MAPS Before 1000

GEOGRAPHY OR CHRISTIANITY?
MAPS OF THE HOLY LAND BEFORE AD 1000

Author(s): Catherine Delano Smith
Source: The Journal of Theological Studies, New Series, Vol. 42, No. 1 (April 1991), pp. 143-
152
Published by: Oxford University Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/23965149
Accessed: 20-06-2017 14:55 UTC
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted
digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about
JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at
http://about.jstor.org/terms
Oxford University Press is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The
Journal of Theological Studies
This content downloaded from 192.114.7.2 on Tue, 20 Jun 2017 14:55:21 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
NOTES AND STUDIES 143
Agorius Praetextatus, the big man of the

at the end of the fourth century, a man fa
ted in philosophy than any of the other
but who died in December 384. If Praete
of Augustine's books, Augustine must h
still in Rome, but only read them, or at
when in Milan. Nothing in the text of t
possibility out. The objection would be th
must must have wanted to read such mater
But Augustine had little idea of what he wa
books—by his own admission—until he
his mind was probably still absorbed in c
option presented by the New Academy w
beloved Cicero.
We shall never know for certain, but there is some reason to
think that Praetextatus fills the bill best: he was prominent, inter
ested in philosophy more seriously than any other we can identify,
and, to extrapolate from Macrobius' idealization in the Saturnalia,
a plausible recipient of Augustine's contemptuous dismissal. And
he was dead:
. . . experiar quid concedatur in illos,

quorum Flaminia tegitur cinis atque Latina.11
John Μ.
M. Rist
GEOGRAPHY OR CHRISTIANITY? MAPS

OF THE HOLY LAND BEFORE AD iooo
Maps of the Holy Land date from the earliest ce

tianity. Yet, although some examples (such as th
map) are well known, the history of the genre as
the seventeenth century is remarkably confused.
Was not appreciated until recently that various m
10 Praetextatus read Greek texts in the original and translated Themistius on

the Analytics. See for details A. Chastagnol, Les Fastes de la prefecture de Rome
auau Bas-Empire (Paris, 1962), 171-8. Even though he is not particularly associated
with Platonism, of all those considered here he is by far the most likely to have
possessed a wide-ranging collection of philosophical books, and even to have read
them. According to the (more cynical) evidence of Ammianus, aristocrats' libraries
were usually opened to extract the works of Marius Maximus and Juvenal
(28. 4. 14).
11 Early versions of this were subjected to the salutary attentions of Timothy
Barnes.
144 NOTES AND STUDIES
bible illustrations from 1525 onwards.1

in the sixteenth century was directly rel
Or that, despite being harnessed in the caus
religion, their content continued traditio
and texts of Late Antiquity. The aim of t
attention to the earliest maps of the Hol
questions about their exegetic role in Lat
Before that, however, there are some pr
consider. To start with, what is a map o
answer is not difficult: it is a regional m
map of 'ista terra, quam sanctam vocamu
an essential duality too often glossed ov
while the map must show the geographic
Middle East known throughout most of
its towns and cities, boundaries, rivers
must also show certain of those same riv
and cities which happened to have featur
Jews and Christians as recounted in the
and which thus have come to be regarded as sacred places by
Christians. Faced with such a map, it is not always easy to tell
which was intended as which by the map-maker.
What does become clear, however, is that a map of the Holy
Land, a regional map, is not a mappamundi. Nor is a mappa
mundimundi—a map 'whose primary purpose . . . was to instruct the
faithful about significant events in Christian history rather than
to record their precise location'3—a regional map. Moreover, nei
ther of these map genres includes the diagramatic world maps
used by Greek and Roman writers, in classical as well as late
Antiquity, to illustrate their geographical texts. Since the point of
such diagrams was to elucidate matters difficult to visualize from
a verbal description alone they closely matched the written
description. Like a well-designed modern diagram, they were
characteristically selective in content and economical in style.4
Their place was in chapters that described the structure of the
1 C. Delano Smith 'Maps in bibles in the sixteenth century', The Map Collector
39 (1987), 2-14.
2 Brocardus of Sion Locorum Terra Sanctae exactissima descriptio in Novus Orbis
RegionumRegionum . . . ed. S. Gryneus (Basle, 1532), 298.
3 D. Woodward 'Medieval mappaemundi' in The History of Cartography, vol. 1:
Cartography Cartography in Prehistoric, Ancient, and Medieval Europe and the Mediterranean,
eds. J. B. Harley and D. Woodward (Chicago and London: University of Chicago
Press, 1987), 286.
4 See Woodward 'Medieval mappaemundi', 296-7 for examples and a classifica
tion by structure; see also Konrad Miller Mappaemundi. Die altesten Weltkarten
(Stuttgart: J. Roth, 1895-8), 6 vols.
world as a whole (with its outer ocean, t

