Chapter I: Part 1

AMERICAN GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY
LIBRARY SERIES NO. 4

THE LEARDO MAP OF THE WORLD
1452 OR 1453

_In the Collections of the
American Geographical Society_

BY
JOHN KIRTLAND WRIGHT, Ph.D.
Librarian, American Geographical Society

WITH A NOTE ON THE REPRODUCTION OF THE MAP
BY
A. B. HOEN

AMERICAN GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY
BROADWAY AT 156TH STREET
NEW YORK
1928

COPYRIGHT, 1928
BY
THE AMERICAN GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY OF NEW YORK

RUMFORD PRESS
CONCORD, N. H.

CONTENTS

PAGE
The Leardo Map of the World, 1452 or 1453 1
The Calendar and the Inscription Beneath It 2
The Map Disk 4
Sources of Leardo’s Geography 6
The Known World According to Leardo 10
Asia 10
Africa 15
The Mediterranean 16
Europe 17
Notes 21
Appendix: Detailed Comments on the Map 31
Explanation 31
I. Northern Asia 32
II. Far Eastern Asia 35
III. India 37
IV. Central Asia 40
V. Persia 41
VI. Mesopotamia and Syria 42
VII. Arabia 44
VIII. Asia Minor 45
IX. Armenia, Caucasia, and Southeastern Russia 46
X. Indian Ocean, Persian Gulf, and Red Sea 47
XI. Southern Africa 47
XII. Middle and Lower Nile Region 49
XIII. Upper Nile Region and West Africa 50
XIV. North Africa 52
XV. Black and Mediterranean Seas 54
XVI. Southwestern Europe 55
XVII. Atlantic Ocean and Islands 56
XVIII. Central Europe 56
XIX. Italy 57
XX. Southeastern Europe 57
XXI. Baltic Sea 58
XXII. Scandinavia 58
XXIII. Eastern Europe 59
XXIV. Far North 60
List of References 63
The Reproduction of the Leardo Map, by A. B. Hoen 71

ILLUSTRATIONS

FIG. PAGE
1. The Leardo map of the world, 1452 or 1453 _frontispiece_
2. Passage from mid-eighteenth century manuscript of the Doge
Marco Foscarini referring to Leardo map of 1447 23
3. Passage from mid-eighteenth century manuscript of Giovanni
Agostini referring to Leardo map of 1447 23
4. General key map _at end of book_
5. Detailed key map; northeastern section _at end of book_
6. Detailed key map; east-central section _at end of book_
7. Detailed key map; southeastern section _at end of book_
8. Detailed key map; northwestern section _at end of book_
9. Detailed key map; west-central section _at end of book_
10. Detailed key map; southwestern section _at end of book_

THE LEARDO MAP OF THE WORLD
1452 OR 1453

The notes will be found on pp. 21-28.

In 1906 Archer M. Huntington, Esq., presented to the American Geographical Society one of three known maps of the world signed and dated by the Venetian, Giovanni Leardo. Of these, the oldest, as well as the crudest and simplest, is preserved in the Communal Library at Verona and carries the date 1442.[1] The second (1448), somewhat more elaborate in design, belongs to the Civic Museum at Vicenza.[2] The Society’s map,[3] the largest of the three, bears the signature in the lower right-hand corner: _Johanes Leardus de Venetteis me fezit abano domini 145_[?]. The last digit in this inscription is partly mutilated; the date, however, is probably either 1452 or 1453.[4]

The Society’s map is of primary interest as revealing a conception of the earth’s surface typical of the century preceding the discovery of America. In its blending of colors and pleasing general composition it forms a work of art of no slight decorative value. Furthermore, the encircling calendar and many details on the map proper are distinctly unusual.[5] The Society has therefore undertaken the publication of a full-sized colored facsimile, in explanation of which the present book was prepared. Drawn on a piece of parchment measuring 28½ by 23⅜ inches (72.4 × 59.4 cm.), the original is in a fair state of preservation except for two pieces torn from the left-hand side, for discolorations, and for the fading of some of the inscriptions. Fortunately, no part of the map itself has been seriously injured.

The Calendar and the Inscription Beneath It

The calendars encircling Leardo’s three maps constitute exceptional additions. Of these calendars, the one on the Society’s map is the most interesting. The inscription in the panel below the circles, in part an explanation of the calendar, is somewhat awkwardly phrased in the Venetian dialect of the fifteenth century, but, although it lacks the beginning of each line, the meaning is fairly clear, especially when certain of the missing lines are reconstructed from the corresponding inscription on the map in Vicenza.[6]

In the first two lines the cartographer makes an excursion into the realm of theology. According to Dr. Arthur C. McGiffert, to whom the present writer submitted the passage, this part of the inscription is “evidently not the work of a theologian, for it makes God the creator ‘of all things created and _un_created’ (the credal phrase is ‘things visible and invisible’), and in the next clause runs the Trinity (‘three persons and one common substance’) and the person of Christ together as if they were the same thing. There are reminiscences of the Nicene creed, but the whole is theologically a hodge-podge.”

This passage is followed by a statement that the map shows how the land and islands stand in relation to the seas and how the many provinces and mountains and principal rivers are distributed on the land. Then, on the asserted authority of Macrobius, “a very excellent astrologer and geometrician,” figures are given for the dimensions of the earth and of various heavenly bodies. These are quite fanciful, bearing little relation to the corresponding figures actually cited by Macrobius.[7]

The astronomical details are followed in the third paragraph by the explanation of the calendar. The latter consists of eight concentric circles, of which the innermost gives the dates of Easter for ninety-five years, from April 1, 1453, to April 10, 1547; when Easter falls in April, _A_ is written in the small compartment, when in March, _M_; leap years are designated by _B_ (“bissextile years”).

The second circle shows the names of the months, beginning with March, which was officially reckoned the first month of the year in the Republic of Venice until as late as 1797[8]; it also tells the day, hour, and minute when the sun enters each of the twelve signs of the zodiac.

The third, fourth, fifth, and sixth circles enable one to calculate the phases of the moon. In the third circle the first nineteen letters of the alphabet represent in order the years of the Metonic lunisolar cycle. These years were usually designated by the golden numbers, but before the Gregorian reform letters were frequently employed in place of the numbers. Leardo explains that _C_ stands for 1453, _D_ for 1454, and so on until _T_ is reached, after which we begin over again at _A_.[9] A letter is placed opposite the figures (in the fourth, fifth, and sixth circles) showing respectively the day of the month, the hour of the day, and the “point of the hour” at which the “conjunction of the moon” (i. e. new moon) will take place in the years to which the letter refers. For example, there will be a new moon on April 8, 1453, at 16 hours, 200 points.[10] Leardo adds that there are 1080 points in an hour.[11]

The seventh circle gives the dominical, or “Sunday,” letters; these are indicated opposite the days of the month (fourth circle) on which Sunday falls in the years designated by the seven first letters of the alphabet. If we know the dominical letter for any particular year, we may thus determine the days of the week.[12] Leardo, however, does not specify the years to which the dominical letters in his calendar refer.

