The world map from "the most elaborate printed book of its time" (Campbell 1987, 152), a mixture of religion and myth with a Ptolemaic map based in science. The world is supported by the three sons of Noah, each located adjacent to the continent he populated after the Flood. Surrounding the map and on the verso are 21 images of monstrous creatures dating to Herodotus in the 5th century BC and transmitted to the middle ages primarily by Pliny's work. (Woodward 1987, 330-32). These images express "the fear of races and spiritual forces outside Christianity." (Ibid., 332)
Albrecht Durer was apprenticing with the illustrators, Pleydenwurff and Wolgemut, and likely contributed to the illustrations. Wilson 1976, 195-205. See also Shirley #19; Baynton-Williams 2015, 12-13.
