Maps of ParadiseWhere is paradise? It always seems to be elsewhere, inaccessible, outside of time. Either it existed yesterday or it will return tomorrow; it may be just around the corner, on a remote island, beyond the sea. Across a wide range of cultures, paradise is located in the distant past, in a longed-for future, in remote places or within each of us. In particular, people everywhere in the world share some kind of nostalgia for an innocence experienced at the beginning of history. For two millennia, learned Christians have wondered where on earth the primal paradise could have been located. Where was the idyllic Garden of Eden that is described in the Bible? In the Far East? In equatorial Africa? In Mesopotamia? Under the sea? Where were Adam and Eve created in their unspoiled perfection? Maps of Paradise charts the diverse ways in which scholars and mapmakers from the eighth to the twenty-first century rose to the challenge of identifying the location of paradise on a map, despite the certain knowledge that it was beyond human reach. Over one hundred illustrations celebrate this history of a paradox: the mapping of the unmappable. It is also a mirror to the universal dream of perfection and happiness, and the yearning to discover heaven on earth. |
Contents
| 6 | |
Chapter 2 Mapping the Territory | 24 |
Chapter 3 Mapping the Bible | 36 |
Chapter 4 Mapping Time | 52 |
Chapter 5 Where is Nowhere? | 78 |
Chapter 6 Pinning Down Paradise | 98 |
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Common terms and phrases
Adam and Eve Africa Ambrosius Holbein ancient ARABIA Armenia Asia ASSYRIA astronomical Augustine Babylon Babylonian Beatus Bible biblical British Library Calvin Calvin's map cartography chapter Christ Christian compiled contemporary depicted Detail of Fig earthly paradise east eastern Ebstorf Euphrates Europe event-place exegetes fifteenth century Flood flowing four rivers Garden Garden of Eden geography Gihon Greek Havilah heaven heavenly Hebrew Hereford Hereford map History of Cartography human history humankind idea Imagine inaccessible inhabited earth island Jerusalem land Leardo location of paradise London map of paradise mapmakers mare medieval mappa Mediterranean Mesopotamia Middle modern More's mountains Muhammad paradis terrestre paradisi terrestris Paris PARS perfect Persian Peter Comestor Pison portrayed Ptolemy Ptolemy's region Renaissance rivers of paradise Roger Bacon scholars Scripture single river sixteenth space terre theologians theological Tigris tradition Tree twelfth century Utopia Vatican Vatican City Vetus Latina vignette world map zonal map zones