A Map of the Earth and how after the Flood it was Divided among the Sons of Noah
- Title:
- A Map of the Earth and how after the Flood it was Divided among the Sons of Noah
- Alternate Title:
- A Map of the Earth
- Collection:
- Persuasive Maps: PJ Mode Collection
- Creator:
- Moxon, Joseph
- Date:
- 1681
- Posted Date:
- 2015-08-25
- ID Number:
- 1012.01
- File Name:
- PJM_1012_01.jpg
- Style/Period:
- Before 1800
- Subject:
- Religion
Pictorial - Measurement:
- 32 x 46 (centimeters, height x width)
- Notes:
- The use of maps as vehicles for communicating and reinforcing religious ideas dates from medieval mappamundi of the 7th century AD. They were "teaching rather than locational devices," intended "primarily to provide a visual narrative of Christian history cast in a geographical framework, not to communicate geographical or cosmographical facts." (Woodward 1985, 518, 519). While this map provides a reasonably accurate view of the world as known in 1681, it was intended primarily for religious education, bound (folded) into copies of English-language bibles and other religious works of the 17th and early 18th centuries (Shirley 1983, #457).
The seven days of creation are illustrated in the panels at the top of the map. Below are the expulsion from Paradise, the Flood, the Tower of Babel, God speaking to Moses, the Ten Commandments, the Crucifixion and the Ascension. The voice of God is represented by Hebrew characters. Several significant biblical sites are shown by name on the map, but most significant locations (including Britain and everything in the Western Hemisphere) are identified by number with a key below.
The map is centered on Eden. From the Middle Ages to our own time, the land of Eden - the site of biblical Paradise - has been a continuing subject of study, theological and geographical. See generally Scafi 2006. There are more than a dozen such maps in the collection, locating Eden from the Middle East (Iraq, Armenia, Palestine) to Western China, Bristol Florida, Jackson County Missouri, and the North Pole; Search > "Eden."
Moxon's map was first produced in 1671; this state identifies Pennsylvania (key #57), which was chartered in 1681, and was produced the same year (Shirley 1983, 474). The map is dedicated to Gilbert Sheldon, Archbishop of Canterbury from 1663-1677 and bears his family's arms (on the right of the shield, with the three ducks) combined with those of the Archbishop. For a detailed analysis of this map and its 1671 predecessor, see van Brauman 2022, 21-28.
It's interesting to compare this with another world map intended for religious education more than 200 years later, ID #2085 (Genealogical Chronological and Geographical Chart).
For further information on the Collector’s Notes and a Feedback/Contact Link, see https://persuasivemaps.library.cornell.edu/content/about-collection-personal-statement and https://persuasivemaps.library.cornell.edu/content/feedback-and-contact - Source:
- Unknown.
- Repository:
- Private Collection of PJ Mode
- Format:
- Image
- Rights:
- For important information about copyright and use, see http://persuasivemaps.library.cornell.edu/copyright.