Mappa mundi

A mappa mundi (Latin ˈmappa ˈmʊndiː; plural = mappae mundi; mappemonde; mappemond) is any medieval European map of the world. Such maps range in size and complexity from simple schematic maps or less across to elaborate wall maps, the largest of which to survive to modern times, the Ebstorf map, was around in diameter. The term derives from the Medieval Latin words mappa (cloth or chart) and mundus (world). Around 1,100 mappae mundi are known to have survived from the Middle Ages. Of these, some 900 are found illustrating manuscript books and the remainder exist as stand-alone documents. Extant mappae mundi come in several distinct varieties, including: Zonal maps (sometimes called Macrobian maps) Tripartite maps (including "T-O" and "V-in-◻" maps) Quadripartite maps (including the Beatus maps) Complex maps Medieval world maps which share some characteristics of traditional mappae mundi but contain elements from other sources, including Portolan charts and maps associated with Ptolemy's Geography are sometimes considered a fifth type, called "transitional mappae mundi". Zonal maps are pictures of the Eastern Hemisphere. Their purpose was to illustrate the concept that the world is a sphere with latitudinal climate zones, most often the five Aristotelian climes: The northern frigid zone the northern temperate zone the equatorial tropical zone the southern temperate zone the southern frigid zone Of these, only the two temperate zones at middle latitudes were believed to be inhabitable, and the known world was contained entirely within the northern temperate zone's Eastern Hemisphere. As most surviving zonal maps are found illustrating Macrobius' Commentary on Cicero's Dream of Scipio (an excerpt of Cicero's De Re Publica), this type of map is sometimes called "Macrobian". In their simplest and most common form, Zonal mappae mundi are merely circles divided into five parallel zones, but several larger zonal maps with much more detail have survived.