The eighth and ninth circles give the lengths of the days in hours and minutes.[13] From this we see that the vernal equinox fell on March 11, inasmuch as the calendar was constructed before the Gregorian reform. Finally, in the tenth circle saints’ days and other religious festivals are shown.[14]

The four figures in the spaces between the calendar and the outer edge of the parchment represent the four evangelists: the lion for St. Mark, the bull for St. Luke, the angel for St. Matthew, and the eagle (of which only the head shows) for St. John.[15]

The Map Disk

It should be noted first that east is at the top of the map and Jerusalem at the center; hence the long axis of the Mediterranean runs vertically up the southern half of the disk.

With the exception of the Red Sea, appropriately colored, the seas are uniformly blue. The lands are left the natural color of the bleached parchment except for a fiery red region in the far south bearing the legend: “Desert uninhabited because of heat,” and a dreary brown waste in the far north marked: “Desert uninhabited because of cold.” Islands are tinted either red or yellow, with green patches in the interior of Great Britain and Ireland. The only other natural features depicted are mountains, rivers, and lakes, although certain deserts are mentioned in legends. Mountain ranges are represented by rows of mounds, alternately red, green, and blue, and each rising symmetrically in two or three steps. Rivers are blue and, as frequently on medieval maps, sometimes connect one sea with another, or at least have common sources. A yellow lake, labeled “Sandy Sea,” lies in the midst of the Sahara.

Vignettes of castles, walled towns, and churches stand for cities, kingdoms, and regions. In most cases the names have been written upon the vignettes themselves; since the latter are also colored pink or green, the letters are frequently obscured and quite illegible. Many towns and districts are shown by red dots beside which the names are written in ink, once black but now faded with age. These names were inserted after the vignettes were drawn, for in many instances they are tilted or compressed to fit the available space. The draftsman did not venture to write any name to the left of the dot to which it belongs; as he could not write on the blue of the seas, he was obliged to invert the map in the case of places on south-facing coasts. Names of islands and seas, which had to be written on water surfaces, are inclosed in small yellow panels. The names of the continents, the two inscriptions relating to the polar and equatorial deserts, and the words “Terrestrial Paradise” are in red capitals; but all other names are in minuscule, usually without an initial capital. Besides place names there are a few longer legends.

Winds blowing from the four cardinal and four intermediate points of the compass are shown by eight faces around the edge of the disk. Those to the north, northwest, and northeast are blue, suggesting cold blasts from these quarters; the other faces are ruddy.

Although decorative, the Leardo map lacks many of the pictorial elements—animals, birds, preposterous monsters—that enliven the blank spaces on other medieval maps. With the exception of the eight wind faces and the symbolic figures of the evangelists no living creatures, whether animals or men, are graphically represented.

Sources of Leardo’s Geography

Briefly stated, the sources of Leardo’s geography are to be sought in the information accumulated by the Greeks and Romans, as added to and altered during the early Middle Ages by the Church Fathers on the basis of the interpretation of the Bible and as later augmented by the work of medieval travelers, merchants, and sailors.

At a very early period the Greeks developed the idea (borrowed, perhaps, from the Babylonians[16]) that the earth is a flat disk surrounded by the Ocean Stream. This conception seems to have given rise to a cartographic tradition followed by certain ancient and medieval map-makers who had long outgrown the belief that the earth is actually flat. Thus Leardo draws a circular land mass, or _oikoumene_, surrounded by a narrow hem of water. We cannot, however, question his belief in the sphericity of the earth, for otherwise he could hardly have held the views expressed in the panel below the calendar. Furthermore, his two legends relating to the fiery and frozen deserts echo a theory that was propounded in classical times and based on the hypothesis of a spherical earth. This theory, worked out in detail by Crates of Mallos, is briefly as follows.[17] Around the equatorial circumference of the globe is a fiery zone so intensely hot that no man can cross it. This zone cuts off all communication with the southern hemisphere. The north and south polar caps are uninhabitable because of the cold. An ocean encircling the globe from north to south intercepts communication with the half of the northern hemisphere opposite the _oikoumene_. Many maps were made in the Middle Ages to illustrate this conception. Leardo presumably had it in mind and did not intend to represent either a flat disk or a complete hemisphere but merely a circular portion of the earth’s surface lying north of the equator.

In its orientation, with east and the Terrestrial Paradise at the top and with Jerusalem at the center, the map follows the Christian tradition of the earlier Middle Ages. Other features reflecting the influence of the Scriptures are Noah’s Ark resting on top of Mt. Ararat, Mt. Sinai, the exaggerated length of the River Jordan, and an inscription in the far northeast referring to Gog and Magog.

Later medieval contacts between Europe and remote lands are revealed in names derived from Marco Polo and possibly from other Western travelers who had visited the Orient, as well as in the Arabic names in Asia and Africa.

Medieval navigators’ charts also influenced Leardo. Towards the close of the thirteenth century sailors in the Mediterranean—particularly Italians and Catalans—began making marine maps (known as portolan charts) that far surpassed all earlier maps in the accurate delineation of coast lines. The majority of these show the Mediterranean and Atlantic coasts of Europe and of north Africa but little of the interior of the continents and nothing of the farther parts of Asia. Some, however, were used as the basis for maps of the world. On the latter the shore lines were derived from the navigators’ charts, and the remaining regions were compiled from other sources. The Leardo map belongs in this category.

Among the existing maps dating from the fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries our Leardo map is very closely related to the group of maps drawn by the famous Catalan cartographers of Majorca in the Balearic Islands. In its general outlines it is so strikingly like a Catalan map of about 1450 now preserved in the Este Library at Modena[18] that we must assume a common cartographic ancestor at no great distance back. There are, however, certain legends on the Este map that Leardo does not give, particularly the long inscriptions and a multitude of place names on the Mediterranean and Atlantic coasts. Leardo’s map, on the other hand, has features not shown on the Este map. These are of two sorts: (1) place names in Asia and Africa, the counterparts of which may be found on other Catalan[19] and Italian[20] maps of the period; and (2) river, mountain, and province names taken directly from Ptolemy. There are also not a few names whose origins or counterparts on other maps I have been unable to trace.