continents, and the seas and rivers whic
going on to regional details (countries, pr
However, we know these geographical d
only through later copies, the vast majori
were made after the start of the tenth c
versions often contain extraneous materi
nature and quite unrelated to the text th
to illustrate. Thus Christianized and hija
the Church, these former world maps b
the development of which, highly elabor
the twelfth-century wall maps of Herefo
Hints of the impending transformation
a map for a geographical description to a
world view can be glimpsed in the earlies
of the classical texts containing maps. F
the surviving fragments of Julius Honor
velvel continentia preserved at Albi (the ori
fifth century, the copy is dated e.730) h
world which also includes the Desert [of
of Sinai (the latter marked by a triangul
is mentioned in the text.8 Another, more s
Isidore of Seville's Etymologies illustrate
sections (Book 14, de terra et [euis] part
the world and its continents, each named
ent bears the name of one of the three
5 In Macrobius's Commentary on Cicero's Dream o
the diagrams is confirmed by references to them
diagram will lay everything before our eyes' (2. 9
Dilke 'Itineraries and geographical maps in the E
in History of Cartography, vol. 1, p. 244.
* Most that have survived come from the twelfth to fifteenth centuries: see
graph in Woodward 'Medieval mappaemundi', 298.
‫ י‬P. Barber 'Visual encyclopaedias: the Hereford and other Mappae Mundi',
The The Map Collector 48 (1989), 3-8.
8 These two names were taken from Eusebius or Jerome while the forty-eight
other names seem to have come from Orosius: Miller Mappaemundi, vol. 6, p. 57.
See also Dilke 'Itineraries and geographical maps in the Early and Late Roman
Empires', History of Cartography, vol. 1, p. 244. The map is reproduced in C. R.
Beazley, the Dawn of Modern Geography (London: John Murray, 1897) vol. 1,
facing p. 385.
* Also from the eighth century, this early copy of Isidore's book must have been
made soon after it was first written. The figure above the map is in a different
hand, presumably added later. For a reproduction, see Miller, Mappaemundi,
vol. 1, p. 58. Theophilus of Antioch, Ad Autolycum (second century ad), gives an
explanation of how the world was (re)settled after the Deluge (2. 32): I am grateful
to Robert Grant for this reference.
4sia
SIM
INHABI
fan is HUVS TABl I IS
IevHop^ AfRA
CA
JAPH
CAM
ET
Fig. i. Diagramatic
Fig.Fig. world map from a world
i. Diagramatic manuscript of Isidore's
map from Etymologies
a man
(Isidore
(Isidore Codex Codex
237, St Gall).
237,
(From St
Miller,
Gall).
Vol. VI,(From
p. 58) Miller, Vol
While these can be dismissed as minor

diagrams illustrating, in traditional ma
tions in the various histories and encyc
the biblical content of some later exam
residual geographical function they mi
seemingly quite irrelevant to the text,
illustration, a map in a mid-eleventh c
Liebana's Commentary on the Apocaly
character from its religious content. Pl
(Jerusalem, Beersheba, Mt. Carmel, fo
there are inscriptions referring to bib
Sea crossing, the receiving of the Law o
Fig. 2. Jerome's map of Palestine. The second of tw

copy of his Holy Places. (From Miller, Vol. Ill, p.
in which the Children of Israel wandere

twelfth century Ebstorf mappamundi, th
seas and rivers defining the three continent
of the classical diagram is all but invisible b
of other information, biblical, mythical,
same could be said of the Hereford mapp
A distinction thus has to be made betwee
of maps. There are the simple maps or di
ical texts (world maps), the mappaemund
the regional maps with which we began a
return. Four maps of the Holy Land can
originated in Late Antiquity. Three are k
though there are good grounds for acce
close to their originals. We can take them
First, there is Jerome's map of the Ho
one of two regional maps in a copy of h
c.i 150.11 To what extent this was Jerom
10 Reproduced in Miller, Mappaemundi, vol. 1 (fr
Youssouf Kamal, Monumenta Cartographica Africa
vols, 16 pts) vol. 3, pt. 3 (Paris MSS). Kamal gave
Woodward gives 1050.
11 The other shows Asia. They are found in a m
Holy Places made about 1150 [British Library Ad
389-91, or his reworking of a map made by Eusebius for the

