In 1652, Jan Janssonius published an atlas of Classical geography, entitled 'Accuratissima Orbis Antiqui delinatio', which contained 52 maps of the ancient world. This historical atlas would eventually form the sixth volume of Janssonius's great 'Atlas Novus'. Soon after the work's initial publication, a Professor of History at the University of Leiden named Georg Horn wrote Latin text to accompany the maps within; it was this version of the 'Orbis Antiqui' that proved most successful, so much so that the atlas is generally referred to under Horn's name.

Unsurprisingly, the Holy Land receives a good deal of attention in the historical atlas, and is depicted from the southern tip of the Dead Sea to the Lebanon Mountains on a remarkable six-sheet map. There were originally seven sheets, but the additional one was cut into two and each half adjoined to another, meaning that two of the now-six sheets are larger than the others. Each one of the six has its own title, based on the tribal territories it shows:

Dimidia Tribus Manasse Ultra Iordanem, Tribus Neptalim et partes orientales tribuum Zabulon et Issachar.

The upper left-hand sheet shows the northeastern region of the Holy Land, where the tribes of Manasseh, Naphthali, Zabulon, and Issachar resided in part. Across the image, small vignettes present scenes from scripture, including both the Old and New Testaments. The Sea of Galilee forms a central focus, where several of Christ's miracles are depicted: on the water, he fills Simon Peter's fishing nets to bursting point (Luke 5:5- 6; John 21:1-11), while simultaneously feeding the 5,000 on the shore (Matthew 14:13-21; Mark 6:30-44; Luke 9:10-17; John 6:1-14). Near to Damascus in the north, Saul (soon to be Paul) is blinded by divine light and thrown from his horse (Acts 9:3-4), while in the south beside the city of Ramoth, the Israelites engage the Syrians in battle.

It was in this conflict that King Ahab was mortally wounded by an arrow (I Kings 22:37). In addition to these vignettes, the cities, religious sites, mountains, and woodlands of northern Israel are all represented pictorially, the majority of them assigned a number corresponding to an index in the surrounding text. Furthermore, an inset map in the upper left-hand corner illustrates the 'wandering of Abraham' through Egypt, the Arabian Desert, the Holy Land, Syria, and Mesopotamia, accompanied by an explanatory note detailing the story of this great Patriarch and his journeys across the Near East. This sheet is one of the larger two that made up the six-sheet Hornius map, since it has half of the erstwhile seventh sheet pasted onto its left.

Tribus Ruben, et Gad et partes orientales tribuum Beniamin,
Ephraim, et dimidiae Manasse intra Iordanem.

Forming the upper central section is a sheet showing the region to the north of the Dead Sea. It is bisected by the River Jordan, to the east of which lie the territories of Gad and Reuben, and to the west of which parts of Benjamin, Ephraim, and Manasseh are shown. Across the map, important religious sites and cities are identified, from Bethlehem in the lower right-hand corner to the wood of Ephraim on the left-hand border, and many are accompanied by detailed vignettes. By the town of Taphua, for example, Gideon is shown kneeling before an altar, the sheepskin that proved God's presence laying beside him ( Judges 6:24-26).

In the centre of the map, Elijah is lifted up in his chariot of fire (II Kings 2:11), while just a little to the east, the children of Israel are shown crossing the Jordan, coming to the end of their wanderings ( Joshua 3:1), which are marked out encampment by encampment. Alongside such illustrations, Janssonius has included geographical details including relief, wooded areas, and waterways, based on the cartography of Christian van Adrichom from his seminal maps of the tribal territories.

Pars maxima Tribus Iuda Versus Orientem.

The upper row is completed by a depiction of the tribe of Judah in the southernmost part of the Israelite territory. With the Dead Sea occupying much of the image, and the surrounding Arabian Desert largely barren, the majority of the details are concentrated in the lower left-hand quarter of the map bordered to the south by Mount Seir. Within this area there are several vignettes showing scenes and sites of religious importance, from both scripture and history. It shows, for example, the Cave of Adullam where David took refuge from King Saul (I Samuel 22:1), John the Baptist preaching in the desert (Matthew 3:1), and Mar Saba, a monastery in the Kidron Valley founded in AD 483.

