Anthropomorphic Maps and the

Human Shape of the Holy Land

Chapter 5 - Early Anthropomorphic Maps

Astronomic maps are the earliest anthropomorphic maps. Since the dawn of History, man nicknamed constellations in names from the human environment: Characters, animals and objects. The Zodiac has a special place. The twelve astrologic symbols are very popular and their scale of use is an example of the enormous power of Anthropomorphism in daily life.

The Zodiac Man

The head is Aries, the neck is Taurus, the shoulders are Gemini and so on

The Zodiac man, where each astrologic symbol is associated with a body organ, is an example of the varied power of Anthropomorphism. It is possible to determine a scale of Anthropomorphism by the degree of linkage to the human body.

It is appropriate to add the mythological character Atlas to the anthropomorphic maps category, although the globe on his shoulders is not anthropomized directly. Atlas was one of the Titans, son of Yafetus and the nymph Asia. His brother was Prometheus, the creator of man. Atlas rebelled against Zeus and was sentenced to carry the sky on his shoulders. The word 'Atlas' is used today as the definition for a book of maps. This definition is relatively new and was established by the famous cartographer Merkator in the 16th century. Atlas helped fix in our mind the idea that man and map are one entity.

Atlas sculpture – 2nd century

In the middle Ages the T-O world map was the standard type. In this map the world is a circle divided by a T shape, with Asia as the upper half, Africa and Europe sharing the lower half and Jerusalem is at the center. The map popularity in the Western civilizations was due to its high level of abstraction which carries a message of a world built as a Christian religious idea.

The T-O map is an example for the most important anthropomorphic scale: The highest degree is a description of items as similar to man. Lower levels are of items which look like animals, objects and concepts.

In the T-O maps the world faces eastward and the T lines represents the major water bodies

The first clear anthropomorphic map, the Ebstorf Map, was developed from the T-O maps. It shows Jesus encircling the world with his head, hands and legs. Jerusalem is the navel.

Ebstorf Map – The 13^th century

Jesus head, hands and legs in Ebstorf Map

With the advancement of Geographic research, a more secular genre of anthropomorphic world maps was developed from the Christian world maps.

The cartographer Bunting – The world map as a flower – 16^th century

The world map as a clown face – 16^th century

A projection of the world map as a heart

Top Index Next