(In Pics) Five Ancient Maps, and What They Can Tell Us

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In our modern day world of easy flight, aerial photos and topographical data is so readily available that it is second nature to perceive the landscape around us from above. But for almost all of human history such perspectives were simply not available.

Landscape was something that we inhabited, and which existed around us, not below us. Nowhere is this more clearly illustrated than on ancient maps, and what they depict.

Such maps regularly feature highly distorted depictions of the landscape, and the temptation is to scoff at the clumsy attempted made by our ancestors as they fumbled forward in their painfully slow understanding of the world. But this would be a mistake, and in doing so we would do the ancients a disservice.

Often the maps they produced were not supposed to be literal interpretations of the landscape, but were either metaphorical or figurative to some extent, portraying a symbolic or ritual landscape and giving deliberate prominence to features they thought held high importance. Others are designed for easy use, and it is ourselves who look simplistic by comparison in our slavish and single minded insistence on literal accuracy and nothing else.

Here are five such ancient maps, which reveal how the ancients saw the world.

1. Babylonian Map of the World

Dating to approximately 800-600 BC from either the Neo Babylonian or early Achaemenid period and discovered in Sippar in modern-day Iraq, the Babylonian Map of the World is the earliest map of the (known) world we have. The circular map depicts the river *Euphrates* *running from top to bottom with the city of* *Babylon* on its shores. The map is designed to show the locations of Babylon’s neighboring states, and interestingly includes an error: one of the surrounding cities, that of the Kassite capital Habban, is in the wrong place (Osama Shukir Muhammed Amin FRCP(Glasg) / *CC BY-SA 4.0*)

2. The Tabula Rogeriana

*This is a map of the region incorporating al-Maghrib al-Aqsa and al-Maghrib al-Awsat, from the oldest surviving copy of the atlas known as the* Nuzhat al-mushtāq fī ikhtirāq al-āfāq, or in the west as the Tabula Rogeriana. Commissioned by King Roger II of the *Normans* *in 1138, it was completed by the Arab geographer Muhammad al-Idrisi in 1154 and depicts the entirety of the known world. Many standards of future maps already exist: north is up, south is down, and* *Mecca* *is at the center of the world. The atlas also includes notes on each of the regions depicted, riddled with errors (Unknown Artist /* *Public Domain*)

3. The Psalter World Map

*Created in 1260 and purporting to show the entire world, the Psalter Map is also filled with telling details, this time from a* *Christian* *perspective.* *Jerusalem* is at the center of the world, but the top of the map is the East, with Jesus offering his benediction. To the bottom right, 14 monstrous peoples live at the edge of the map, which is otherwise filled with places from *Biblical* *stories. It was likely used as a reference guide for where such stories took place, and (wonderfully) the Red Sea here is literally red (Unknown Author /* *Public Domain*)

4. The Tabula Peutingeriana

*Dated to 1200, the* *Tabula Peutingeriana is a copy of a copy of a lost original dating to the rise of the* *Roman Empire* under its first Emperor, Augustus. The map (the section depicting Italy is shown above) is an eminently practical one, depicting the Roman road network across Europe. Apparently the copyists were instructed to omit no detail in their search for accuracy: a correct record of the road network was apparently vital even a millennia later. This has lead to some strange anachronisms, such as the inclusion of *Pompeii* *despite its destruction 1,100 years earlier. Finally, Rome is depicted at the center of a spider web of routes: truly, all roads lead to* *Rome* *(Konrad Miller /* *Public Domain*)

5. Ptolemy’s World Map

Sadly, the original of this map does not exist: the above is a 15th century reconstruction. But Ptolemy’s World Map merits inclusion because of the details we know the original, compiled around 150 AD, contained, and what they can tell us about the knowledge of the ancients. Ptolemy included lines of latitude and longitude in his map, which can also be seen above. Locations for key cities are also provided based on celestial observation, and we know Ptolemy created a revolution in *European* *thought and a heavy emphasis on co-ordinate accuracy which survives to this day (Francesco di Antonio del Chierico /* *Public Domain*)

Top Image: Another depiction of Ptolemy’s World Map, complete with lines of latitude and longitude. Source: National Library of Australia / Public Domain

By Joseph Green

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Joseph Green

Joseph Green is editor for Historic Mysteries, which combines his background in English Literature with a lifelong fascination for the strange and the unexplained. Read More