Editing T and O map

{{short description|Type of medieval world map}}
[[File:T and O map Guntherus Ziner 1472.jpg|thumb|This T and O map, from the first printed version of [[Isidore of Seville|Isidore]]'s ''[[Etymologiae]]'', identifies the three known continents as populated by descendants of Sem ([[Shem]]), Iafeth ([[Japheth]]) and Cham ([[Ham, son of Noah|Ham]]).]]
[[File:Hereford Mappa Mundi 1300.jpg|thumb|right|200px|''The [[Hereford Mappa Mundi]]'', ca. AD 1300, [[Hereford Cathedral]], England.  A classic "T-O" map with Jerusalem at center, east toward the top, [[Europe]] at bottom left and Africa on the right.]]

A '''T and O map''' or '''O–T''' or '''T–O map''' (''orbis terrarum'', orb or circle of the lands; with the letter T inside an O), also known as an '''Isidoran map''', is a type of [[Early world maps|early world map]] that represents the [[Afro-Eurasia|Afro-Eurasian landmass]] as a circle (= O) divided into three parts by a T-shaped combination of the Mediterranean sea, the river Tanais (Don) and the Nile.<ref>David Woodward, "Medieval ''Mappaemundi''", in ''The History of Cartography'', Vol. 1: ''Cartography in Prehistoric, Ancient, and Medieval Europe and the Mediterranean'', ed. J. B. Harley and David Woodward (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1987), 296.</ref> The origins of this diagram are contested, with some scholars hypothesizing an origin in Roman or late antiquity, while others consider it to have originated in 7th or early-8th century Spain.<ref>For an overview of the different scholarly positions on the origins of the diagrammatic form, see Christoph Mauntel, "The T-O Diagram and its Religious Connotations – a Circumstantial Case", in ''Geography and Religious Knowledge in the Medieval World'', ed. Christoph Mauntel (Berlin: de Gruyter, 2021), 60-65.</ref>

The earliest surviving example of a T-O map is found in a late-7th or early-8th century copy of [[Isidore of Seville|Isidore of Seville's]] (c. 560–636) ''De natura rerum'', which alongside his ''[[Etymologiae]]'' (c. 625) are two of the most common texts to be accompanied by such a diagram in the Middle Ages.<ref>El Escorial, Real Biblioteca, R.II.18, fol. 24v; see also Mauntel, "The T-O Diagram and its Religious Connotations", 61 and Woodward, "Medieval ''Mappaemundi''", 301.</ref> A later manuscript added the names of [[Generations of Noah|Noah's sons]] ([[Shem|Sem]], [[Japheth|Iafeth]] and [[Ham, son of Noah|Cham]]) for each of the three continents (see [[Biblical terminology for race]]).<ref name=Williams13>{{harvnb|Williams|1997|p=13}}: "...the Isidoran tradition, as it was known from peninsular examples, including the earliest of the ubiquitous T-O maps. This emblematic figure appears twice at the foot of folio 24v in a copy of Isidore's De Natura Rerum, now Escorial R.II.18. [...] When, in the ninth century, the Escorial manuscript fell into the hands of Eulogius and was supplemented, this precise text (Etymologiae XIV, 2, 3) was placed on the page, folio 25r, facing the primitive map and was introduced another small T-O map. To this later T-O diagram, however, were added the names of Noah's sons- Shem, Japheth and Ham, for Asia, Europe and Africa, respectively-outside the circle of the globe. This apportionment is only implicit in the Bible (Genesis 9: 18-19). Josephus (d. c.100 AD) is more explicit as was Hippolytus of Rome, whose chronicle of 234 in its Latin translation disseminated the Noachid distribution in the West. Isidore's Etymologiae, however, the distribution of Noah's sons is not highlighted, but only incidentally reported with the description of the location of cities in Book IX. It seems clear, if we accept the evidence of Escorial R.II.18, that the Shem-Japheth-Ham distribution was not in the primitive Isidoran diagram. This means that Isidore's use of the T-O diagram was not informed by any overt religious content."</ref> A later variation with more detail is the [[Beatus map]] drawn by [[Beatus of Liébana]], an 8th-century Spanish [[monk]], in the prologue to his ''[[Commentary on the Apocalypse]]''.

