A number of maps have survived from ancient Mesopotamia. They were carved into clay tablets just as literary and other written texts were. Because it was difficult to carve rounded lines, most lines in maps were straight, even when denoting a road or boundary that actually curved. Maps were created to show the boundaries of estates and farms, the ground plans of temples and houses, the layout of cities or districts within cities, countries, and the world as a whole. All were drawn, like modern versions, as if looking down from above. Most maps were not drawn to scale; a notable exception is a map of the city of Nippur dating to the second millennium B. C., which is so accurate that it resembles the excavation charts prepared by modern
Babylonian tablet showing an ancient map of the world, most likely from Sippar, in modern-day southern Iraq, between 700500 B. C. Erich Lessing/Art Resource, NY
Archaeologists. Canals were sometimes drawn as parallel lines with wavy crests between them to indicate water, and cities and villages were designated by small rectangles or circles. streets and roads were indicated by lines with street names etched beside the lines. A Babylonian world map dating from roughly 600 b. c. shows the city of Babylon resting in the center. Around it stretch the known lands, which rest on a round disk surrounded by a circular outer ocean or great river. An accompanying text describes the “seven islands,” which are indicated by triangles pointing outward from the edges of the outer ocean. One passage mentions the “land where the Sun is not seen,” suggesting that by this time the Mesopotamians knew about the arctic region lying far to the north. If so, the information likely came via thirdhand stories told by merchants who traded with the natives of what is now southern Russia.
See Also: Mesopotamia, geography of; Nippur; trade
World History
