Mappae mundi, an imaginative form of world map created in the Middle Ages, attempted to form a visual encyclopedia of world knowledge based on varied and sometimes contradictory sources. Cartographers used information from the Bible, Greek and Roman historians and geographers, and myths to create these hybrid objects, which used text and images to convey their knowledge. However, in most cases this process of hybridization does not ensure complete harmony between the disparate elements but produces a fertile document for exploration of culture.Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why violent video games should not be banned”? Get the original essay The term mappamundi derives from the Latin mappa (a tablecloth or napkin) and mundus (the world). As their geometric construction was in no way consistent, the mappaemundi can be distinguished from the planisphere (Italian planisfero), which generally refers to a map of the world consciously constructed according to the principles of transforming a spherical surface to a flat surface and whose primary goal, contrary to this condition, is localized. The key point in drawing up such medieval maps was not the actual reconstruction, in drawing form, of territorial conditions but rather the representation of a different view of the world; A deeper visualization of the Earth, one that includes the Divine. The role of the Divine in this type of cartography is encrypted through the form of God surrounding the Earth. Ebstorf's map combines the "forbidden garden at the top of the world" with the "monsters at the ends of the earth" - twenty-four figures. along the southern edge of the map. Yet the card is also represented by Jesus: “the head, hands and feet of Jesus stand out behind the round image of the world. It is as if Jesus is standing behind the earth, grasping it firmly in his hands. » “He holds even monstrous creatures; his left hand appears inside the framed area which depicts a Troglogyte "He holds the earth in his hands". The main purpose of these mappae mundi was to attract forms of faith in the spectators, by informing them of the significant events of Christian history, rather than recording their precise locations, rarely had a definite scale, being very schematic in its character and geometry, all historical-spatial elements of the early ages, imbued with information from Genesis , formed the result of this pattern of map painting. The orientation is shifted to the East, placing Jerusalem and the Crucifixion at the center of the circle, a strategy inspired by the Roman practice of centering maps on Rome. This choice of symbolic representation, Daniel Birkholz argues that medieval cartographic studies frequently perceive mappaemundi as a religious tool for transmitting and consolidating Christian beliefs, suggesting that research exploring the political importance of maps and the The specular aspect of their creation and use is more beneficial. However, this very essence of the representation of the Divine creates resemblance of this form of cartography with the representation of the Cosmos, as in cosmographic diagrams; The Jain, for example, wanted to map not only the territory, but also the material and immaterial forces that shape the Cosmos. Through this representation, another layer of cartography anagnosis was revealed; That of hidden forces, exercising a form of power over spectators. Daniel Birkholtz, The King's Two Maps: Cartography and Culture in the Thirteenth Century England, 2004. Discussing the”.