==Relevant textual descriptions of the world==

The earliest T-O maps are closely associated with two sections of the work of Isidore of Seville:

''De Natura Rerum'' 48.2-3 (drawn verbatim from [[De astronomia|Hyginus' ''De astronomia'']] 1.9(8) and [[The City of God|Augustine of Hippo's ''City of God'']] 16.17<ref>''Isidore of Seville: On the Nature of Things'', trans. Calvin B. Kendall and Faith Wallis (Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 2016), 175.</ref>):

{{quote|So the earth may be divided into three sides (trifarie), of which one part is [[Europe#History of the concept|Europe]], another [[Asia#Asia–Europe boundary|Asia]], and the third is called [[Africa]]. Europe is divided from Africa by a sea from the end of the [[Oceanus|ocean]] and the [[Pillars of Hercules]]. And Asia is divided from [[Ancient Libya|Libya]] with [[Egypt]] by the [[Nile]]... Moreover, Asia – as the most blessed [[Augustine]] said – runs from the southeast to the north ... Thus we see the earth is divided into two to comprise, on the one hand, Europe and Africa, and on the other only Asia.<ref> Trans. {{harvnb|Williams|1997|p=13}}; [[Patrologia Latina|''Patrologia Latina'']], vol. 83, coll. 1016D-1017A: "Regio autem terrae dividitur trifariam, e quibus una pars Europa, altera Asia, tertia Africa vocatur.   Europam igitur ab Africa dividit mare ab extremis oceani finibus, et Herculi columnis.   Asiam autem,  et Libyam cum Aegypto disterminat ostium Nili fluvii [...]  Asia autem, ut ait beatissimus Augustinus, a meridie per orientem usque ad septentrionem pervenit. [...] Unde videntur orbem dimidium duae tenere, Europa, et Africa.   Alium vero dimidium sola Asia." </ref> 
}}

''Etymologiae'' 14.2.1:

{{quote|The world is called round after the roundness of a circle, because it is like a wheel [...] Because of this, the [[Oceanus|Ocean]] flowing around it is contained in a circular limit, and it is divided in three parts, one part being called Asia, the second Europe, and the third Africa.<ref>''Isidori Hispalensis episcopi Etymologiarum sive Originvm libri XX'', 2 vols, ed. W. M. Lindsay (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1911), n.p.: "Orbis a rotunditate circuli dictus, quia sicut rota est. [...] Divisus est autem trifarie: e quibus una pars Asia, altera Europa, tertia Africa nuncupatur."</ref>}}

==History and description==
===Spherical Earth concept===
Although Isidore taught in the ''Etymologiae'' that the Earth was "round", his meaning was ambiguous and some writers think he referred to a disc-shaped Earth. However, other writings by Isidore make it clear that he considered the Earth to be [[spherical Earth|spherical]].<ref>{{cite journal |first=Wesley M. |last=Stevens |title=The Figure of the Earth in Isidore's 'De natura rerum' |journal=[[Isis (journal)|Isis]] |volume=71 |year=1980 |issue=2 |pages=268–277 |doi= 10.1086/352464|jstor=230175 |s2cid=133430429 }}</ref><ref name="Woodward">Woodward, David. "Reality, Symbolism, Time, and Space in Medieval World Maps", Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 1985, p. 517-519.</ref> Indeed, the spherical Earth had been the prevailing scholarly assumption since at least [[Aristotle]], who had delineated a ''frigid clime'' at the [[Geographical pole|poles]], a ''torrid clime'' near the [[equator]], and a habitable ''temperate clime'' in between.