Ptolemy’s _Geography_ had been neglected during the earlier Middle Ages, but the enthusiastic interest in Greek literature which characterized the early Renaissance had led to its translation into Latin shortly before Leardo’s time.[21] A strict interpretation of Ptolemy’s data would have necessitated a complete redrafting of the outlines of the continents, as was done on the Ptolemaic atlases of the mid- and late fifteenth century. Leardo made no such attempt. The extent of his concession to the Ptolemaic geography was to sprinkle a few of Ptolemy’s names over a medieval base and to add the Rivers Indus and Oechardes in eastern Asia.[22]

The Known World According to Leardo

The numbers in parentheses correspond to the reference numbers in the
Appendix (pp. 32-60) and on the key maps at the end of the book.

In the Appendix (pp. 31-67) I have tried to identify as many as possible of the names and other features shown on the Leardo map with existing places, or at least with corresponding features on other maps of the period. Here I propose to conduct the reader on a rapid sight-seeing tour around the map, pointing out some of the most interesting details only.

Asia

In the extreme north (left-hand side) there is a large structure which looks like an Italian church with its campanile (13). The legend beneath, suggested ultimately by a passage from Marco Polo, runs about thus: “[This is] the sepulcher of the [Grand Khan] and they do this when he comes to be carried for interment: he comes accompanied by many armed men who kill those whom they find on the roads, and they say that the souls of these are blessed because they accompany the soul of the Grand Khan to another life.” Marco Polo adds that at the time of the funeral of Mangou Khan 20,000 persons were thus slain! The actual place of burial of the Mongol Khans was in Cathay, far away from northern Russia where Leardo, following the model of Catalan maps, draws it. European cartographers of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries seem to have known and cared little about the relative positions of places in Asia; as Italian merchants by this time had established contacts with the Mongols in southern Russia, what was more natural than to place the Mongol overlord’s tomb in the hinterland of the Black Sea? Here there was more available space than in the Far East, and here on Leardo’s map the Grand Khan’s tomb could be made symmetrically to balance Prester John’s palace across the map in Africa (299).

South of the sepulcher we see the River Volga (6, 7) flowing into the northwestern corner of the Caspian (250). A branch from the east (8), perhaps the Kama, joins the Volga where the latter bends at a right angle to the south. East of the lower Volga is a “desert of thirty days” (10), Polo’s mysterious demon-haunted desert of Lop, where the traveler hears ringing bells and other uncanny sounds (possibly “singing sands”). Like the Grand Khan’s tomb, this desert is also wofully misplaced, since the actual desert of Lop lies in eastern Chinese Turkestan. The responsibility is not Leardo’s, however, for the Lop desert is in the same place on the Catalan Atlas of 1375 and on the Este map.

Farther east, beyond a row of six castles representing towns on the borderlands of China (35-40), we come to a gulf of the encircling ocean and to a great system of mountains. The gulf (11), which contains three islands, appears in almost the same position and form on the Este map, where there is a legend explaining that on the islands griffons and falcons are found and that the natives are not allowed to kill them without the permission of the Grand Khan of the Tatars. This is also from Marco Polo, who writes that the islands where the gerfalcons are bred lie so far north that the North Star is left behind you in the south! The mountains southeast of the gulf make an enclosure shaped something like a θ (42-47). Inside the northern half of this θ a legend tells us that “this is the province of Gog and Magog, where many tribes of the Jews were shut in” (70), referring to the medieval tradition that Alexander the Great enclosed Gog and Magog—the terrible hordes of Antichrist—within the Caspian Mountains. On many maps the mountains of Gog and Magog in the Far East are named thus. Leardo, however, places “M^o Gaspio” (Caspiae Montes) (4) north of the Caspian Sea somewhat nearer the position at which Ptolemy had placed them. To the mountains of Gog and Magog he assigns names derived from Ptolemy’s northeastern Asia. Running westward from the southern basin formed by these mountains Leardo has added a river (49), the Oechardes of Ptolemy. Near the point where this river emerges from the mountain rim we see a red spot labeled “Iron gate” (72) and, immediately to the west, two short red marks, “Statues of Alexander” (73). The iron gate was built by Alexander in the wall enclosing Gog and Magog, and the statues represent trumpeters set up by Alexander to keep guard over these unclean hordes. On the Catalan maps the trumpeters themselves are shown with their trumpets.

Immediately west of the statues appears “Mount Tanacomedo” (48), an amusing instance of Leardo’s carelessness; he has here evidently copied “Montana Comedorum” from a Ptolemaic map, combining the last part of the first word with the first part of the last! At the extreme eastern edge of the world disk we see the Terrestrial Paradise (63) surrounded by an enormous wall to keep out curious intruders. The River Indus flows southwestward to a great delta near the entrance of the Persian Gulf (84). Many of the place names in India correspond with those of the Catalan maps and in turn were derived from Marco Polo. The scene of St. Thomas’ mission and of the early introduction of Christianity into India is indicated by the inscription: “Here preached St. Thomas” (113).

In central Asia, we note two rivers entering the eastern side of the Caspian Sea, the Jaxartes (117) and Oxus (118). The Lake of Aral, in which these great streams actually have their outlet, seems to have been wholly unknown to the geographers both of antiquity and of medieval Europe. Moslem scholars, however, were aware of its existence. Leardo’s castles of Organa and of Organzia (Urganj) (120, 121) at the mouth of the Jaxartes and his place name Orcania (132) on the Oxus recall Matthew Arnold’s description of the Oxus at the close of _Sohrab and Rustum_:

But the majestic river floated on ...
Right for the polar star, past Orgunjè,
Brimming, and bright, and large.

The Tigris and Euphrates (165, 166) join, reaching the Persian Gulf (267) as a single stream flowing between two large edifices that represent Susiana (172) and Babylonia (173). To the east of the Tigris a nameless river (139) having its headwaters in a large lake (138) also enters the Persian Gulf. This same stream on the Catalan Atlas and on the Este map rises in a double source, two bodies of water that have been identified with Lakes Van and Urmia. Leardo connects the Euphrates (166) with the Mediterranean through the Orontes (168) and with the Red Sea (268) through the Jordan (167).

The most prominent feature in Arabia is Mecca (211), a large domed and towered building in good Italian Renaissance style and presumably representing a mosque. Several corrupted Turkish place names (227, 228, 229, 232) along with classical names (224, 231, 233-235) appear in Asia Minor.

The Indian Ocean is filled with yellow and red islands. A legend asserting that pepper and spice are found in these islands (275) comes from Marco Polo’s description of the East Indian archipelago. The largest of all the islands, lying off the coast of India, is marked Taprobana (269) and probably represents Sumatra.

