http://SaturnianCosmology.Org/ mirrored file For complete access to all the files of this collection see http://SaturnianCosmology.org/search.php ========================================================== *Illustration Gallery* *Astronomical Artefacts and Cuneiform Tablets, etc* The Babylonian "map of the world." BM 92687. Babylonian "map of the world" in the British Museum, London. It is the earliest extant map. The clay tablet is 12.2 cms tall. The map was composed in Babylonia and is the only Babylonian map drawn on an international scale. It is a Neo-Babylonian (Persian Period, circa 500 BCE) copy of an original dating to the Sargonid Period, circa late eighth or seventh century BCE. (It is uncertain whether the accompanying cuneiform text was composed together with the map.) It is the only known map of the world dating from the Neo-Babylonian Period. All other maps have a purely local focus. It depicts a "bird's-eye" view of the world and shows a flat, round world with the city of Babylon in the centre. (Circa 500 BCE Babylon was still a flourishing city and regarded as the centre (i.e., the "hub") of the world. In the third millennium BCE Nippur was considered to be the city at the centre of the world.) The map depicts the world as two concentric circles, with triangular areas radiating from the outer circle. The area within the inner circle represents the central continent where Babylon and Assyria are located. The area between the two circles is the earthly (cosmic?) ocean. The area beyond the outer circle consists of the triangular areas, which are the uncharted regions. The continent on the map contains various geometric shapes representing places and topographic features. The place names include the countries of Assyria, and Uratu, and the city of Babylon. The topographic features include a mountain, a swamp, and a channel. Babylon is represented by a large rectangle encompassing almost half the width of the central continent. Assyria is represented as a small oval. The Euphrates River, which originates in the mountains at the top of the map, runs through Babylon and flows into the marshes at the bottom of the map. The continent is surrounded by the circle of salty ocean. The map schematically portrays the entire kingdom of Babylonia. The text contains the names of countries and cities but, on the reverse side, the text is chiefly concerned with a description of the seven unnamed outer regions which are depicted in the form of equal triangles rising beyond the encircling earthly (cosmic?) ocean. The text (on both sides of the tablet) shows that the map attempts to depict the entire world. The emphasis on distant places in the text accompanying the map indicates that the likely purpose of the map was to locate and describe distant regions. The vertical levels of the (generalised) Mesopotamian universe are indicated as: Region Above the Heaven of Anu (See: The Etana Epic, Section B 30-43) (Open space implied by The Etana Epic) Upper Heaven (High Heaven) of Anu (Highest Region of the Universe) Middle Heaven (Intermediate High Heaven) of Igigi Lower Heaven of the (Visible) Sky (Stars, Planets, Sun, and Moon) The "Atmosphere" (Either not specifically listed (not considered a separate level of the universe) or identified as Part of Visible Sky (Lower Heaven); or Separate Geographical Level) Upper Earth (Humankind, The Level of the Earth's Surface (Dry Land and Sea)) Middle Earth, Apsu of Ea (Enki/Ea) (Cosmic Subterranean Water) Lower Earth, Underworld of Nergal (King) and Ere?kigal (Queen) (Realm of the Dead) (Lowest Region of the Universe) The existing accounts of Mesopotamian cosmology are rather limited. They are also unfortunately conflicting. For a detailed discussion of Mesopotamian cosmology, including the Babylonian world map, see /Mesopotamian Cosmic Geography/ by Wayne Horowitz (1998). Copyright © 2006 by Gary D. Thompson ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *Return to top of page.* <#top> ------------------------------------------------------------------------ This Web Page was last updated on: Thursday, August 23, 2006, 8:00 pm. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ This Web Page was created using Arachnophilia 4.0 and FrontPage 2003. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ You can reach me here by email: gtosiris.mpx.com.au ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *Return To Site Contents Page*