[[File:Radkarte MKL1888 edited (T and O style, east-up).png|thumb|left|Ideal reconstruction of medieval world maps (from ''Meyers Konversationslexikon'', 1895)]]
[[File:Orthographic T&O.png|thumb|A "T-O" map made with modern cartography]]
The T and O map represents only half of the spherical Earth,<ref name=livingston>Michael Livingston, [http://www.strangehorizons.com/2002/20020610/medieval_maps.shtml Modern Medieval Map Myths: The Flat World, Ancient Sea-Kings, and Dragons] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060209042605/http://www.strangehorizons.com/2002/20020610/medieval_maps.shtml |date=2006-02-09 }}, 2002.</ref> presumably a convenient [[map projection|projection]] of the known northern temperate region. It was believed that no one could cross the torrid equatorial clime and reach the unknown lands to the south, the [[antipodes]].<ref name=livingston/><ref>{{cite journal |first=Alfred |last=Hiatt |title=Blank Spaces on the Earth |journal=The Yale Journal of Criticism |volume=15 |year=2002 |issue=2 |pages=223–250 |doi=10.1353/yale.2002.0019 |s2cid=145164637 }}</ref>

===Boundaries, center and orientation===

The ''T'' is the [[Mediterranean]], the [[Nile]], and the [[Don River (Russia)|Don]] (formerly called the Tanais) dividing the three [[continent]]s, [[Asia]], [[Europe]] and [[Africa]], and the ''O'' is the encircling [[ocean]].<ref>Woodward, "Medieval ''Mappaemundi''", 296.</ref> In line with Isidore's description, Asia is normally depicted as equal in size to Africa and Europe combined.<ref>Mauntel, "The T-O Diagram and its Religious Connotations", 59. A small number of T-O maps instead depict Africa as taking up half the circle as opposed to Asia (Woodward, "Medieval ''Mappaemundi''", 343.) and a smaller number still depict Europe in this way (e.g. Ingrid Baumgärtner, "Die Wahrnehmung Jerusalems auf mittelalterlichen Weltkarten", in ''Jerusalem: im Hoch- und Spätmittelalter: Konflikte und Konfliktbewältigung - Vorstellungen und Vergegenwärtigungen'', ed. Dieter R. Bauer, Klaus Herbers and Nikolas Jaspert (Frankfurt am Main: Campus Verlag, 2001), 271-73).</ref> The majority T-O maps are oriented to the east, though examples of north, south and westward orientation can also be found.<ref> Non-eastern orientations are associated above all with T-O maps that accompany [[Bellum Jugurthinum|Sallust's ''Jugurthine War'']], on which see Woodward, "Medieval ''Mappaemundi''", 343-4, where examples of all four orientations are also provided. There is no consensus on the origins of the predominantly eastern orientation, some like Mauntel, "The T-O Diagram and its Religious Connotations", 65-9 argue that it is a specifically Christian development, while others like Patrick Gautier Dalché, "L'héritage antique de la cartographie médiévale: Les problèmes et les acquis", in ''Cartography in Antiquity and the Middle Ages: Fresh Perspectives, New Methods'', ed. Richard J. A. Talbert and Richard W. Unger (Leiden: Brill, 2008), 55-6 are more circumspect about the specifically Christian significance of this orientation.</ref> 

The idea that [[Jerusalem]] was generally represented in the center of the map as the navel of the world, the ''[[umbilicus mundi]]'', is a false generalisation from a relatively small number of very famous 13th-century [[mappa mundi|''mappae mundi'']].<ref>Woodward, "Medieval ''Mappaemundi''", 340 and Baumgärtner, "Die Wahrnehmung Jerusalems", 304.</ref> The earliest T-O maps marked no particular geographic center and while some early ''mappae mundi'' were specifically centered on classical sites like Delos or the Cyclades, most simply had the Mediterranean or Aegean Sea in the middle.<ref> Baumgärtner, "Die Wahrnehmung Jerusalems", 275-94.</ref> It was only after the First Crusade that Jerusalem began to be represented as the center of the world on medieval maps, a trend which rose to prominence from the mid-12th century through the early-14th century, but was never universally observed.<ref>Woodward, "Medieval ''Mappaemundi''", 341-2 and Baumgärtner, "Die Wahrnehmung Jerusalems", 294-310.</ref>

