The Babylonian Map of the World (or ''Imago Mundi'') is a
Babylonian clay tablet
In the Ancient Near East, clay tablets (Akkadian ) were used as a writing medium, especially for writing in cuneiform, throughout the Bronze Age and well into the Iron Age.
Cuneiform characters were imprinted on a wet clay tablet with a sty ...
written in the
Akkadian Akkadian or Accadian may refer to:
* Akkadians, inhabitants of the Akkadian Empire
* Akkadian language, an extinct Eastern Semitic language
* Akkadian literature, literature in this language
* Akkadian cuneiform
Cuneiform is a logo-syllabic ...
language. Dated to no earlier than the 9th century BC (with a late 8th or 7th date being more likely), it includes a brief and partially lost textual description. The tablet
describes the oldest known depiction of the
known world. Ever since its discovery there have been a variety of divergent views on what it represents in general and about specific features in particular.
The map is centered on the
Euphrates
The Euphrates () is the longest and one of the most historically important rivers of Western Asia. Tigris–Euphrates river system, Together with the Tigris, it is one of the two defining rivers of Mesopotamia ( ''the land between the rivers'') ...
, flowing from the north (top) to the south (bottom). The city of
Babylon
''Bābili(m)''
* sux, 𒆍𒀭𒊏𒆠
* arc, 𐡁𐡁𐡋 ''Bāḇel''
* syc, ܒܒܠ ''Bāḇel''
* grc-gre, Βαβυλών ''Babylṓn''
* he, בָּבֶל ''Bāvel''
* peo, 𐎲𐎠𐎲𐎡𐎽𐎢 ''Bābiru''
* elx, 𒀸𒁀𒉿𒇷 ''Babi ...
is shown on the Euphrates, in the northern half of the map. The mouth of the Euphrates is labelled "swamp" and "outflow".
Susa
Susa ( ; Middle elx, 𒀸𒋗𒊺𒂗, translit=Šušen; Middle and Neo- elx, 𒋢𒋢𒌦, translit=Šušun; Neo- Elamite and Achaemenid elx, 𒀸𒋗𒐼𒀭, translit=Šušán; Achaemenid elx, 𒀸𒋗𒐼, translit=Šušá; fa, شوش ...
, the capital of
Elam
Elam (; Linear Elamite: ''hatamti''; Cuneiform Elamite: ; Sumerian: ; Akkadian: ; he, עֵילָם ''ʿēlām''; peo, 𐎢𐎺𐎩 ''hūja'') was an ancient civilization centered in the far west and southwest of modern-day Iran, stretc ...
, is shown to the south,
Urartu
Urartu (; Assyrian: ',Eberhard Schrader, ''The Cuneiform inscriptions and the Old Testament'' (1885), p. 65. Babylonian: ''Urashtu'', he, אֲרָרָט ''Ararat'') is a geographical region and Iron Age kingdom also known as the Kingdom of V ...
to the northeast, and Habban, the capital of the
Kassites
The Kassites () were people of the ancient Near East, who controlled Babylonia after the fall of the Old Babylonian Empire c. 1531 BC and until c. 1155 BC (short chronology).
They gained control of Babylonia after the Hittite sack of Babylo ...
is shown (incorrectly) to the northwest. Mesopotamia is surrounded by a circular "bitter river" or
Ocean
The ocean (also the sea or the world ocean) is the body of salt water that covers approximately 70.8% of the surface of Earth and contains 97% of Earth's water. An ocean can also refer to any of the large bodies of water into which the wor ...
, and seven or eight "regions", depicted as triangular sections, are shown as lying beyond the Ocean. It has been suggested that the depiction of these "regions" as triangles might indicate that they were imagined as mountains.
The tablet was excavated by
Hormuzd Rassam
Hormuzd Rassam ( ar, هرمز رسام; syr, ܗܪܡܙܕ ܪܣܐܡ; 182616 September 1910), was an Assyriologist and author.
He is known for making a number of important archaeological discoveries from 1877 to 1882, including the clay tablets tha ...
at
Sippar
Sippar ( Sumerian: , Zimbir) was an ancient Near Eastern Sumerian and later Babylonian city on the east bank of the Euphrates river. Its '' tell'' is located at the site of modern Tell Abu Habbah near Yusufiyah in Iraq's Baghdad Governorate, som ...
,
Baghdad Vilayet,
some 60 km north of Babylon on the east bank of the
Euphrates River
The Euphrates () is the longest and one of the most historically important rivers of Western Asia. Together with the Tigris, it is one of the two defining rivers of Mesopotamia ( ''the land between the rivers''). Originating in Turkey, the Eup ...
