"An ideogram from the Middle Ages representing a conventionalized map of the world. The vertical line signified the Mediterranean, the horizontal line to the left represented the river Nile, and that to the right, the river Don. The right upper section was Europe, the left represented Africa, and the lower half circle Asia. The point in the middle of this lower sector stands for Jerusalem."
Learn more at symbols.com.
This representation of the mappa mundi seems to be upside-down. I’ve usually seen them with Europe at the lower-left, Africa at lower-right, and Asia in the top section, like the famous Hereford Mappa Mundi. In fact, such maps are usually called T-O maps for exactly this reason, so it’s especially interesting to see the “upside-down” ideogram you found.
ReplyDeleteOoh, interesting! I'd be keen to know where the symbols.com folks actually source their information.
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