Africa

Leardo’s Africa, like that of the Este map, has a very unusual shape. Two gulfs reach inland from the Indian Ocean and from the Atlantic, partially cutting off the southern extremity of the continent. On the Este map the eastern gulf is not as prominent as that of Leardo’s map, but the western is even deeper. Kretschmer suggests that these features have sprung from a combination of the ancient doctrine of a vast austral continent with Ptolemy’s theory that the Indian Ocean is surrounded by land.[23] Certain Arabic maps show an eastward projection of Africa like those of the Este map and Leardo, although they do not indicate anything corresponding to the western gulf.

Prester John’s castle (299) bulks large in the interior of Africa. In the twelfth century, reports spread through Europe of the vast realm of a fabulous Christian monarch in the heart of Asia. By the fourteenth century, however, Prester John’s empire had been transferred to Africa, where it became associated with the Christian kingdom of Abyssinia. The elaborate edifice with which Leardo represents Prester John’s empire may be intended for the sumptuous palace described in the thirteenth-century _Letter of Prester John_.

Like most medieval cartographers, Leardo makes the Nile (312) rise in West Africa (338). In this he follows Herodotus, Pliny, Mela, and other ancient authorities. Ptolemy, however, seems to have had a more correct view, placing the sources of the river in the Mountains of the Moon in eastern Africa. Nothing daunted, most of the fifteenth-century cartographers who used the writings of Ptolemy boldly transferred the Mountains of the Moon to West Africa to suit their theory of the river’s course. Thus, on the Leardo map we see the Montes Lunae (334) on the north coast of the West African gulf. Thence four streams flow north into a lake, out of which the Nile makes its way eastward and another stream flows westward into the Atlantic. The latter stream represents, perhaps, a combination of Niger and Senegal, of which some faint knowledge may have been gained through traders who had crossed the Sahara. The lower Nile is joined by the River “Stapus” (313), doubtless the Astapus of Ptolemy or the modern Blue Nile. On the Este map this tributary rises in the Terrestrial Paradise, there placed in East Africa.

To the mountain range of North Africa, the Carena of the Catalan maps, Leardo has added Ptolemaic names (385-392).

The Mediterranean

The outlines of the Mediterranean (433) and Black Seas (431) are more correct than any other features which Leardo draws. This, of course, is due to the fact that they were derived ultimately from the portolan charts. Leardo preserves the faulty orientation of the Mediterranean characteristic of the latter. If we assume that the perpendicular line extending from the wind-blower off the west coast of Spain through Jerusalem to the wind-blower east of the Terrestrial Paradise is intended to run due east and west, we see that the axis of the Mediterranean with the adjoining shores has been turned counter-clockwise some twelve degrees. This is probably because of failure on the part of the makers of the original portolan charts to take into consideration the declination of the compass.[24]

Leardo’s place names along the Mediterranean and Black Sea coasts are all derived from the portolan charts, although Leardo wrote names only where it was easy to do so without crowding. The least successful portion of Leardo’s Mediterranean coast is that of Spain: the shore is here unduly elongated as compared with that of the Este Catalan map, Barcelona (475) and Ampurias (476) being placed too far northeast on what ought to be the French shore line.

Europe

As on the Catalan maps, the geography of northwestern Europe is badly distorted. The Seine (448), Rhine (487), and Elbe (488) all flow parallel with one another but slightly to the south of west. The course of the Danube (552) with its southern branches is more true to nature. The Baltic Sea (577) and Scandinavia are drawn much as on the Este map.

NOTES

[1]Giuseppe Crivellari, _Alcuni cimeli della cartografia medievale
esistenti a Verona_, Florence, 1903, pp. 5-28.

[2]This map was discovered by Vincenzo Lazari in 1850. A detailed
description and interpretation of it will be found in Santarem, Vol.
3, pp. 398-442 [fuller bibliographical details regarding this and
other abbreviated references in these notes will be found on pp.
63-67]; black and white reproduction in Santarem’s _Atlas_, Part 3,
No. 49; also in A. E. Nordenskiöld, _Periplus_, p. 61.

[3]The map was discovered in 1879 by Major Friedrich von Pilat, Imperial
Counsellor of the Austro-Hungarian Legation and Consul-General of
Austria-Hungary in Venice. At the time it was presented to the
Society a brief anonymous description appeared in the _Bulletin of
the American Geographical Society_, Vol. 38, 1906, pp. 365-368. This
was based upon a sixteen-page pamphlet by Dr. Guglielmo Berchet, _Il
planisfero di Giovanni Leardo dell’ anno 1452_, Venice, 1880,
accompanying a photographic facsimile constituting No. XIV of the
series _Raccolta di mappamondi e carte nautiche del XIII al XVI
secolo_ published by Ferdinand Ongania, Venice. Dr. Berchet’s paper,
while useful to the present writer, has on the whole proved
disappointing because of its many inaccuracies in transcriptions and
also because almost no attempt was made to deal with the place
names, in many respects the most interesting features of all.

[4]As much of this digit as remains might be the upper part of either a
2, a 3, or a 7. Since the Easter calendar begins with 1453 the date
could hardly be earlier than Easter, 1452. For the same reason, it
is not likely to have been as late as 1457, the only possible date
after 1453. On the Vicenza Leardo map the Easter calendar begins
with the year in which the map is dated, 1448; on the Verona map of
1442 the calendar begins with the preceding year, 1441. A
discrepancy of four years between the beginning of the calendar and
the date of the map, however, is most improbable.

Santarem, Vol. 3, p. 399, and Berchet, _op. cit._, p. 6, cite two
mid-eighteenth century MSS in the Library of St. Mark’s, Venice,
which contain entries relating to a map by Giovanni Leardo dated
1447. One of these MS is that of the Doge Marco Foscarini (Codex
ital., XI, 123, p. 42), the other that of a contemporary scholar,
Giovanni degli Agostini (Codex ital., VII, 291, p. 542; this and the
preceding reference were furnished to the present writer by the
Chief Librarian of the Library of St. Mark’s; they do not agree
exactly with the references as given by Santarem and Berchet).

