Panorama of the World

Thursday, December 20, 2018

Anthropomorphic maps in ancient times

The invention of the wheel has greatly helped mankind create the abstract world view. The long times required to cross long distances were greatly reduced, and heavy loads could be carried on carts. Reality has become time dependent instead of space dependent. The world's image had turned upside down. The geographical world has turned from a subject to an object. There was a need to give it new marks. The most natural was to map it according to human connections.

"The Great Wagon" is a famous constellation system. It direct toward the North Star, which guided the ancient seafarers. The name was given to the system because of its shape.

The zodiac map is the most known anthropomorphic map. As part of the entire planetary maps, the zodiac takes up a special place. These are constellations of stars which are fixed in the sky, which since the dawn of history man has called by their form, with names from the realm of human existence: figures, animals and objects.

The twelve signs, from Aries to Pisces, are influencing nowdays popular culture. They are used daily for the purposes of personality analysis, setting the calendar, predicting the future, and alternative medicine.

The zodiac is a clear example of the great power of anthropomorphism in human culture.

Stars and stars constellations that do not belong to the Zodiac have been animated too. For example, the Orion constellation is called, according to its shape, the 'Orion Hunter'.

The zodiac illustrates a central aspect of anthropomorphism: its intensity.

The intensity varies according to two main factors:

A. The similarity between reality and the source of inspiration. To what extent the object that stimulates the concept of anthropomorphism is similar to that in reality. For example: how similar is the constellation Aries in the sky to a lamb in reality, or how similar is the constellation of Geminy to human twins.

B. The highest level of anthropomorphism is a similarity of objects to the human body, specially the face. Lower levels are of objects similar to animals. The lowest levels are of practical tools, and abstract concepts.

The Zodiac's division according to these levels is:

Humans: twins, virgin

Domestic animals: lamb, ox, capricorn

Other animals: lion, fish

Invertebrates: crab, scorpion

Objects: scales, bow, bucket

The first hanthropomorphic conception of the entire earth in human culture was by Mesopotamian cultures and the ancient Greeks, up to the classical Greek period. They described the entire surface of the earth, as was known to them, in the form of a cauldron, or a spherical boat, floating in the seas that surround it. Around the boat and over it were the strong forces of nature. This world view had several versions, all of which survived by a mere verbal description, including in the Illiads by Homer. This description is similar, to a certain extent, to the modern description of the earth as a ball. It is in contrast to the conventional world view that survived until America was discovered, which described the surface of the earth as flat.

With all its precision, the mathematical and geometric globe form of the earth is, to a certain extent, a return to the ancient Mesopotamian world view.

Herodotus was a Greek historian from the 5th century BC. He is called the father of history. This is because he was the first to refer to historical issues in a research method. He traveled in Europe, Asia, and North Africa, gathered information from people he met, and documented his findings in his great treatise 'Histories', which provides a detailed picture of the cultures of his time.

According to his descriptions, the map of the world was also drawn. Greek civilization is at the center of this world map. His narrative is geopolitically partial, combining his cultural world view and his research.

The most prominent and intersting feature of the map is that it is in the form of a human skull. The land areas of the world correspond to the bones, and the seas are parallel the head's interior cavities.

There is no doubt that the shape of the skull stood in front of Herodotus when he drew. In antiquity, the phenomenon of animating the forces of nature was very well known. The entire geographical landscape, such as mountain and rock forms, islands and bays, served as a direct source of inspiration for human beings.

Some of the parallels between a skull and the world map are:

Africa is the jaw

Europe is the forehead and the nose

Asia is the back of the head

Mediterranean sea is the oral cavity

The East Mediterranean coast, part of which is Land of Israel, is at the heart of the map, but Herodotus described it only briefly, as being between Greece, Persia and Egypt. He has seven references to the region, which he calls Syria-Palestine. The peoples inhabiting the area are: the Phoenicians in the north, the Syrians on the eastern side of the Jordan, the Syrian-Palestinians who are apparently Jews in the Land of Israel, and the Egyptians in the south.

The contemporaries of Herodotus, and later generations, used this map , throughout the Middle Ages, until the discovery of America. Therefore, the map has many versions on similar lines.

The Romans, for example, preserved the shape of the map, but simplified it. They were not interested in further geographical research, but in practical maps that could be used to build the Roman Empire.

Greek sages who lived after Herodotus devoted a great deal of time to geographical research.
They discovered, after doing geographical measurements and geometric calculations, that the world is in the shape of a round ball, and even calculated its dimensions.
They realized also that the entire earth which they knew is just a small part of the entire globe.

They drew many maps in which they speculated about what was hidden in the back sides of the globe, but were not correct.

The ball is a human object in daily use, and also a very important abstract concept. Therefore, the image of the world as a ball had always created a strong feeling of anthropomorphism, and influenced enthusiatic geographical researchers throughout the ages.
The image of the ball is also very close to the image of the wheel, a transport invention that changed the face of the world in ancient times, and created an anthropomorphic pattern of its own.