BMCR 2009.06.07: Bekker-Nielsen on Talbert, Cartography in Antiquity and the Middle Ages: Fresh Perspectives, New Methods. Technology and Change in History, v. 10

Richard J. A. Talbert, Richard W. Unger (ed.), Cartography in Antiquity
and the Middle Ages: Fresh Perspectives, New Methods. Technology and
Change in History, v. 10.  Leiden/Boston:  Brill, 2008.  Pp. xix, 299;
[16] p. of plates.  ISBN 9789004166639.  $154.00.

Reviewed by Toennes Bekker-Nielsen, University of Southern Denmark
Word count:  1890 words
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[Authors and titles are listed at the end of the review.]

The papers in this book derive from a Medieval studies workshop held at
the University of British Columbia in October 2005. Their origin is
reflected both in the predominantly Anglo-Saxon background of the
authors and the predominantly medieval nature of the topics, but there
is much to interest the classicist as well. The disposition of the book
is loosely chronological. The first three chapters -- the introduction
by the editors, Richard Talbert on Greek and Roman mapping, and Patrick
Dalche/ on the medieval reception of ancient cartography -- offer an
introductory overview of the subject and its research history. This is
followed by three studies of ancient or early Medieval maps (Jennifer
Trimble on the Severan plan of Rome, Tom Elliott and Emily Albu on the
Peutinger map), six on early and high Medieval cartography and
perceptions of the world, and two final chapters (Raymond Clemens and
Camille Serchuk) on maps in late Medieval and Renaissance Europe.

The book does not, and does not claim to, provide a comprehensive
survey of ancient and medieval cartography; rather, it offers a series
of case studies of specific questions, problems, or maps, united by the
common theme and, in some cases, a common approach. Talbert and Dalche/
share a historiographical approach to their subject. According to
Talbert (pp. 9-27), the publication of the first volume of the The
History of Cartography in 1987 marked a watershed in the study of
premodern cartography and a break with earlier historians of
cartography who "limited themselves to elucidating the content of
individual maps for fellow historians and collectors. Otherwise, they
had no organizational principle, no philosophy, no impetus to range
further" (p. 10-11). To underpin his uncharitable assessment, one might
expect the author to point out the advances  represented by the
publication of theThe History of Cartography, but in fact the following
pages are devoted to a severe critique of the chapters by O.A.W. Dilke
in the first volume of The History of Cartography. Talbert's criticism
of Dilke is up close and personal ("hasty", "credulous", "sense of
frustration", "lack of hesitation", "minimum of discussion") and fails
to take full account of Dilke's previous scholarly achievements.

The chapter by Dalche/ (pp. 29-66) is longer in extent and
historiographical scope, starting with the work of Konrad Miller
(1844-1933). As Dalche/ correctly points out, to understand the
approach of Miller we must view his work  against the background of
nineteenth-century positivism, evolutionism and Quellenforschung; thus
Dalche/ 's scathing methodological criticism is directed more at the
intellectual environment of the fin de sie\cle than at Miller himself
-- whom he suspects to have been motivated by a personal "besoin de
prendre une revanche sur l'Universite/" (p. 39). Interestingly, this,
the only non-English chapter in the volume, is also the only one where
the contribution of Gerald R. Crone to the history of cartography is
acknowledged. Crone's compact Maps and their Makers: An Introduction to
the History of Cartography (1953, not in the bibliography) certainly
went a good deal further than "elucidating the content of individual
maps".

Two papers are entirely devoted to the Tabula Peutingeriana, which also
figured prominently in the contributions by Talbert and Dalche/. It is
generally acknowledged that the Tabula as we now have it (Codex
Vindobonensis 324) is a medieval copy, possibly produced in the
scriptorium of the abbey at Colmar around AD 1200, of an earlier
prototype. But how much older was the prototype? Based on the
place-name forms in the Tabula, the scholarly consensus favours a date
for the compilation of the TP, in the fourth century AD. Emily Albu,
however, argues for her hypothesis that the prototype was created as
late as the early ninth century in the scriptorium of Reichenau abbey,
and furthermore, that the surviving copy (= Codex Vindobonensis 324)
was likewise produced in Reichenau on the Bodensee, not in Colmar on
the Rhine. Albu's theory has been rejected by most scholars, in this
volume, by Talbert (p. 21) and Dalche/ (pp. 47-49), whereas Elliott (p.
101) refuses to commit himself. It is difficult, indeed, to see how the
monks of ninth-century Reichenau would have found the information
required for a vast compilation such as the TP, or why they should take
a detailed interest in the geography of,  e.g., Cyprus or Egypt.
Precisely the question of local interest is adduced by Albu in support
of her theory: among the mountain ranges of the TP, only two--the
Vosges and the Black Forest--are identified as silvae and embellished
by vignettes of trees. Yet this argument cuts both ways. If it is
accepted that the trees on the TP are a scribe's attempt to depict his
immediate surroundings, then the special interest in the Vosges and the
Black Forest points to Colmar on the Rhine, rather than Reichenau on
the Bodensee, as the place of origin of the present Codex. With his
characteristic attention to detail, however, Konrad Miller has pointed
out (Itineraria Romana [1916], pp. xlvi-xlvii) that some of the trees
in question resemble cypresses, palms or umbrella pines, none of which
are found in the Rhineland. This observation -- which is not discussed
by Albu -- suggests that the hilltop vegetation is merely a
pictographic gloss for the word silva, added by a scribe who was not
familiar with the trees and forests of the temperate zone, and was
content to insert the kind of subtropical vegetation found in his
Mediterranean homeland.

