The atlas achieved literary fame when C. S. Lewis discovered the name ‘Narnia’ on one of its maps of Italy and underlined it simply because he liked the sound. It is in fact the Latin iteration of the city in Umbria now called Narni. Years later, that name would christen the magical realm of his children’s books. The atlas thus unexpectedly seeded one of the most enduring landscapes of modern fantasy.

Ex Carta

Issued as a student’s companion, Murray’s Small Classical Atlas included in its map of Italy the Umbrian town now called Narni. In the atlas it appeared under its Latin name, ‘Narnia’, which provided C. S. Lewis with the name for his fantasy realm.

Compiled by G. B. Grundy, this atlas of the classical world was aimed at students of history and the classics. It presented a concise series of maps covering Greece, Rome, and the wider ancient Mediterranean. Grundy was a noted classical historian, and the maps were prepared by Edward Stanford’s Geographical Establishment, then the leading cartographic house in London.

Empires of the Babylonians, Lydians, Medes and Persians

Map showing the development of the Roman Empire between 210 BCE and 100 CE

The Roman Empire from 1 - 300 CE

Map of Britannia (Historical England and Wales)

Map of Hispania (Historical Spain and Portugal)

Map of Gallia (Historical France)

Map showing the Danubian Provinces of the Roman Empire

Map of Italia (Historical Italy)

Map of the Egypt and the Rover Nile, and plans of Rome through history, within important buildings and locations marked in pink.

Map of Graecia (Historical Greece)

Maps of Ancient Athens, Propontis (Sea of Marmara), and a map of the Aegean Sea. 

Map of Asia Minor (modern day Türkiye, Syria,Armenia and Cyrpus)

Map of the Principal Battle Fields in Greek and Roman History: Troy, Marathon, Thermopylae, Salamis, Plataea, Mykale, Pylos & Sphaecteria, Syracuse, Trebbia, Caudine Forks, Carthage, Actium, Trasimene, and Cannae. 

Map of Palestine, illustrating the Old and New Testament. 

Murray's Small Classical Atlas