On the waters of the Dead Sea, the condemned cities of Sodom, Gomorrah, Seboim, and Adama are aflame, while a track along its eastern coast shows several of the encampments made by the Israelites during their 40 years of wandering. An inset map in the upper right- hand corner expands upon their route, showing the path taken out of Egypt via the Red Sea, and through the wilderness of the Sinai Peninsula. There are even small depictions of notable scenes along the way, such as Moses receiving the Ten Commandments from God atop Mount Sinai. Janssonius has also illustrated the main map with the typical geographical features of mountains, settlements, and wooded areas, although largely limiting these to those of special significance.

Tribus Aser, et partes occidentales tribuum Zabulon et Issachar.

The tribal territory of Asher dominates the lower left-hand sheet, although the western point of Zebulon and the northern portion of Issachar are also featured. Extending from the Jezreel Valley in the south to the Lebanon Mountains in the north, the relief of this mountainous region is represented pictorially, as are its cities and the rare stretches of woodland. Various routes through the Holy Land are represented by double dashed lines; the importance of the ports in the northern coastal region means that this area is filled with many such passages.

Across the map, notable scenes from scripture and religious history are illustrated in small vignettes, such as Christ's transfiguration on Mount Tabor, which was witnessed by Peter, James, and John (Luke 9:28–36), Elijah's victory over the Prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel (I Kings 18), and St George slaying his serpentine adversary just north of the boundary marking the end of the Israelite territory. This sheet is one of the larger two that made up the six-sheet Hornius map, since it has half of the erstwhile seventh sheet pasted onto its left.

Tribuum Ephraim, Beniamin, et Dimidiae Manasse intra Iordanem partes occidentales, et partes seprentrionales Dan et Iuda.

The lower central panel depicts the tribal territories of Ephraim, Benjamin, and the western portion of Manasseh, as well as a small promontary of the tribe of Judah and part of the land of the Philistines along the southern stretch of the Levantine coast. This important region of Canaan was not only the site of numerous Biblical battles, many of which are illustrated in vignettes across the map, but also of the two ancient capitals of Samaria and Jerusalem. The former lies on the border of Manasseh and Ephraim, the two half-tribes descended from the House of Joseph, while the latter is situated in the territory of Benjamin, and is shown here with four key routes leading away from the city: one travels towards the other capital, another to the port of Jaffa, the third down into Egypt, but the fourth is incomplete, as Janssonius has failed to continue it onto the map-sheet above.

In addition to the depictions of battle, there are illustrations showing other scenes from scripture. These include the conflict between David and Goliath in the Valley of Elah, which is labelled "Vallis Terebinthi" because of the trees that grew there (I Samuel 17), and religious sites, such as Jacob's Well, which Jesus visited on his way from Samaria. There he declared: "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life" ( John 4:13-14).

Tribus Simeon et pars meridionalis Tribus Dan, et orientalis Tribus Iuda.

Completing the southern portion of the Levantine coast are the tribes of Simeon, Dan, and Judah. Rather than depicting the controversial land of Simeon as enclaves within that of Judah, or as a separate space from that of the Philistines, it runs from the Judean mountains to the Mediterranean coast, where the important port of Gaza is situated. As typical for the maps that make up the Hornius map, battles play a prominent role in the vignettes that make this sheet a decorative image as well as an informative piece of historical cartography. Alongside the Battle of Zephath, the attack on the city of Jarmuth and the many conflicts recorded in scripture to have occured in the Judean Mountains, there are also illustrations of non-military scenes and sites.

At the meeting point of all three territories, two of Moses's spies are shown bearing the huge cluster of grapes they found during their reconnaissance mission into Canaan (Numbers 13:23), while to the south near Beersheba, the fugitive Elijah is awoken by an angel (I Kings 19:5). A little way above him, another angel approaches Hagar, telling her to return to Abraham and bear his son, Ishmael (Genesis 16:7-12). As on the rest of the Hornius map, cities, relief, and more fertile areas of grass and trees are represented pictorially, but as the map extends southwards into the Arabian Desert, toponyms and geographical features disappear. The area directly to the south of the Holy Land is identified as the territory of the Ishmaelites, who are identified with the Saracens, as they often were by historians and geographers of this period.