Nuremberg Chronicle, Sheet 12: Other Nations

The Nuremberg Chronicle by Hartmann Schedel is divided into a history of the world in seven ages of the world. The second age of the world uses the descriptions of St Augustine (354 - 430), the Roman Father of the Church and founder of the monastic order, and the classical author Pliny (²³⁄₂₄ -79) and describes the peculiar people who apparently lived in India. In addition to cephalopods and curious hybrids, the woodcuts mainly show people lacking limbs. Scarcely a decade later the comical notions Europeans had about Indian nations would be refuted by the discovery of the sea route to India.