Hereford mappa mundi.
The '
Hereford Mappa Mundi' is a
T and O map derivate, dating to ca.
1300. It is currently on display in
Hereford Cathedral in
England.
The map is signed by or attributed to one "Richard of
Haldingham and
Lafford", also known as ''Richard de Bello,'' "prebend of Lafford in Lincoln Cathedral". Drawn on a single sheet of
vellum, it measures 158 cm by 133 cm. The writing is in black ink, with additional red and gold, and blue or green for water [with the
Red Sea (8) coloured red].
Jerusalem is drawn at the centre of the circle,
East is on top, showing the
Garden of Eden in a circle at the edge of the world (1).
Scotland,
Great Britain and
Ireland are drawn at the north-western border (bottom left, 22, 23, 24). Curiously, the labels for Africa and Europe are reversed, with Europe scribed in red and gold as 'Africa', and vice-versa.
The map is based on traditional accounts and earlier maps such as the
one of the
Beatus of Liébana codex, and is very similar to the
Ebstorf map, the
Psalter map, and the ''Sawley'' (erroneously for considerable time called "Henry of Mainz") map; it does not correspond to the geographical knowledge of the 1300s. Note, for example, that the
Caspian Sea (5) connects to the encircling Ocean (upper left). This is in spite of
William of Rubruk's having reported it to be landlocked in
1255, i.e. several decades before the map's creation; see also
Portolan chart.
The "T and O" shape, by the way, does not imply that its creators believed in a
flat Earth. The
spherical shape of the Earth was already known to the
ancient Greeks and Romans and the idea was never entirely forgotten even in the
Middle Ages, and thus the circular representation may well be considered a conventional attempt at a
projection: in spite of the acceptance of a spherical Earth, only the known parts of the northern hemisphere were believed to be inhabitable by human beings (see
antipodes), so that the circular representation remained adequate. The long river on the far right is the River Nile, too (12), and the T shape is established by the Mediterranean (19-21-25) and the rivers Don (13) and Nile (16).
Locations
o - At the center of the map: Jerusalem, above it: the crucifix.
1 - The Paradise, surrounded by a wall and a ring of fire.
2 - The Ganges and its delta.
3 - The fabulous Island of Taphana, sometimes (possibly mis-)interpreted as Sri Lanka or Sumatra.
Locations of the Hereford mappa mundi.
4 - Rivers Indus and Tigris.
5 - The Caspian Sea, and the land of Gog and Magog
6 - Babylon and the Euphrat.
7 - The Persian Gulf.
8 - The Red Sea (painted in Red).
9 - Noah's Ark.
10 - The Dead Sea, Sodom and Gomorrha, with River Jordan, coming from Sea of Galiliee; above: Lot's wife.
11 - Egypt with the River Nile.
12 - River Nile [?], or possibly an allusion to the equatorial Ocean; far outside: a land of mutants, possibly the Antipodes.
13 - The Azov Sea with Rivers Don and Dnjepr; above: the Golden Fleece.
14 - Constantinoples; left of it the Danube's delta.
15 - The Aegean Sea.
16 - Oversized delta of the Nile with Alexandria's Lighthouse.
17 - The legendary Norwegian, Gansmir, with his skis and ski pole.
Detail showing the British Isles
18 - Greece with Mt. Olymp, Athens and Corinth
19 - Misplaced Crete with Minotaur's circular labyrinth.
20 - The Adriatic Sea; Italy with Rome, honored by a popular hexameter: Roma caput mundi tenet orbis frena rotundi [Rome, the head, holds the reins of the world].
21 - Sicily, and Carthage, opposing Rome, right of it.
22 - England.
23 - Scotland.
24 - Ireland.
25 - The Baleares.
26 - The Strait of Gibraltar (the Pillars of Hercules).
See also
★
Ancient world maps
External links
★ http://www.herefordwebpages.co.uk/mapmundi.shtml
★ http://www.herefordcathedral.org/mappa_mappa.asp
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