Ancient Origins of Medieval Cartography: The Problem of Continuity
Podossinov Alexandr V.
The article discusses the problem of continuity between ancient and medieval cartography, a problem that is still poorly covered in modern scholarship and about which a heated discussion is still ongoing. The problem is compounded by the fact that too few artifacts that would testify to the functions and forms of maps have survived from antiquity. Medieval maps have been preserved in much larger quantities, allowing us to make detailed classifications of various types of maps. Of the three main types of cartographic products in the Middle Ages, two types of maps may, in our opinion, be clearly categorized either as independently arising in the Middle Ages (the so-called sea maps – portolans) or as a continuation of the ancient tradition (the so-called zone maps of Macrobius). The situation is more complicated with different types of mappae mundi, which many scholars are inclined to derive from ancient (most often Roman) prototypes. However, since the latter are nearly entirely lost, and the medieval mappae mundi contain many features of the Christian culture, skepticism about continuity in this type of map would be justified, although, as the analysis of some texts shows, the premises of certain features of medieval cartography (for example, the eastern orientation of the three-continents T-O maps) could be found in some ancient geographical descriptions, which were popular in the Middle Ages.
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