Week 2: Ancient and Medieval Worlds, Readings: Glacken and Scafi

Question 1

When was the Ancient period of mapping?

Answer 1

Ancient - 600BC-150AD

Question 2

When was the Medieval period of mapping?

Answer 2

Medieval - 1000-1400

Question 3

What are two ways of looking at maps in ancient and medieval times?

Answer 3

Through the kosmos and Christ.

Question 4

How do you view maps through the kosmos?

Answer 4

Understanding the world through a series of laws and nature.

Question 5

How do you view maps through Christ?

Answer 5

Understanding the world through Christianity.

Question 6

What does ecumene mean?

Answer 6

In Greek thought, it refers to the ‘The inhabited world’. Outside of the ecumene lie uncharted regions.

Question 7

What is the Apollonian Gaze?

Answer 7

A Greek viewpoint that’s emphasis is multiple reflecting ideal political, economic, environmental and social systems.

Question 8

What is Greek mapping (kosmos) characterised by?

Answer 8

• geocentric (society as central, and any ‘other’ at a distance)
• placed emphasis on divinity.

Question 9

What was Aristotle’s perspective on cosmology and the Earth?

Answer 9

• Aristotle posited that the Earth is distinct from the heavens. Proposed the Earth is spherical, reflective of a divine being. He observed stars take circular paths.

Question 10

How can mappaemundi be interpreted?

Answer 10

• an indicator of medieval mindsight (based in cosmological, beliefs, geographical knowledge and cultural biases)
• Rich in religious symbolism and allegorieS

Question 10

How did the Church adopt Aristotle thoughts?

Answer 10

The Church adopted Aristotle’s idea, understanding that souls travel to God, who is far away.

Question 10

What does the term mappaemundi refer to?

Answer 10

A ‘cloth of the world’, written by monks and scholars to help interpret the psalms of the Bible.

Question 11

How did the renaissance contribute to images of the earth?

Answer 11

The renaissance was a rediscovery of Greek scientific ideas. Rooted in scholars like Copernicus, it rejected Aristotle’s geocentric view. Instead favoured heliocentric models (around the sun).

Question 11

When was the rennaisance?

Answer 11

1450-1550.

Question 12

What was the print revolution, and how did it impact renaissance mapping projects?

Answer 12

The print revolution around 1450 marked a revolution in paper technology. It enabled the distribution of texts for people to critique and analyse.

Question 13

What contributions were made to mapping during the renaissance?

Answer 13

• Chris Columbus recognised flaws in Greek models, challenging the idea of infinite space and a geocentric cosmos.
• The Church supressed views that contradicted the geocentric model.
• Galileo confirmed the existence of orbits, looking at Jupiter and sunspots

Question 14

Who disseminated accounts of the new renaissance world? and what did they do?

Answer 14

Mercator, Ortelius. A domestication of the apollonian dream - looking down at the Earth’s surface, understanding it through coordinates and numbers, categorising places. They also initiated many of the early gendered and sexualised views of the earth through imagery, and iconography (e.g., front cover of Ortelius’ Atlas)

Question 15

What does Glacken (1967) argue?

Answer 15

Glacken argues that historical perceptions of the natural environment have deeply influenced Western thought, from ancient Greek notions of a harmonious Kosmos, to medieval Christian theology.

Question 16

What does Alessandro Scafi (1999) argue, and what thought does it connect to?

Answer 16

Scafi argues that medieval maps depicting Paradise were not mere geographical representations, but were intertwined with theological beliefs and the understanding of the world at the time. It connects to renaissance era critique of medieval maps, who initiated a shift in marking maps with paradise to those defined by Euclidean geometry.