. It was acquired by the
British Museum
The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...
in 1882 (BM 92687);
the text was first translated in 1889. The tablet is usually thought to have originated in
Borsippa
Borsippa ( Sumerian: BAD.SI.(A).AB.BAKI; Akkadian: ''Barsip'' and ''Til-Barsip'')The Cambridge Ancient History: Prolegomena & Prehistory': Vol. 1, Part 1. Accessed 15 Dec 2010. or Birs Nimrud (having been identified with Nimrod) is an archeologi ...
. In 1995 a new join to the tablet was discovered, at the point of the upper-most nagu.
Description of the tablet
The tablet consists of three parts: the world map, a text above the map, and a text on the back side of the tablet. It is not clear whether all three parts should be read as a single whole. Systematic differences between the texts suggest that the tablet may have been compiled from three separate documents.
The map
The map is circular with two outer defined circles.
Cuneiform
Cuneiform is a logo- syllabic script that was used to write several languages of the Ancient Middle East. The script was in active use from the early Bronze Age until the beginning of the Common Era. It is named for the characteristic wedge- ...
script labels all locations inside the circular map, as well as a few regions outside. The two outer circles represent water in between and is labelled as
id''maratum'' "bitter river", the salt sea.
Babylon
''Bābili(m)''
* sux, 𒆍𒀭𒊏𒆠
* arc, 𐡁𐡁𐡋 ''Bāḇel''
* syc, ܒܒܠ ''Bāḇel''
* grc-gre, Βαβυλών ''Babylṓn''
* he, בָּבֶל ''Bāvel''
* peo, 𐎲𐎠𐎲𐎡𐎽𐎢 ''Bābiru''
* elx, 𒀸𒁀𒉿𒇷 ''Babi ...
north of center of the map; parallel lines at the bottom seem to represent the ''southern marshes'', and a curved line coming from the north, northeast appear to represent the
Zagros Mountains
The Zagros Mountains ( ar, جبال زاغروس, translit=Jibal Zaghrus; fa, کوههای زاگرس, Kuh hā-ye Zāgros; ku, چیاکانی زاگرۆس, translit=Çiyakani Zagros; Turkish: ''Zagros Dağları''; Luri: ''Kuh hā-ye Zāgr ...
.
[Edition of the text:
Wayne Horowitz, ''Mesopotamian Cosmic Geography'' ch. 2 (1998) ''Iraq'' 50 (1988), 147-165
Older editions:
F.E. Peier ''ZA'' 4 (1889), R.C. Thompson, ''Cuneiform texts from Babylonian tablets'' 22 48 (1906), E. Weidner, BoSt 6 (1922) 85-93, E. Unger, ''Babylon'' (1931), 254-258.
]
There are seven small interior circles at the perimeter areas within the circle, and they appear to represent seven cities.
Seven or eight triangular sections on the external circle (water perimeter) represent named "regions" (''nagu'').
The description of five of them has survived.
[British Museum Inv. No.92687]
Carlo Zaccagnini has argued that the design of the Babylonian map of the world may have lived on in the
T and O maps of the European Middle Ages.
Accompanying texts
Front side
The text above the map (11 lines) seems to describe part of the creation of the world by
Marduk
Marduk (Cuneiform: dAMAR.UTU; Sumerian: ''amar utu.k'' "calf of the sun; solar calf"; ) was a god from ancient Mesopotamia and patron deity of the city of Babylon. When Babylon became the political center of the Euphrates valley in the time of ...
, the patron god of Babylon, who divided the primeval Ocean (the goddess
Tiamat
In Mesopotamian religion, Tiamat ( akk, or , grc, Θαλάττη, Thaláttē) is a primordial goddess of the sea, mating with Abzû, the god of the groundwater, to produce younger gods. She is the symbol of the chaos of primordial crea ...
) and thus created Land and Sea. Of the Sea it says:
: "the ruine
gods which he (Marduk) set
ledinside the Sea
..are present; the viper, the great sea-serpent inside."
Next, on Land, a series of two mythical creatures ("the
Anzu-bird, and
scorpi ">n-man) and at least fifteen land animals are mentioned, "beasts which Marduk created on top of the res
lss Sea" (i.e. on the land, visualized as a kind of giant raft floating in the Sea), among them mountain goat, gazelle, lion, wolf, monkey and female-monkey, ostrich, cat, and chameleon. With the exception of the cat, all these animals were typical of faraway lands.
The last two lines of the text refer to three legendary heroes:
napištim">napištim (the hero of the Flood),
Sargon (ruler of Akkad), and Nur-
gan the King of
Buršaḫa ">da(opponent of Sargon).
