Mappae Mundi
Moving into the more interesting and commonly known as "ancient maps" are the Medieval Maps from the 1100's on known as Mappae Mundi. Mappae mundi link mapmaking to the art of illumination created in books of that time. Many of the features such as having painted decorative corners, calligraphic style lettering, and use of black and red color to refer to important emphasis were all transferred to early map making from the making of bibles and other religious books. The use of red was given an important emphasis like that of red letters signifying the spoken words of Jesus. One can see the same use of gold leaf and crushed precious stone to create blue or green for river or seas, while still being applied to vellum with egg as its bonding material. These maps were created by monks working under a master. In this fashion they would be able to make numerous copies just as books were copied over and over in medieval times.
Another element recognizable in Mappae Mundi2 is their circular form with Jerusalem at the center. Its purpose was intended to explain and teach about the history of the world, relying on the Bible and Pliny, a Roman historian. Some of these maps show the origins of Paradise, include the center of the Christian world, Jerusalem, and feature the three continents, Africa, Asia and Europe. To compare them with contemporary maps, the Mappae Mundi looks primitive, inaccurate and very superficial. They convey more of an idea rather to render information. These illustrations were never meant for navigation rather they were a graphic representation to teach concepts, Bible stories, history, mythology and cardinal direction. You could say that it was used to diagram like an encyclopedia would for medieval knowledge.
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