This first installation to historical mapping and cartography starts within the ancient time period. In these times maps weren’t used so much for transportation guidance or regional boundary documentation and imagery, but more so as a philosophical outlook in the world the Babylonians lived in. Just as following civilizations had rationalized, the early ancient Babylonians perceived the world with what they knew and believed. Their world only went as far as they had known with maybe a few travelers' stories.

The Babylonians were known for using tablets to transcribe a form of numerical values to log the celestial bodies up above. They  kept vast libraries of tablets where astronomers and philosophers could reflect on prior dates of specific stars or planets' location, direction, and path. The Babylonians even created a tablet that was a portrayal to the geographical world they lived in. The image of the stone tablet above is dated around 600 B.C. and assumed to be the oldest known existing map of today. Others have attempted to recreate the map and its meaning similar to the rendition image next to it.

By looking at the rendition you can see that the Babylonians not only described obvious geographical land features, but they had approximate distance values. The values of six miles between islands present a possibility that the Babylonians used a series of mathematics to set distances between known points. This could offer up the notion that other than astronomy, mathematics was used for a variety of uses: barter and trade, building and architecture, and irrigation and agricultural zoning. This also alludes to the possibility of a measuring system. If the ancient Babylonians could measure the distance between islands then they could have had a simple measuring tool that could have been used for construction and architecture. The image presented on my Home Page is a drawing of an architecturally advanced city and may possibly be an accurate representation of the Babylonian culture.

With limited historical documentation and lost writing from the tablet most must speculate to the tablet’s entire meaning. Wikipedia has an interesting listing of what each point on the tablet may be referring too:

The accompanying text mentions seven outer regions beyond the encircling ocean. The descriptions of five of them have survived^[2]:

·         the third island is where "the winged bird ends not his flight," i.e., cannot reach.

·         on the fourth island "the light is brighter than that of sunset or stars": it lay in the northwest, and after sunset in summer was practically in semi-obscurity.

·         The fifth island, due north, lay in complete darkness, a land "where one sees nothing," and "the sun is not visible."

·         the sixth island, "where a horned bull dwells and attacks the newcomer"

·         the seventh island lay in the east and is "where the morning dawns."

            As you can see from a closer look at the clearer image below and from the above rendition, the different cities are labeled by a circle. This marking of a city by a circle is still widely used by cartographers of today. Cities on most maps and charts are indicated by a dark solid dot or closed circle while larger major cities may be represented by open circles. This presents an outstanding passing on of a practice of almost 3000 years old. My question to the Babylonians would be why the use of a circle? What did the circle represent to the Babylonians that etched this tablet? It may have been possible that a circle represented the continuous or infinite existence of a well established community. Or maybe the boundaries of cities and towns were designed in a circular fashion which was best for fortification or defense. It could even have been as simple as an easy identifiable mark that stood out amongst all the irregular shapes on the tablet. Either way, this symbol was carried on by other map makers and cartographers throughout the centuries.

Interpretation:
            This tablet is the first sign of human beings implementing the idea of projecting the world they see onto something they can present to others. I see this as a remarkable clue to the intelligence of ancient civilizations. The Babylonians knew how to extrapolate ideas and mental images and record them for others to see and learn from. The tablet not only shows their intellectual ability to transfer words and pictures onto a tablet, but also label, name, construct an organized village or city. The internal markings of town locations, river direction, and geographical features are a clear indication that this culture may have done more than what commonly known. Without findings such as this mapped tablet science could only speculate as to how ancient civilizations lived. This tablet relays the culture of the ancient Babylonians and opens up their history to us for study.

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Biography and Notes

    Primary Sources:

My primary sources are the Babylonian stone tablet images from 600 B.C.

"Early world maps." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 24 Oct 2008, 03:47 UTC. 28 Oct 2008 <http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Early_world_maps&oldid=247315607>. (Last accessed 27 October 2008)

    Secondary Sources:

“Professor E. Kwan Choi, Iowa State University.” Babylonian Culture and Tablets. <http://www.econ.iastate.edu/classes/econ355/choi/bab.htm>. (Last accessed 27 October 2008) This web site provided a useful image of the tablet and a synopsis of how the cities were marked by a circle.

“Ancient Maps.” Cartographic Images. 12 April 1998, < http://www.henry-davis.com/MAPS/AncientWebPages/AncientL.html>. (Last accessed 27 October 2008) This web site has a plethora of images from different maps throughout the different time periods. There are dates and titles for each map image.

"Early world maps." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 24 Oct 2008, 03:47 UTC. 28 Oct 2008 <http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Early_world_maps&oldid=247315607>. (Last accessed 27 October 2008) Wikipedia adds additional articles relating to this tablet that help enhance the theories behind the meaning of the Babylonian tablet.