OnomasticonOnomasticon remains largely unresolved. The map focuses on
Palestine with its lakes linked by the Jordan, though the outline
of Asia Minor is sketched in and the Nile (with its western river),
the Euphrates, Tigris, Indus, and Ganges are shown. One interest
ing point is the way the seventy-seven towns and cities, most of
which are in Palestine, are marked on the map. Only four are
shown pictorially: Constantinople, Alexandria (with the pharos),
New Babylon (Cairo), and Jerusalem. All others are identified
simply by name, those of the coastal towns boxed around. Nothing
distinguishes loca sacra or any place of special biblical interest,
even though places such as Dan and Beersheba, the Sinai desert,
Mt Sinai itself, Galgal, Bethlehem, are unlikely candidates for a
simple regional map of Palestine under the Romans. At the same
time, there are distinctly classical elements in the map: the Hircan
ian Forest, for instance, and the Columns of Hercules and of
Alexander towards the eastern edge of the map, close by the
curious pictorial sign (two trees) labelled the Oracle of the Sun
and the Moon.12 In general, however, the map has a Christian
bias. The single biblical inscription refers to the New testament
(,the desert where the Lord fasted') even though the majority of
places on the map are linked with Old rather than New Testament
events (the Old Testament mentions a greater number of places
than does the New). Oddly, no attempt seems to have been made
to identify the Tribal Territories, despite this being a key aspect
of both Eusebius' and Jerome's gazeteers. The only territorial
names are those of the Roman provinces: Judea, Upper and Lower
Galilee, and Samaria. Taking all into consideration, Jerome's map
would seem to have been created in the interests of textual
exegesis. Compared with the map from Madaba, it looks like a
scholar's tool.
The Madaba mosaic map was constructed not much more than
a century later (c.541 and 565) (Fig. 3). Unlike Jerome's manu
script map, the mosaic was a public map. It would have been seen
by all who paced the nave of the church of St John at Madaba. It
must also have been, in its pristine state, arresting. It is a crowded
map, colourful, dynamic, and informative. The map signs are
18 The picture at the top of Jerome's map shows the Tree of the Sun and the
Tree of the Moon which Alexander the Great is supposed to have addressed, the
oracle telling him his destiny in Indian and Greek. The question thus must be, is
this the work of the medieval copyist or was it really on Jerome's original? Would
Jerome have had such an interest in the Alexander myth that he singled out the
Sun/Moon oracle (and the Columns of Hercules and of Alexander) for his map?
Could it be connected with the absence of Paradise on his map?
*eusj
[ma1UMAS]AL5i
V‫']״‬
[maIUMAS]AL5|
Fig.
Fig. 3.
3. Part
Partof
ofa asurviving
survivingportion
portion
of of
thethe
mosaic
mosaic
from
from
the church
the church
of St of
John
St John
at at
Madaba.
Madaba. (Adapted,
(Adapted,with
withpermission,
permission,from
from
John
John
Wilkinson's,
Wilkinson's,
Jerusalem
Jerusalem
Pilgrims
Pilgrims
(1977).
(1977). Damaged
Damagedareas
areasare
areshaded)
shaded)
mostly pictorial, with the city of Jerusalem (not shown here)

