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Wikimedia Commons · Public domain · Hover to magnify, click for fullscreen
Original fileReproducció d'un mapamundi anglosaxó del segle X
This rectangular world map is oriented with East at the top and illustrates the world as known to early medieval Europe. It features jagged coastlines, prominent mountain ranges, and labeled cities including Jerusalem, Rome, and London, with two smaller T-O diagrams at the top showing the symbolic division of the earth. The reproduction captures the original's detailed schematic of rivers like the Nile and the Red Sea, alongside the British Isles in the lower-left corner.
As a primary example of the medieval 'Imago Mundi,' this map represents the synthesis of Roman geography and Christian theology, where the earth is mapped as a reflection of divine order. It serves as a precursor to more complex cosmological diagrams in the Western esoteric tradition that correlate terrestrial space with sacred history and macrocosmic structures.
ORBIS EXHIBITUS APUD ANGLOSAXONOS SAECULI X. ORBIS ORIENTALIS MARE SEPTENTRIONALE OCEANUS MERIDIONALIS OCEANUS OCCIDENTALIS MARE ATLANTICUM MARE MEDITERRANEUM Britannia Hibernia India Hierusalem Roma ex MS. Cottoniano
Translation
THE WORLD AS PRESENTED BY THE ANGLO-SAXONS OF THE 10TH CENTURY. EASTERN WORLD NORTHERN SEA SOUTHERN OCEAN WESTERN OCEAN ATLANTIC SEA MEDITERRANEAN SEA Britain Ireland India Jerusalem Rome from the Cottonian MS.
Isidore of Seville
The T-O diagrams and the tripartite division of the world are based on the geographical descriptions in his Etymologiae.
Paulus Orosius
The map's geographic framework is heavily influenced by the 'Seven Books of History Against the Pagans,' a foundational text for medieval cartography.
Honorius Augustodunensis
His 'Imago Mundi' provides the philosophical and encyclopedic context for such medieval visualizations of the world.
Object
Engraving
map
Digital Source
Wikimedia Commons · Public domain
https://mdc.csuc.cat/digital/collection/afceccf/id/34546
Public domain
1024 × 743 px
8097fca3c02824f0ad67a8a8a65530d99ec0c5cf
October 8, 2023
March 24, 2026
Linked Data
AI AI-cataloged fields generated by gemini-3-flash-preview on April 2, 2026. Getty identifiers are AI-inferred and may require verification.