The sea monsters in the Madrid manuscript of Ptolemy's Geography (Biblioteca Nacional, MS Res. 255).

The article discusses the sea monsters in the Latin manuscript "Geography," by Ptolemy, which was written in Florence, Italy in about 1455-1460 and named Madrid, Biblioteca Nacional, manuscript (MS) Res. 255. It states that the maps in the manuscript are designed with a remarkable variety and number of sea monsters, which constitute an unknown part in the history of latter medieval marine zoological picture. It says that the monsters are also noteworthy as no sea monsters are illustrated in the 53 existing manuscripts of his "Geography." It adds that the sea monsters in the manuscript are not encyclopedic or systematic, but they bear similarity with known painted ones, such as that in the Book 6 of the manuscript "De natura rerum," by Thomas of Cantimpré.