The passage from the Foscarini MS (Fig. 2) may be translated thus:
“Gio. Leardo, who flourished in 1440, made a planisphere on
parchment on which was written _Leardius de Venetiis me fecit anno
1447_. It was at the house of (_era presso_) Bernardo Trevisano.
Apostolo Zeno saw it many times and marveled at seeing the exactness
of the design.” The passage from the Agostini MS (Fig. 3) runs as
follows: “Giovanni Leardo: This (man) lived shortly before the
middle of the fifteenth century, and he delighted in geography and
spheres. In the Trevisan Library was preserved a planisphere by him
on parchment on which could be seen delineated the whole terraqueous
globe with all the signs and celestial constellations, beneath
which, according to his assertion, every part is placed. At the
bottom of this parchment these words may be read: _Joannes Leardius
de Venetiis me fecit ab anno 1447_. It is curious to see how in his
time, when not many discoveries had been made and navigation was so
little advanced, the positions of the provinces and of the seas were
conceived.”

Berchet, _op. cit._, p. 7, points out that the arms at the top of
the parchment of the Leardo map now belonging to the American
Geographical Society are those of the Trevisan house. He reads
incorrectly, however, the date given by Agostini as 1452, concluding
therefrom that the map mentioned by the latter was the same as the
Society’s map, the date of which he also reads as 1452. In view of
the actual difference in the dates, we may conclude that Leardo
constructed two maps for the Trevisan family, and that the one dated
1447 is yet to be rediscovered.

Figs. 2 and 3—Passages from mid-eighteenth century manuscripts in
the Library of St. Mark’s, Venice, in which reference is made to a
map by Giovanni Leardo, dated 1447. See note 4.

[5]Although the Society’s map is not, perhaps, one of the great,
outstanding monuments of medieval cartography, the assertion of
Theobald Fischer (_Sammlung mittelalterlicher Welt- und Seekarten_,
Venice, 1886, p. 104) that the Leardo maps of 1448 and 1452 were
“von geringem Wert,” seems too harsh.

[6]There follows a transcription of this legend. Missing passages
supplied from the Vicenza map as transcribed on Santarem’s
reproduction are given in square brackets:

_... chreatore de Tute le Cose chreate et non chreato et E En 3
persone et una medexima sustanzia et uno Idio El quale En .i.inita
(divinita?) E Incomprensibelle aiomeni et aianzelli quanti uisono
dal zentro per sino Ala zirconferenzia En umanita ... | ... ene
Maria et farsi homo pasibelle et sostener morte per Redimer Lumana
zenerazione et resusito Il Terzo zorno et asexe ... (en?) ziello ala
destera del padre et al nouisimo di zudigera zusti et pechatori. Al
nome de quel dio che cosi veramente chre ... at_|

_... como La Tera et le Ixole stano nel mare et Molte prouinzie et
monti et fiumi prenzipalli sono nela Tera El diamitro dela Tera sie
meglia 6857 secondo Macobrio ezelentisimo Astrologo et geumetrico.
El diamitro de Laqua| [sie meia 14796. El diametro de laiere sie
m]eglia 31929¹/₇. E diamitro del fuoguo 68191²/₇. El diamitro de La
Luna sie meglia 147149. El diamitro de mercurio sie meia 20(?)7533.
El diamitro de venus sie meglia 692703. El diamitro del solle sie
meia 1494781. El diamitro de mar(te) |... eia 6532374¹/₇ (Jupiter).
El diamitro de saturno sie Meia 13997942⁴/₇. diamitrus horbis
signiorum sie meia 29995591. diamitrus horbis aplanes sie meia
64276266⁵/₇. diamitrus horbis christalini sie meia 137724(?)856.
pitagora dize che da La |...._

[El primo zircholo che zirconscrisse Il sopra schri]_to mapamondo
sie de la raxon de la pasqua de la Rexurezione per Ani 95. Comenza
nel 1453 adi primo aprille conpie nel 1547 adi 10 Aprille. quando si
Troua nele caxelle Letera M aueremo La pasqua de marzo, quando si
Trouera Letera A Aueremo| [quando la viene daprille. quando si troua
letera B que]lano aueremo Bixestro. El segondo zircolo sie de I12
mexi dellano et quando Il sole Entra En cadauno dei 12 segni
zelesti. El Terzo zircollo sie de 19 Letere de lalfabeto per Atrouar
la raxon de La Luna. El quarto zircollo sie dei numeri (?)| [di
zorni de mexi. El quinto sie de le ore.] El sesto zircollo sie
Iponti de le hore. El setimo zircollo sie Le Letere dominicale.
Lotauo zircollo sie Le ore de La grandeza del di En tututo (sic!) El
tenpo de lano (?). El nono zircolo sie dei menudi che auanza oltra
Le ore ne la grandeza del di. El dezim |... uoler sapere quando
rinoua La Luna de Zugnio del 1453. nel dito mileximo Abiamo per
letera concorente Letera C. Auoler atrouar La conioncion de la Luna
dobiamo Atrouar Letera C nel mexe de zugnio E alincotro se trouera
di.. |... (rin) ouera La Luna de cadauno mexe del dito mileximo. El
mileximo comenz(a) de Zenaro nel 1454 aueremo concorente Letera d
ecosi se schore ogniano 1 Letera de lalfabeto. Et quando sizunze
aletera T l’Altro ano drieto sitorna Aletera A. |... raxone comenza
Ala Leuar del solle e intendese atanti di et Atante hore et atanti
(?) ponti. ponti 1080 sintende 1 hora. Ale fiade En uno mexe si
troua 2 fiade una Letera en quel mexe La luna rinoua 2 fiade etc._

[7]By the “diameters” of the sun, moon, and planets Leardo obviously
means the diameters of the orbits. Macrobius, _Commentaria in
somnium Scipionis_, I, 20: 20, gives the diameter of the earth as
80,000 stades, which might, if converted into Arabic miles, be
approximately the 6857 miles of Leardo. According to Macrobius the
radius of the sun’s orbit is 4,800,000 stades (_ibid._, I, 20: 21);
the diameter of the sun’s orbit would therefore be 9,600,000 stades,
or 120 times that of the earth. The diameter of the sun’s orbit
according to Leardo is 218 times that of the earth. On the authority
of Porphyry, Macrobius (_ibid._, II, 3: 14) gives the relative
distances between the planets; but Leardo’s figures bear no relation
to these. I have not been able as yet to trace the origin of
Leardo’s figures.

[8]H. Grotefend, _Zeitrechnung des deutschen Mittelalters und der
Neuzeit_, Vol. 1, Hannover, 1891, p. 203 (reference kindly suggested
by Dom Hugh G. Bévenot of Weingarten Abbey, Württemberg, Germany).

[9]Grotefend, _op. cit._, p. 113, asserts that O was usually omitted to
avoid confusion with zero. Leardo, however, includes O. J and I are
counted as one letter. The golden number of 1453 is 10; Leardo’s A
corresponds with golden number 8.

