cosmographer, mathematician, and professor of Hebrew at the universities of
Heidelberg and, later, Basel—is best known for hisBiblia Hebraica,the first
Protestant translation of the Hebrew Bible. He is also known for hisCosmogra-
phia Universalis,a compendium of maps and scientific treatises describing the
world, published in 1544 , and for his edition of Ptolemy’s maps.^40 The connec-
tions among Hebraism, biblical studies, theology, and the geography of the ten
tribes are strongly attached to a new Christian sensitivity concerning the tribes
that emerged in the sixteenth century. Christian Hebraism, a form of Renais-
sance scholarship rooted in earlier periods and the contemporary quintessence of
Jewish-Christian dialogue, was chiefly responsible. Hebraism, which was not
confined to only one Christian denomination, involved the translation and study
of “kabbalistic books, Jewish biblical exegeses and Talmudic texts.”^41 Mu ̈nster
himself was well known, and often criticized, “for his close engagement with
rabbinic literature.”^42 (Mu ̈nster also published the book of Tobit, so one could say
he was familiar with the life of at least one ten triber already.)
Figure5.1.Mu ̈nster, “Asia in Current Time.” Courtesy Rolf Stein.