portrayed in exceptional (and apparently topographically accurate)
detail. There are lions, gazelle, palm trees, and—as on the portion
reproduced here (Fig. 3) which illustrates the surviving portion of
Lower Egypt and the Sinai peninsula—fishes in the rivers. The
references and quotations from the bible are numerous. Each of
the Tribal Territories (to judge from the surviving portion) was
identified. Such a map must have been created in very different
circumstances from Jerome's. It may have been used in a different
way, too. Indeed, we can speculate that much of its value may
have derived from its very flamboyance as well as from its biblical
.p * >'.r ' S
Oct * nufj cri •
Hijlvf
linvl
ma
feJitoC
ocomr*
luiurfa
Fig. 4. Map of the Holy Land with the Exodus route. From a manuscript of
Orosius' Histories (Orosius Codex 621, St Gall). (From Miller, Vol. VI, p. 62)
wealth. It could have been a pedagogic tool; equally, it could have

been a celebration of the religion it reflected.
The third map (Fig. 4) is yet again different in character and
context. It was drawn in the margin of an eighth-century copy of
Paul Orosius' Histories.13 It covers the area between Egypt and
the Persian Gulf. The Promised Land is indicated by its coastline
and the Jordan river (with twin sources). The boundary town
between Egypt and Palestine, Rhinocorura, is named. Jerusalem
is prominently marked with a pictorial sign surmounted by a cross.
The map could have been designed expressly to illustrate the
Exodus: a broken line marks the Israelites' route while the Red
Sea crossing is shown as a strip of land. Paradise, beyond the
eastern ocean, is also named.
The fourth map (Fig. 5) comes from another eighth-century
manuscript, a copy of Isidore's Etymologies. It is often described
as a mappamundi but the resemblance is superficial. External shape
apart, the map has little in common with others of that genre. A
careful look reveals that it is a regional map on two scales. The
13 Reproduced in Miller, Mappaemundi, vol. 6, p. 62, together with two other
marginal sketch maps, one a rectangular world diagram with the three continents,
the other a very sketchy representation of Italy with Rome marked.
Fig. 5. Map of the Holy Land as an 'inset' in a m

century copy of Isidore's Etymologies. The repro
(Courtesy of Bibliotheca Apostolica Vaticana)
eastern half of the map focuses (rather

map might do) on the region between t
shore and Mesopotamia. The Jordan, the great rivers of Asia
(Euphrates, Tigris, Indus, Ganges), and another river around
Eden are shown. Paradise is marked by an encircled floral sign.
Jerusalem is one of the few cities to be marked, its sign exagger
ated. Both the Red Sea crossing place and that of the river Jordan
at Galgal are shown although the Exodus route itself is not indie
ated. Mount Sinai is marked. The other half of the map seems to
be a remarkable topological representation of the rest of the world.
This is not the occasion to attempt to arrive at conclusions. On
the contrary, it is hoped that by describing these four maps of the
Holy Land from Late Antiquity, and by distinguishing them from
the great mass of mappaemundi that came much later, this brief
note will prompt further discussion. What, for instance, would
have been the function of each in the eyes of its creator? What
exegetical role might each have played? Themes such as Salvation
and Peregrination can be discovered in the maps: were they
designed to communicate the geographical as well as the historical
reality of biblical history, as were similar maps, inserted into
Protestant bibles in the Reformation, twelve centuries later? Simil
arity of form does not mean similarity of message and it is import
ant to set each map, and its message, into proper context. Yet it
is interesting that Jerome in the fourth century, like Calvin in the
sixteenth century, found a use for maps in the context of his
religion while deeply suspicious of other forms of religious art.
Catherine Delano Smith

MAPS Before 1000

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Description:

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

MAPS Before 1000

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

GEOGRAPHY OR CHRISTIANITY?

MAPS OF THE HOLY LAND BEFORE AD 1000

Agorius Praetextatus, the big man of the

. . . experiar quid concedatur in illos,

GEOGRAPHY OR CHRISTIANITY? MAPS

Maps of the Holy Land date from the earliest ce

10 Praetextatus read Greek texts in the original and translated Themistius on

bible illustrations from 1525 onwards.1

world as a whole (with its outer ocean, t

fan is HUVS TABl I IS

While these can be dismissed as minor

Fig. 2. Jerome's map of Palestine. The second of tw

in which the Children of Israel wandere

389-91, or his reworking of a map made by Eusebius for the

mostly pictorial, with the city of Jerusalem (not shown here)

wealth. It could have been a pedagogic tool; equally, it could have

Fig. 5. Map of the Holy Land as an 'inset' in a m

eastern half of the map focuses (rather

You might also like