The location of Paradise (the Garden of Eden) in the east of Asia is based upon the [[Septuagint]] translation of Genesis 2:8, which describes the garden of Eden being planted in the east. This is a longstanding feature of Christian textual geographies, and while not present on the earliest T-O maps, it is a prominent feature of many early ''mappae mundi'', especially the [[Beatus map|''Beatus maps'']].<ref>Mauntel, "The T-O Diagram and its Religious Connotations", 67-9.</ref> These depictions are often combined with a depiction of the four rivers of Paradise: the Tigris, Euphrates, Pishon and Gihon, the latter two of which were sometimes understood by medieval cartographers as the Ganges and Nile (or Geon) respectively. These were either depicted as flowing within/out from paradise and/or as four major rivers on the map.<ref>Woodward, "Medieval ''Mappaemundi''", 328.</ref>

===Additional details===
This qualitative and conceptual type of medieval [[cartography]] could yield extremely detailed maps in addition to simple representations. The earliest maps had only a few cities and the most important bodies of water noted.{{dubious|No such thing, really, nor are any 4 rivers always depicted. If Paradise, not HL meant: change & add Wikilink. See talk-page.|date= February 2024}}{{cn|date= February 2024}}

Different cartographic material, which represented more useful tools for the traveler, were the [[itinerarium]], which listed in order the names of towns between two points, and the [[periplus]] that did the same for harbors and landmarks along a seacoast.{{cn|date= February 2024}}

Later maps of the T-and-O conceptual format featured many rivers and cities of [[Eastern Europe |Eastern]] as well as [[Western Europe]], and other features encountered during the [[Crusades]]. Decorative illustrations were also added in addition to the new geographic features.  The most important cities would be represented by sketches of fortifications and towers in addition to their names, and the empty spaces would be filled with mythical creatures.{{cn|date= February 2024}}

==Gallery==
<gallery class="center" widths="175px">
File:Beatus map.jpg|The world map from the ''[[Saint-Sever Beatus]]'', dating to ca. AD 1050.
File:Diagrammatic T-O world map - 12th c.jpg|From a 12th c. copy of ''Etymologiae''.
File:World map intermediate between T-O and mappa mundi.jpg|Map centred on [[Delos]] according to [[omphalos|Greek tradition]], from a French manuscript of [[Henry of Huntingdon]], late 13th century
File:T-O Mappa mundi.jpg|Mappa Mundi in ''La Fleur des Histoires'', 1459–1463.
File:1581 Bunting clover leaf map.jpg|The [[Bünting cloverleaf map]]. A 1581 woodcut, Magdeburg. [[Jerusalem]] is in the center, surrounded by Europe, Asia and Africa.
File:Unknown, Mer Des Hystoires World Map, 1491, Persuasive Cartography PJModeCollection, CUL, ID 1001.01.jpg|Unknown, ''Mer des hystoires'' world map, 1491, following the model of the T-O map, centered on Jerusalem with East (the biblical location of Paradise) at the top.
File:Bergomensis T-O World Map 1503 Cornell CUL PJM 1003 01.jpg|On the left part of the sheet is a zonal or climatic map, communicating geographical information. On the right is a "T-O" map. By [[Giacomo Filippo Foresti |Jacobus Philippus Bergomensis]].
File:Rouen,_Bibliothèque_municipale,_MS_524,_fol._74v_maps.png|T and O map accompanied by a [[V-in-square map]], from a copy of the ''Etymologiae'' ({{circa|late 8th century}}).
File:Noachide map from the Abbey library of Saint Gall (oldest map naming Europe), Isidore-Codex 236.png|Map from the [[Abbey library of Saint Gall|Saint Gall]] Isidore manuscript.
File:Bodleian Libraries, Basic TO map and a schematic map.jpg|T and O map from the Flemish manuscript of [[Brunetto Latini]], ''Le Livre dou Tresor,'' early 14th century. 
</gallery>

