Lectures

6th March 2024: Antique Maps

At our March meeting John Tattersfield gave a talk on Antique Maps. Exactly when mapping started is unknown. Of the maps discovered from the ancient world, a clay map of Gasur, Iraq showing mountains and rivers and signs of the compass dates from c2300BC, a papyrus map from Egypt showing the Red Sea Hills dates from c1150BC, and a pictorial map carved in rock from Capo di Ponte, Italy that represents a rural village with human figures and animals (drawn in stick design) is from the Bronze Age (100-200BC).

Eratosthenes (c276–195/194BC) believed like most ancient Greeks that the earth was spherical and not flat. He calculated the circumference of the Earth using two Egyptian cities (Alexandria and Syene [present day Aswan) on the same meridian, by measuring the distance between them and measuring the angles of the shadows cast by the sun at midday. He calculated a distance around the Earth of 25,000 miles which is remarkably similar to that of today. Subsequently, calculations by Posidonius (c135 51BC) and Strabo (c64-24BC) using different methods arrived at a distance of 18,000 miles. However, despite Eratosthenes’s discovery, the distance of 18000 miles was used for many years including by Christopher Columbus (1451-1506). This may explain why Columbus thought the place he landed was Asia, when in fact it was the the “New World” (America).

The geographer Claudius Ptolemy (c90-169AD) also believed the Earth was spherical and came up with a system using latitude and longitude and the coordinates for 8000 physical locations on his world map, although this map still only included Europe, Asia and Africa. Many maps produced during the Middle Ages used Ptolemy’s guide. However, in these maps - often referred to as T-maps because they show three continents (Europe, Asia, and Africa), separated by the “T” formed by the Mediterranean Sea and the Nile River – Jerusalem is central and East is at the top (sometimes with the figure of Christ), whereas this is North on modern maps. An example is the Mappa Mundi, eg, the Hereford map (c1300).

More accurate geographical representation began in the 14th century from charts mainly compiled for navigation. In 1482 Ulm Ptolemy made a “map of the world “not dissimilar to today’s maps of Europe, Afica and Asia. The “Ulm” map had north at the top of the map, however, for the land masses it was still believed that the southern tip of Africa was continous to Asia, and the Indian Ocean was enclosed. Intially many of the mapped areas, for example Africa were mainly coastal, apart from sigificant known features such as lakes and rivers (particularly the Nile river), but in the earlier maps these were necessarily not in the right place. Exploration of the interior and the arrival of settlers led to more accurate and detailed mapping of Africa.

Margaret Bray