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 map that represents the 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. 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. The earliest surviving example of a T-O map is found in a late-7th or early-8th century copy of Isidore of Seville's (c. 560–636) ''De natura rerum'', which alongside his ''

Etymologiae (Latin for 'Etymologies'), also known as the ('Origins'), usually abbreviated ''Orig.'', is an etymological encyclopedia compiled by the influential Christian bishop Isidore of Seville () towards the end of his life. Isidore was encouraged t ...

'' (c. 625) are two of the most common texts to be accompanied by such a diagram in the Middle Ages. A later manuscript added the names of Noah's sons ( Sem, Iafeth and Cham) for each of the three continents (see

Biblical terminology for race Since early modern times, a number of biblical ethnonyms from the Table of Nations in Genesis 10 have been used as a basis for race (classification of humans), classifying human racial (cosmetic phenotypes) and national (ethnolinguistic cultural) ...

).: "...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." A later variation with more detail is the Beatus map drawn by Beatus of Liébana, an 8th-century Spanish

monk A monk (; from , ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) is a man who is a member of a religious order and lives in a monastery. A monk usually lives his life in prayer and contemplation. The concept is ancient and can be seen in many reli ...

, 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 Hyginus' ''De astronomia'' 1.9(8) and Augustine of Hippo's ''City of God'' 16.17): ''Etymologiae'' 14.2.1:

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.Woodward, David. "Reality, Symbolism, Time, and Space in Medieval World Maps", Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 1985, p. 517-519. Indeed, the spherical Earth had been the prevailing scholarly assumption since at least

Aristotle Aristotle (; 384–322 BC) was an Ancient Greek philosophy, Ancient Greek philosopher and polymath. His writings cover a broad range of subjects spanning the natural sciences, philosophy, linguistics, economics, politics, psychology, a ...

, who had delineated a ''frigid clime'' at the

poles Pole or poles may refer to: People *Poles (people), another term for Polish people, from the country of Poland * Pole (surname), including a list of people with the name * Pole (musician) (Stefan Betke, born 1967), German electronic music artist ...

, a ''torrid clime'' near the

equator The equator is the circle of latitude that divides Earth into the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Southern Hemisphere, Southern Hemispheres of Earth, hemispheres. It is an imaginary line located at 0 degrees latitude, about in circumferen ...

, and a habitable ''temperate clime'' in between. The T and O map represents only half of the spherical Earth,Michael Livingston
Modern Medieval Map Myths: The Flat World, Ancient Sea-Kings, and Dragons
, 2002. presumably a convenient

projection Projection or projections may refer to: Physics * Projection (physics), the action/process of light, heat, or sound reflecting from a surface to another in a different direction * The display of images by a projector Optics, graphics, and carto ...

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 In geography, the antipode () of any spot on Earth is the point on Earth's surface diametrically opposite to it. A pair of points ''antipodal'' () to each other are situated such that a straight line connecting the two would pass through Ea ...

Boundaries, center and orientation

The ''T'' is the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern ...

, the

Nile The Nile (also known as the Nile River or River Nile) is a major north-flowing river in northeastern Africa. It flows into the Mediterranean Sea. The Nile is the longest river in Africa. It has historically been considered the List of river sy ...

, and the Don (formerly called the Tanais) dividing the three

continent A continent is any of several large geographical regions. Continents are generally identified by convention (norm), convention rather than any strict criteria. A continent could be a single large landmass, a part of a very large landmass, as ...

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

and

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

, and the ''O'' is the encircling

ocean The ocean is the body of salt water that covers approximately 70.8% of Earth. The ocean is conventionally divided into large bodies of water, which are also referred to as ''oceans'' (the Pacific, Atlantic, Indian Ocean, Indian, Southern Ocean ...

. In line with Isidore's description, Asia is normally depicted as equal in size to Africa and Europe combined. The majority T-O maps are oriented to the east, though examples of north, south and westward orientation can also be found. The idea that

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

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 ''mappae mundi''. 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. 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. The location of Paradise (the Garden of Eden) in the east of Asia is based upon the

Septuagint The Septuagint ( ), sometimes referred to as the Greek Old Testament or The Translation of the Seventy (), and abbreviated as LXX, is the earliest extant Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible from the original Biblical Hebrew. The full Greek ...

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 maps''. 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.Woodward, "Medieval ''Mappaemundi''", 328.

Additional details

This qualitative and conceptual type of medieval

cartography Cartography (; from , 'papyrus, sheet of paper, map'; and , 'write') is the study and practice of making and using maps. Combining science, aesthetics and technique, cartography builds on the premise that reality (or an imagined reality) can ...

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. 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 A periplus (), or periplous, is a manuscript document that lists the ports and coastal landmarks, in order and with approximate intervening distances, that the captain of a vessel could expect to find along a shore. In that sense, the periplus wa ...

that did the same for harbors and landmarks along a seacoast. Later maps of the T-and-O conceptual format featured many rivers and cities of Eastern as well as

Western Europe Western Europe is the western region of Europe. The region's extent varies depending on context. The concept of "the West" appeared in Europe in juxtaposition to "the East" and originally applied to the Western half of the ancient Mediterranean ...

, and other features encountered during the

Crusades The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and at times directed by the Papacy during the Middle Ages. The most prominent of these were the campaigns to the Holy Land aimed at reclaiming Jerusalem and its surrounding t ...

. 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.

Gallery

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 Delos (; ; ''Dêlos'', ''Dâlos''), is a small Greek island near Mykonos, close to the centre of the Cyclades archipelago. Though only in area, it is one of the most important mythological, historical, and archaeological sites in Greece. ...

according to Greek tradition, from a French manuscript of

Henry of Huntingdon Henry of Huntingdon (; 1088 – 1157), the son of a canon in the diocese of Lincoln, was a 12th-century English historian and the author of ''Historia Anglorum'' (Medieval Latin for "History of the English"), as "the most important Anglo- ...

, 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.

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 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'' (). File:Noachide map from the Abbey library of Saint Gall (oldest map naming Europe), Isidore-Codex 236.png, Map from the 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.

Relevant textual descriptions of the world

History and description

Spherical Earth concept

Boundaries, center and orientation

Additional details

Gallery

See also

References

Further reading