==See also==
* [[Flat Earth]], world view
* [[Globus cruciger]]
* [[Mappa mundi]], medieval world map
* [[Babylonian Map of the World]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
* Baumgärtner, Ingrid (2001). "Die Wahrnehmung Jerusalems auf mittelalterlichen Weltkarten". In Dieter R. Bauer, Klaus Herbers and Nikolas Jaspert (eds.), ''Jerusalem: im Hoch- und Spätmittelalter: Konflikte und Konfliktbewältigung - Vorstellungen und Vergegenwärtigungen'', pp. 271-334. Frankfurt am Main: Campus Verlag. {{ISBN|978-3593368511}}
*{{cite book |last=Crosby |first=Alfred W. |title=The Measure of Reality: Quantification in Western Europe, 1250-1600 |location=Cambridge |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |year=1996 |isbn=0-521-55427-6 }}
* Englisch, Brigitte (2002). ''Ordo orbis terrae. Die Weltsicht in den Mappae mundi des frühen und hohen Mittelalters''. Berlin: Akademie Verlag. {{ISBN|3-05-003635-4}}
* Gautier Dalché, Patrick (2008). "L'héritage antique de la cartographie médiévale: Les problèmes et les acquis", pp. 29-66. In Richard J. A. Talbert and Richard W. Unger (eds.) ''Cartography in Antiquity and the Middle Ages: Fresh Perspectives, New Methods''. Leiden: Brill. {{ISBN|9789004166639}}
*{{cite book |last=Lester |first=Toby |title=The fourth part of the world: the race to the ends of the Earth, and the epic story of the map that gave America its name |location=New York, NY |publisher=Free Press |year=2009 |isbn=9781416535317 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/fourthpartofwo00lest }}
* Mauntel, Christoph (2023). ''Die Erdteile in der Weltordnung des Mittelalters. Asien – Europa – Afrika'' (Monographien zur Geschichte des Mittelalters 71) Stuttgart: Hiersemann. {{ISBN|978-3-7772-2311-7}}
* Mauntel, Christoph (2021). "The T-O Diagram and its Religious Connotations – a Circumstantial Case", in Christoph Mauntel (ed.), ''Geography and Religious Knowledge in the Medieval World,'' pp.&nbsp;57-82. Berlin: deGruyter. {{ISBN|9783110685954}}
*{{cite web|last1=Mode|first1=PJ|title=The History and Academic Literature of Persuasive Cartography|url=https://persuasivemaps.library.cornell.edu/history-and-academic-literature-of-persuasive-cartography|website=Persuasive Cartography, The PJ Mode Collection|publisher=Cornell University Library|access-date=22 October 2015}}
* {{citation|last=Williams|first=John|title=Isidore, Orosius and the Beatus Map|journal=Imago Mundi|volume=49|pages=7–32|date=1997|jstor=1151330|doi=10.1080/03085699708592856}}
*{{Cite encyclopedia |title=Medieval ''Mappaemundi'' |encyclopedia=The History of Cartography |publisher=University of Chicago Press |location=Chicago |url=https://press.uchicago.edu/books/HOC/HOC_V1/HOC_VOLUME1_chapter18.pdf |last=Woodward |first=David |date=1987 |editor-last=Harley |editor-first=J. B. |volume=1: Cartography in Prehistoric, Ancient, and Medieval Europe and the Mediterranean |isbn=0-226-31633-5 |editor-first2=David |editor-last2=Woodward}}
* Zaccagnini, Carlo (2012). "Maps of the World", in Giovanni B. Lanfranchi et al., ''Leggo!  Studies Presented to Frederick Mario Fales on the occasion of his 65th birthday,''  pp.&nbsp;865–874. Wiesbaden, Harrassowitz Verlag. {{ISBN|9783447066594}}


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[[Category:History of cartography]]
[[Category:Historic maps of Asia]]
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[[Category:Maps of Africa]]