[10]The following is a comparison of the times of the new moon on
certain dates as indicated by Leardo with the actual times as
determined for the meridian of Venice from Th. von Oppolzer, _Canon
der Finsternisse_ (constituting _Denkschr. Kaiserl. Akad. der Wiss.
in Wien, Math.-naturw. Classe_, Vol. 52, 1887).

Leardo’s Times Actual Times

1453 Dec. 1 ? hrs. 203? pts. Nov. 30 2.40 P. M.
1455 Apr. 16 21 hrs. ? Apr. 17 12.22 A. M.
1456 Apr. 6 7 hrs. 229 pts. Apr. 5 4.25 A. M.
1461 Jan. 11 21 hrs. ? Jan. 11 8.44 P. M.
1468 Feb. 23 14 hrs. 747 pts. Feb. 23 10.15 P. M.

The discrepancies are too great and too variable to enable us to
come to any very definite conclusions as to the place or manner of
origin of Leardo’s figures.

[11]The division of the hour into 1080 points (3×6×60, as Dom Bévenot
points out) is puzzling. More usually the hour was subdivided into
four points. See Grotefend, _op. cit._, p. 188.

[12]The dominical letter for 1453 was G.

[13]On the basis of certain of the figures given by Leardo for the
lengths of the days at about the times of the solstices, I have
estimated that this table was worked out for about lat. 42° 45′ N,
which is more nearly the latitude of Orvieto than that of Venice
(45° 30′). (This calculation was made with the _Smithsonian
Meteorological Tables_, 4th edit. (constituting _Smithsonian Misc.
Colls._, Vol. 69, No. 1), Washington, 1918: Table 87, “Duration of
Sunshine at Different Latitudes,” and Table 88, “Declination of the
Sun for the Year 1899.” The difference in the declination of the sun
for 1452 and 1899 is negligible.) Dom Bévenot writes: “I fancy day
lengths were reckoned roughly for degrees. Here in Weingarten about
1490 they used tables drawn up for lat. 45° N, though the place is
actually 47° 40′.”

[14]I am indebted to Dom Bévenot for the following comment:

“Concerning the calendar of saints I find the good Venetian has
inserted besides the usual feast of St. Mark, patron of Venice, on
April 25 two more: that of his apparition and the finding of his
relics on June 25 and a third feast on Jan. 31 (translation). The
last two were special for the diocese of Venice (Aquileia). The
calendar for Aquileia is given at the beginning of Grotefend, _op.
cit._, Vol. 1, but does not quite tally with Leardo’s list of
saints. Perhaps this is because Grotefend has modernized the
calendar. It may be that Leardo, living perhaps elsewhere than in
Venice or its diocese, put in feasts that were dear to him. Indeed,
in view of your findings for latitude from the length of the days
[see preceding note], Rome is the most likely place, perhaps, for
the Venetian embassy. It lies nearly in lat. 42° N; if we allow for
Leardo measuring the length of the days according to the apparent
sunset and sunrise, this may well explain a discrepancy of the
greater part of a degree.”

[15]Berchet, _op. cit._, p. 7.

[16]See H. F. Lutz, _Geographical Studies Among Babylonians and
Egyptians_, in _Amer. Anthropologist_, Vol. 26 (N.S.), 1924, pp.
160-174.

[17]See Appendix, Nos. 305, 619.

[18]Kretschmer, CE see p. 63.

[19]Particularly the famous Catalan Atlas of 1375 see p. 63.

[20]For the names of and for bibliographical references relating to some
of these maps see the list of references on pp. 63-67, _sub_ CD,
Mauro, Piz., Vat., Vilad.

[21]This Latin translation of Ptolemy’s _Geography_ was begun by the
Byzantine scholar Emmanuel Chrysoloras and completed by Jacopus
Angelus in 1410; manuscripts of this translation were accompanied by
maps, which, however, differ from the well-known maps in the
Ptolemaic atlases of the late fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. The
latter were the work of Dominus Nicolaus Germanus, known as Nicholas
Donis. See A. E. Nordenskiöld, _Facsimile Atlas to the Early History
of Cartography_, transl. by J. A. Ekelöf and Clements R. Markham,
Stockholm, 1889, pp. 9-10.

[22]Like the Leardo map of 1452, the map of Walsperger, 1448, reveals
Ptolemaic influence in some of its names although all the
topographical features are strictly medieval. The Genoese world map
of 1447 in its elliptical form is the result of a more serious
attempt to reconcile the Ptolemaic geography with the traditional
views. See Kretschmer, CE, pp. 76-77; on the Walsperger map,
Kretschmer, _Eine neue mittelalterliche Weltkarte der vatikanischen
Bibliothek_, in _Zeitschr. Gesell. für Erdkunde zu Berlin_, Vol. 26,
1891, pp. 371-406, reference on pp. 376-377. On the Genoese world
map see the extended commentary of Fischer, _op. cit._, pp. 155-206.

[23]Kret., CE pp. 82-83.

[24]See Kret., Port., pp. 81-93; see also E. L. Stevenson, _Portolan
Charts: Their Origin and Characteristics, with a Descriptive List of
those Belonging to the Hispanic Society of America_, New York, 1911,
p. 19, where it is suggested that the faulty orientation of the
Mediterranean may be in part connected with the persistence since
the time of Ptolemy of the practice of placing Constantinople on
maps “too far to the north by at least two degrees.”

APPENDIX
DETAILED COMMENTS ON THE MAP

Explanation

The following commentary is divided into sections numbered with Roman numerals corresponding to the Roman numerals on the general key map (Fig. 4, at end of book). Each item is given an Arabic numeral which corresponds to the Arabic numerals on the detailed key maps (Figs. 5-10, at end of book).

For each feature which bears a place name and for each longer legend on the Leardo map the transcription is given below in italic. Many of these transcriptions, particularly of names written on edifices (castles, churches, etc.), are mere guesses, owing to the obscurity of the original. Particular difficulty was encountered in distinguishing between the letters _a_, _e_, _o_, _c_, and _t_, and between _s_ and _f_. A clue to the reading of many names, however, was furnished by other maps contemporary with or earlier than that of Leardo. Illegible letters are indicated by dots; doubtful readings by (?); interpolated letters are enclosed in square brackets. Illeg. means “wholly illegible.”

No data beside the transcriptions are given for such names as _f. tigris_, _corsicha_, _galizia_, etc., the meaning of which is obvious.

In the case of the less familiar names, the forms in which they appear on certain other medieval maps are supplied. In general, if a name occurs on the Catalan Atlas of 1375 (CA), on the Catalan map in the Este Library at Modena (CE), or on the Ptolemaic maps (Ptol.), no attempt is made to indicate its occurrence elsewhere.