Back side
The back side (29 lines) seems to be a description of (at least) eight ''nagu''. After an introduction, possibly explaining how to identify the first ''nagu'', the next seven ''nagu'' are each introduced by the clause "To the ''n''-th region
'nagu'' where you travel 7 leagues" (the distance of 7 leagues seems to indicate the width of the Ocean, rather than the distance between subsequent ''nagu'').
[Horowith 1998, p. 30.]
A short description is given for each of the eight ''nagu''. The descriptions of the first, second, and sixth ''nagu'' are too damaged to be read. The fifth ''nagu'' has the longest description but this text too is so damaged that it is quite uncomprehensible. The seventh nagu is more clear:
: "... where cattle equipped with horns
re ...they run fast and reach
...
The third ''nagu'' may be a barren desert, impassable even for birds:
: "A winged
id cannot safely comp
ete its journey
In the fourth ''nagu'' objects are found of remarkable dimensions:
: "
..are thick as a ''parsiktum''-measure, 20 fingers
..
The eighth ''nagu'' may refer to a supposed heavenly gate in the east where the Sun enters as it rises in the morning.
: "
.. the pace where
..dawns at its entrance."
Concluding, the description then states that the map is a bird's eye description
: "of the Four Quadrants of the entire
orld? ..which no one can compre
end (i.e., the ''nagu'' extend infinitely far).
The last two lines apparently recorded the name of the scribe who wrote the tablet:
: "
..copied from its old exemplar and colla
ed ...the son of Iṣṣuru
he descendnt of Ea-bēl-il
�"
See also
*
Babylon
''Bābili(m)''
* sux, 𒆍𒀭𒊏𒆠
* arc, 𐡁𐡁𐡋 ''Bāḇel''
* syc, ܒܒܠ ''Bāḇel''
* grc-gre, Βαβυλών ''Babylṓn''
* he, בָּבֶל ''Bāvel''
* peo, 𐎲𐎠𐎲𐎡𐎽𐎢 ''Bābiru''
* elx, 𒀸𒁀𒉿𒇷 ''Babi ...
*
Sippar
Sippar ( Sumerian: , Zimbir) was an ancient Near Eastern Sumerian and later Babylonian city on the east bank of the Euphrates river. Its '' tell'' is located at the site of modern Tell Abu Habbah near Yusufiyah in Iraq's Baghdad Governorate, som ...
*
List of cities of the ancient Near East
The earliest cities in history were in the ancient Near East, an area covering roughly that of the modern Middle East: its history began in the 4th millennium BC and ended, depending on the interpretation of the term, either with the conquest by ...
*
Babylonian astronomy
Babylonian astronomy was the study or recording of celestial objects during the early history of Mesopotamia.
Babylonian astronomy seemed to have focused on a select group of stars and constellations known as Ziqpu stars. These constellation ...
References
Further reading
*Finkel, Irving. 2008. The Babylonian Map of the World, or the Mappa Mundi. P. 17 in Babylon: Myth and Reality, ed. Irving Finkel and Michael Seymour. London: British Museum Press.
*Finkel, Irving. 2014. The Ark Before Noah: Decoding the Story of the Flood. New York: Doubleday
*Kerrigan, 2009. ''The Ancients in Their Own Words,'' Michael Kerrigan, Fall River Press, Amber Books Ltd, c 2009. (hardcover. )
*
*Millard, Alan. 1987. Cartography in the Ancient Near East. Pp. 107–16 in The History of Cartography Volume One: Cartography in Prehistoric, Ancient, and Medieval Europe and the Mediterranean, ed. John B. Harley and David Woodward. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press
uhly, James. 1978. Ancient Cartography: Man’s Earliest Attempts to Represent His World. Expedition 20/2: 26–31
External links
Full ''Obverse'' view, British Museum siteFull ''Reverse'' view, British Museum siteLine drawing, Obverse & ReverseBritish Museum, Map of the World, Photo & AnalysisGoogle Arts & Culture – Map of the World from the collection of the British Museum ttp://www.gutenberg.org/files/14291/14291-h/images/fig002.jpg Black and White photo, (1.5X)br>
3D model (Sketchfab)
Gallery
File:Map of the World from Sippar, Iraq. 6th century BCE. British Museum.jpg, Map of the World from Sippar, Iraq. 6th century BCE. British Museum
File:Map of the World from Sippar, Iraq, 6th century BCE. British Museum.jpg, Map of the World from Sippar, Iraq, 6th century BCE. British Museum
File:Map of the World from Sippar, Iraq, 6th century BCE. The British Museum.jpg, Map of the World from Sippar, Iraq, 6th century BCE. The British Museum
{{DEFAULTSORT:Babylonian Map Of The World
6th-century BC inscriptions
1889 archaeological discoveries
Historic maps of the world
Clay tablets
Middle Eastern objects in the British Museum
Historic maps of Asia
Sippar