cartography 189
settlement near the river Lāmas, considered by early ninth- and tenth-century Arab
writers to be the boundary between Byzantium and Islamic lands (Savage-Smith, 2003:
123–124 n. 9).
Looking at the European continent on this map, we see that Spain is very large, but
the contours of neither Greece nor Italy are indicated. The configuration of localities in
the rest of Europe is very curious. The Franks (al-Ifranjah) are indicated as being in a
coastal area enclosed by a semicircle. They are confronted on two sides by the Ghalijashka
(a people usually said to live around the Pyrenees, near the border of modern Spain and
France), and the Bashkūnish (traditionally translated as the Basques); these areas are
delineated by a right angle. Outside, near the corner, is the city of Rome (Rumah̄ ),
while Byzantium (Bilād al-Rūm) is written vertically at the far right of Rome.
There is a slightly different mapping tradition associated with one version, and one
version only, of the treatise composed by the second member of the Balkhı̄ school
whose writings have survived—Ibn Ḥawqal. This variant version, preserved in a man-
uscript now in Istanbul, was copied very early—1086 (479 h), less than a century
after Ibn Ḥawqal’s death. The world map in this particular version is similar to the
world maps in other Balkhı School treatises, except that in the Mediterranean Sea ̄
there are no islands, and Italy and Greece have been given more attention, with both
shown as peninsulas (see Ibn Ḥawqal, 1938: 1: 8–9; Ibn Ḥawqal, 1964: map 1;
Tibbets, 1992: fig. 5.16). The Franks (Ifranjah) and Galicians (al-Jallāliqah) reside
next to al-Andalus, with the Lombards (al-Nukbardah) to the east. The Italian pen-
insula is referred to as Calabria (Qalawrıyah̄ ). The Adriatic is triangular in shape and
labeled the Gulf of the Venetians (jūn al-Banādıqiyı̄ n̄).
Macedonia (Majadūniyah) is located along the shores of the “Gulf of
Constantinople,” with Constantinople itself occupying a round peninsula jutting out
into the narrow “Gulf.” Slavs (al-Ṣaqalibah̄ ) reside on either side of the “Gulf”.
Amongst the regional maps in this same manuscript, there is large map extending
over three pages that depicts the entire Mediterranean in some detail. The orientation
of this long rectangular map is to the north, to which we are more accustomed today
(Pinna, 1996: 2:32–48). Ten islands, rather than only three, are depicted in the
Mediterranean. The Straits of Gibraltar and the Atlantic Ocean (Surrounding Sea) are
at the left. There is an enormous Spain, while Italy and Greece are clearly delineated
as peninsulas. Much attention has been given to place names on the coast of Africa,
but little detail is provided for the coast of the Levant.
The most surprising element is that Rome is not on the Italian peninsula. The city
of Rome is to the west, surrounded by Franks, the Ghalijashka, and the Bashkūnish—
in other words, the same configuration as seen on the Mediterranean map of a more
typical Balkhı̄ School map (see Figure 12.2) has been maintained here, even though
the maker of this large three-page map drew and labeled the Italian peninsula,
providing names for a number of Italian cities. Greece is labeled Bilubūnis, the
Peloponnese, and given a lengthy label providing its dimensions. The large port of
Antalya, while not indicated on the world map in this unique manuscript, is here
given great prominence although again incorrectly labeled as Antioch. Instead of
only three islands in the Mediterranean, there are now 10, all the additions being in
the West (Malta, Pantelleria, Sardinia, Corsica, and Majorca). Two of the “islands,”
however, are not really islands, but ports on the European mainland: Genoa and