Each doubtful identification with a medieval name is preceded by ?. For names along the coast of the Mediterranean, the Black Sea, and the Atlantic, references are given to the pages in Kretschmer’s _Die italienischen Portolane des Mittelalters_ (= Kret., Port.) where the variant spellings of these names as they are found in the more important portolans and portolan charts are listed and the places identified with modern localities.

Identifications with modern localities are indicated by =, or =mod.; with well-known ancient localities by =anct. Suggested but doubtful identifications are preceded by =?, and names for which I have been unable to find or to suggest any identification with a modern locality are indicated by =? standing alone.

With the identification of Ptolemaic and medieval names in the Far East, in Africa, and in Scandinavia, we enter upon a hazardous and controversial field. While in many instances I have indicated identifications that have been made by competent scholars, needless to say, these should not be accepted as final. One cannot but feel that where an identification is based upon mere similarity in sound it is often a case of one man’s guess being as good as another’s. The scope and purpose of the present study does not permit of an exhaustive examination of these questions of detail.

For more complete bibliographical data relating to publications referred to in abbreviated form in the key and for an explanation of the abbreviations, see pp. 63-67. In bibliographical references volume numbers are indicated in lower case Roman, book numbers in upper case Roman, and chapter and page numbers in Arabic type.

On the key maps where there are long rows of place names the first and last numbers only are indicated, with an arrow connecting them. This is done to avoid overcrowding.

The Arabic numerals are in general placed in positions corresponding to those of the legends on the original. This leads in some instances to the separation of the numbers from the symbols to which they relate (_e.g._, 73).

I. Northern Asia

Mountains

1 _M^o. alani_: Alani Montes in Scythia intra Imaum Montem, NE of Caspian Sea, Ptol. (VI, 14: 3 (FA 22));=Mugodzhar hills in the Kirghiz steppes, a southern continuation of the Ural Mountains (PW, i, 1281).

2 _M^o. ripei_: Rhipaei Montes, in which the Don rises, between Sea of Azof and Baltic, Ptol. (III, 5:15 (FA 17)). See also 596 and PW, 2nd ser., i, 902-904.

3 _M^o. norosus_: Norossus Mons, NE of Caspian Sea, Ptol. (VI, 14:5 (FA 22)).

4 _M^o. gaspio_: Caspii Montes, between Greater Armenia and Media, Ptol. (V, 13:3 (FA20)); transferred to the far northeast as the haunt of Gog and Magog on medieval maps, including CA and CE. See Kret., CE, 202-206.

Rivers

5 _f. Tanai_: Tanais Fluvius, Ptol. (V, 9:1, etc. (FA17));=Don.

6 _f. rumus_: ?Rhymmus Fluvius, which enters the Caspian E of the Rha (Volga), Ptol. (VI, 14:2, 4 (FA22));=Volga.

7 _f. ras_: Rha Fluvius, Ptol. (V, 9:12, etc. (FA22)); see PW, 2nd ser., i, 1-8;=upper Volga.

8 Unnamed eastern tributary of the Ras;=Kama or Viatka.

Other Natural Features

9 _zizera_: Zizera, shown as an island on CD and CA;=the _jazira_ or island of Peskov in the Volga near Tsaritsin (Yule, Cath., i, 308); Hamy (395) suggests Sizran.

10 _dixerto de zornade_ | _trenta_ (desert of thirty days). Marco Polo’s desert of Lop, said to take one month to cross (Polo, i, 196); a long inscription on CA in the same locality describes this desert and the devils’ voices heard in it. See 33.

11 On this gulf as it is shown on CE appears the legend: “On these islands there are many beautiful griffons and falcons, and the inhabitants of the islands do not venture to seize them without the permission of the Grand Khan, lord of the Tatars” (Kret., CE, 208; from Polo, i, 270).

Edifices

(A) North of the River Ras and its Eastern Tributary

12 _zimachi_|_a_(?): ?Sarmatia;=Russia. See also 600.

13 Tomb of the Grand Khan, beneath which an inscription reads thus: _q ... li sie El sepulchro del_ | [gran can] _et fano questa_ | ... _che quando El uen_ | _portato a sepelir El uen acom|pagniato da_ _molti homeni | armadi Iquali ozideno queli(?) | Itrouano su le strade et | dicono che le anime de coloro sono Benede|te per che Le aconpa|gniano Lanima del gran | can aunaltra uita_. Similar inscription in corresponding position on CE (209-210) from Polo (i, 246, 250-251).

14 _R^o. de mas_ ... (?): ?Moscaor, CD;=Moscow (Hamy, 394).

15 _cast. | ra._(?): ?Castrama, CA; Castrema, CE;=Kostroma (Hamy, 395).

16 _ezina_(?): ?duplicate of 18.

17 _alla_ ... (?): ?Allania, N of Black Sea, CA;=country of the Alans (Hallb., 13, 14). See also 604.

18 _etzi|na_: Polo (i, 223-225); Cordier (Ser M. P., 53-55) places Polo’s Etzina in SW Mongolia, “on the river Hei-shui, called Etsina [=Etsin Gol] by the Mongols.” See also 16.

(B) Between the Rivers Ras, Rumus, and Tanai

19 _trachia_: Torachi, CA;=Torjok (Hamy, 395).

20 _tufer_: Tifer, CA;=Tver, capital of an important Russian principality and seat of a bishop in the Middle Ages.

21 _botnia_(?):=?Bothnia; ?duplicate of 608.

22 _zitere|ae_(?): ?[Ar]çetreca, Vat.;=Astrakhan (Pullé, Vat., 8).

23 _racoba_(?): =?

(C) South Side of East Branch of River Rumus

24 _borga_: Borgar, CA; Bolgara, Polo (i, 4, 6-8);=med. Bolghar, on the Volga 90 m. below Kazan (Yule, Polo, i, 7).

25 _Iornâ_: Ioram, CA;=?Churmansk (Shurminsk) on the Viatka (Yule, Cath., i, 307).

26 _paschati_(?): Pascherti, CA;=Bashkir. See Hallb., 69-70; Yule, Polo, ii, 492.

27 _fasa_(?): Fachatim, CA; =?Viatka (Yule, Cath., i, 307).

28 _sebur_(?): Sebur, CA;=?Sibir, Siberia. See Hallb., 465-466; Yule, Cath., i, 307.

(D) North and Northeast of Mt. Gaspio

29 _Marm|orea_: Marmorea, CA;=? See Yule, Cath., i, 308.

30 _la ... |te_(?):=?

31 _fugur_(?): Sugur, CA. See Hallb., 489;=?