The Tabula Peutingeriana also forms the topic of Tom Elliott's
contribution describing the ongoing project, at Chapel Hill, of
digitizing the TP. Since this is a presentation of coming attractions
rather than past results, it is too early for an assessment, but all
students of ancient cartography will agree that "a replacement for"
Miller's Itineraria Romana "is long overdue" though not necessarily
that Miller's "predilection for roads and route networks has served to
overshadow many of the map's other features" (p. 103).

Important as it is, the Tabula Peutingeriana is not our richest source
for ancient cartography, neither in terms of extent nor the number of
place-names. That distinction goes to the Geography of Claudius
Ptolemy, compiled at Alexandria in the later second century AD, but
based on the work of first-century predecessors. With good reason or
without it, Ptolemy has been reckoned the greatest cartographer of the
classical world. Remarkably, none of the papers in this book dealing
with Antiquity take his work into consideration, and Ptolemy makes his
first appearance in the chapter by Rapoport and Savage-Smith (pp.
121-138) on the "Book of Curiosities", an Islamic world description of
c. 1200 acquired by the Bodleian Library, Oxford, as recently as 2002.
Like the paper by Elliott, this presents work in progress, but even
from the fairly brief description provided by the two authors, it seems
clear that this text will add new perspectives to our understanding of
the reception of Ptolemy in the Arab world and the development of the
medieval world-view. It also provides tantalizing evidence for the
possible use of mathematically plotted maps in this poorly documented
period in the history of cartography. The two following papers by
Kominko (139-153) and Kedar (pp. 155-168) likewise explore the
interplay of classical, Islamic and Hebrew traditions in medieval
cosmology and geography.

With the chapter on "Maps and panegyrics" by Natalia Lozovsky (pp.
169-188) we return, at least briefly, to the classical world and the
panegyric of Eumenius, given at Autun in the 290s AD, and describing a
map of the Empire located in that city. To name a thing is to own it,
and to describe something is in a certain sense to appropriate it; thus
from an early date, cartography was used to express imperial power, as
in the wall map of the Empire set up by Agrippa in Rome (possibly the
prototype for the Autun map) or the city map of Rome carved in marble
during the first decade of the third century AD and discussed in the
paper by Jennifer Trimble (pp. 67-97). Unfortunately, the Severan
marble plan is only fragmentarily preserved, that of Agrippa and its
Autun counterpart not preserved at all. The main interest of Lozovsky,
however, is not in the physical map as such but in the symbolic and
decorative use of cartography to illustrate imperial or kingly
power--sometimes in a rather heavy-handed manner: Adela, countess of
Blois (c. 1100 AD) allegedly had a map of the world on the floor of her
bedroom (p. 182).

The following papers also discuss medieval representations of the
world: Lucy Donkin (pp. 189-217) takes two northern Italian floor
mosaics as her point of departure for an analysis of medieval maps of
the extremes of the world, while Evelyn Edson (pp. 219-236) discusses
different types of medieval world maps. Like Dalche/, Edson is critical
of positivistic attempts to classify early and high medieval maps in
neat compartments, or to trace them back to one particular source,
"Isidorian" or "Orosian". Fata habent sua mappae, and medieval
mapmakers were perfectly able to combine more than one vision of the
world into a new map. Fate, too, has taken a hand in misleading Brill's
printers into transposing Edson's plates VIII and IX, but fortunately,
the error is immediately evident from the Latin captions included on
the two illustrations. The final papers by Raymond Clemens (pp.
237-256) and Camille Serchuk (257-276) deal with the use of maps in
late medieval and renaissance Italy and France.

Like many conference volumes, this book is at once more and less than
the sum of its parts. Devoting no space to pre-Classical cartography
and few pages to the Greek tradition, it does not really provide the
comprehensive overview of its subject that the main title implies. But
taken together, the individual papers fulfill the promise of the
sub-title: "Fresh perspectives, new methods". New ideas, new
approaches, even new sources are put forward, and the ideas of previous
generations rejected. The papers are generally well argued and
copiously annotated. As a source of inspiration for new scholars in the
field, this volume deserves to find a place in research libraries.

List of contents:

Introduction, by Richard Talbert and Richard W. Unger
Greek and Roman Mapping: Twenty-First Century Perspectives, by Richard
Talbert
L'Heritage Antique de la Cartographie Me/die/vale: Les Problemes et les
Acquis, by Patrick Gautier Dalche/
Process and Transformation on the Severan Marble Plan of Rome, by
Jennifer Trimble
Constructing a Digital Edition for the Peutinger Map, by Tom Elliott
Rethinking the Peutinger Map, by Emily Albu
The Book of Curiosities and a Unique Map of the World, by Yossef
Rapoport and Emilie Savage-Smith
New Perspectives on Paradise -- The Levels of Reality in Byzantine and
Latin Medieval Maps, by Maja Kominko
Rashi's Map of the Land of Canaan, ca. 1100, and Its Cartographic
Background, by Benjamin Z. Kedar
Maps and Panegyrics: Roman Geo-Ethnographical Rhetoric in Late
Antiquity and the Middle Ages, by Natalia Lozovsky
"Usque ad Ultimum Terrae" : Mapping the Ends of the Earth in Two
Medieval Floor Mosaics, by Lucy E.G. Donkin
Maps in Context: Isidore, Orosius and the Medieval Image of the World,
by Evelyn Edson
Medieval Maps in a Renaissance Context: Gregory Dati and the Teaching
of Geography in Fifteenth-Century Florence, by Raymond Clemens
Cartes et Chroniques: Mapping and History in Early Medieval France, by
Camille Serchuk