cartography 185
San Domingo de Silos in 1106, for example, the straight blue strip of the Mediterranean
is placed vertically in the center of the map, with a thin strip for the River Nile to its right
and the River Don to the left (for illustrations, see Barber, 2005: 44–45; Scafi, 2006:
112–113, fig. 5.14a,b; Williams, 1994). Seven rectangular islands populate the sea.
A sixth-century Alexandrian monk by the name of Cosmas Indicopleustes (literally,
Mr World Sailing to India) illustrated his Christian Topography with a Greek rectan-
gular world map in which the Mediterranean was more realistically depicted than on
T-O maps (Kominko, 2008; Barber, 2005: 34–35; Scafi, 2006: 161, fig. 7.1a,b). The
sea is devoid of islands and landlocked except for a narrow western opening, while its
southern coast forms a smooth convex curve and two bays cut into its northern curved
shore. In this curious Christian Topography, Cosmas was arguing against all the
authorities of his day in saying that the earth was flat and not round, forming, accord-
ing to his theory, the base of a tabernacle-shaped universe.
Two centuries later, around 775, one of the earliest surviving Latin world maps is
centered around an enormous, elongated Mediterranean having a broad opening at
the bottom of the map (west) (Albi, Bibliothèque Muncipale, MS 29, fol. 57v; Scafi,
2006: 138, fig. 6.6; Barber, 2005: 42–43; Edson, 2008: 231). Its smooth southern
coastline curves only slightly while three narrow bays interrupt its northern coast. Its
waters are occupied by five large islands, four round and one diamond-shaped.
Ravenna features prominently on the map and is the likely place of its production.
Egypt JerusalemRiver NileASIAEASTRiver DonSOUTH NORTHWESTSpainAFRICA EUROPEMediterranean SeaRomeFigure 12.1 Explanatory diagram showing the basic features of a T–O map based on an
illustration to an eleventh-century Flemish copy of the History of the Jugurthine Wars by
Sallust (86–34 bce) in Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Rawl. G. 44, fol.17v. © Emilie
Savage-Smith.