32 _zin.. |lel_(?): Cigicalas, CA; ?Province of Chingintalas, Polo, (i, 212-213);=?region between Lake Baikal and Kamul (Yule, Polo, i, 214-215; Cordier, Ser M. P., 51-52).

33 _Lop_: On CA Ciutat de Lop N of Lake Yssicol; also a long legend (from Polo, i, 196-197) describing Lop as a city where travelers rest themselves and their beasts and supply themselves with provisions before crossing the desert. See Hallb., 316-318;=vicinity of Lob Nor between Chinese Turkestan and the Gobi. See also 10.

34 _findaz|ion_: ?Sindachu, Polo (i, 285); Sinacius, CA;=modern Hsüan-hua, not far from Kalgan on the Great Wall (Yule, Polo, i, 295).

(E) Row West and South of the Gulf of the Three Islands

35 _canp|iton_: Campicion, Polo (Pauthier’s edit., i, 165); Campichu, Polo (Yule’s edit., i, 219); Campicion=Chancjo of CA (Cordier, CA, 35);=?Kan-chou in Kan-su (Yule, Polo, i, 220; Pauthier, l. c.; Cordier, l. c.; see also Hallb., 107).

36 _sia ... r_(?):?Siacur, CA;=?

37 _tand|uc_: Tanduch, CA; Tanduc or Tenduc was the name of a plain, a province, and a city belonging to Prester John; in the province was the country of Gog and Magog (Polo, i, 240, 284);=? See Yule, Polo, i, 285-288; Paul Pelliot in Journ. Asiatique, May-June, 1922, pp. 595-596.

38 _suchc|hur_(?): ?Sukchur in Tangut, Polo (i, 217);=Su-chou in Kan-su (Yule, Polo, i, 218).

39 _rabo|.ibi_(?):=?

40 _tign|infor_: ?Chingianfu, Polo (ii, 176-177);=Chinkiang-fu (Yule, Polo, ii, 177-178).

Legend Between Rivers Ras and Tanai

41 _Idolatri_: On CE a legend applying to city of Castrema (see 15) explains that idolaters there worship a metal idol without head or hands (Kret., CE, 210).

II. Far Eastern Asia

The surface of the map northwest of the Terrestrial Paradise has been rubbed in such a way that many of the names are illegible.

Mountains

The mountain system here corresponds essentially with that of CE; Ptolemaic names have been given to mountains and rivers.

42 _sa ... s_(?):=?

43 _M^o. osmire_(?): Asmiraei Montes in Serica, Ptol. (VI, 16: 2 (FA23));=?eastern end of T‘ien Shan with the small low hill chains to the south (PW, ii, 1702).

44 _M^o. Tagurus_: Tagurus Mons in Serica (Θάγουρον ὄρος), Ptol., l. c.

45 _M^o. otorocoras_: Ottorocoras Mons in Serica (ibid.).

46 _M^o. semantinus_: Semanthini Montes in India intra Gangem, Ptol. (VII, 2:8 (FA26));=?coast range of Annam (PW, iv, 2050; see also Gerini, 376).

47 _M^o. anibi_: Annibi Montes, Ptol. (VI, 16:2 (FA23));=?eastern T‘ien Shan above Qara Shar and Turfan (PW, i, 2258).

48 _M^o. Tanacomedo_: ?[Mon-]Tana Comedo [rum] (ἣ ὀρεινὴ Κωµηδών) in Sogdiana, Ptol. (VI, 12: 3 (FA22)).

Rivers

No rivers are shown in this region on either CA or CE; Leardo was evidently impelled to add them by the study of Ptolemy’s Geography.

49 _f. ocardis_: Oechardes Fl. of Serica, Ptol. (VI, 16: 3 (FA23)).

50 _f..._(?)=?

51 _f. danas_: Demus Fl. of Sogdiana, a branch of the Jaxartes (see 117), Ptol. (VI, 12: 3 (FA22)).

52 _f. bascatis_: Bascatis Fl. of Sogdiana, also a branch of the Jaxartes (ibid.).

Lake

53 Illeg.: Lacus Issicol, Leardo, 1448; Yssicol, CA;=?either Lake Balkash or Issiq Köl (Hallb., 563-564).

Edifices

(A) Northwest of the Terrestrial Paradise

54 _sachai_: ?Sacae, Ptol. (VI, 13 (FA22)).

55 _s ... de | iaca_(?): =?

56-62 All illeg.

63 _PARADIXO TERESTO_: The Terrestrial Paradise is placed in Africa on the earlier Leardo maps as well as on CE. See Wright, Lore, 261-263.

(B) West of Terrestrial Paradise

64 _sina_: ?Sinae, Ptol. (VII, 3 (FA26));=China (see Wright, op. cit., 271).

65 _R^o de ...|.ge_(?): =?

66 _Tango | ... ti_(?): ?Tangut, Polo (i, 203-205);=Kansu and southern Mongolia (Hallb., 507-508).

67 _R^o Tarse_: CA and CE have legends to the effect that from Tarsia came the three Magi (Kret., CE, 197-198; Hallb., 515-517, 267-268);=vicinity of the T‘ien Shan (Hallb., l.c.);=eastern Turkestan (Kret., l.c.).

Place Names

68 _pinca_(?): ?Pinzu, Mauro (Zurla, 36; name omitted on Santarem’s copy of Mauro map in his Atlas, 45); ?Piju, Polo (ii, 141; see Hallb., 409);=P‘ei-chou (Yule, Polo, l.c.).

69 _ruoenci_(?):=?

Longer Inscriptions

70 _prouinzia de og magog doue | foron(?) serati molti Trib ... de | Judei_ (province of Gog and Magog where many tribes of Jews were enclosed): Related legends on CA (Buchon and Tastu, 145-146) and CE (Kret., CE, 202-206); see Hallb., 260-265. On legend of Gog and Magog see also Wright, Lore, 287-288.

71 _Idolatri_: A reflection of the idolaters of the Grand Khan’s domains frequently mentioned by Marco Polo.

72 _porte de fero_: The iron gates erected by Alexander the Great to enclose Gog and Magog, shown on CE; see 70.

73 _statoe de alesandr^o_: The statues of trumpeters set up by Alexander to keep guard over Gog and Magog, shown on CA and CE; see 70.

74 _dixerto doue eno | molti grifoni_: Griffons were placed in Scythia by many classical and medieval writers; see Hallb., 232-234.

75 _qu ... si manza | carne de omo_ (here they eat the flesh of man); Cannibals were placed in these regions by many classical and medieval writers; they were often associated with Gog and Magog; see Hallb., 30-32.

III. India

Mountain