over top of the original I gave it an update 463 years in the making.

View the Interactive & Original version: