Maps

Map of the world (XI century) by Beato di Libebana

In the  middle  ages people   thought the  earth  was flat and surrounded  by a  mysterious ocean. On  this map the east is where the  north should  be. Africa is   called  Libya and the Nile runs through it; the Mediterranean Sea is in the middle of the map. Below the inscription “oriens” there is Adam and Eve  in  the  earthly   paradise,  the  rivers  spring  from  an underground source

Map by Edrisi

This is the globe of al-Idrisi, an Arab geographer who lived at the 

court  of  king  Ruggero. On it  are represented Europe, Asia and

Africa

Geographical map of Sicily in XIII century

The map represents Sicily with its characteristic triangular shape;

but the  cartographer  wrongly  indicates Cape Pachino as the most

eastern cape and Cape Lilibeo as the most southern one.

   Map ‘mundi’ by Hereford (XIII century)

In  the    northern  nave  of  Hereford  cathedral there is the   map of  the world here represented. The scheme with the information of the different places,  makes  it  more legible. It  explains  how men imagined the world in the XIII century. The shape  of  the    continents  and  the  proportions between the oceans are not   very  precise,  lands and seas. America and Australia  were   unknown;

in the    middle   there  is  the Holy Land. Putting Palestine   and  Jerusalem  in  the  centre  of the world   coincided  with  the religious  beliefs  of 

the  men   of  the  Middle   Ages   and   with   the geographical  experience  of that time, the Holy Land was where the three continents,  Europe, Asia and Africa met.