Monsters, Bitter River, No Sun Region: Here's all about mysterious elements in world's oldest map
Image of the world's oldest map known as Babylonian Map of the World.
Crafted by humans nearly 2,600 to 2,900 years ago, the oldest map of the world Imago Mundi - which is also called the “Babylonian Map of the World" still exists in the form of a tablet.
The map helps in drawing a picture of ancient Babylonians and how they saw the world around them.
The map was created when the world was being led by the Neo-Babylonian Empire in the fields of architecture, culture, mathematics, and science.
How did archaeologists discover the map?
The map was rediscovered in the 19th century. It was found by renowned archaeologist Hormuzd Rassam, who has excavated a few of the world's finest Assyrian and Babylonian antiquities.
In these antiquities was the table which contained theEpic of Gilgamesh, which is the oldest piece of literature in the world.
In 1881, while excavating Sippar in present-day Iraq, Rassam discovered the Babylonian Map of the World.
Currently, the British Museumin London has the map which is a cracked tablet, that measures 12.2 by 8.2 centimetres (4.8 by 3.2 inches) and contains a circular map along with pieces of text which are written incuneiform.
Because the map is in poor condition, some of the information is missing from the artefact.
How map depicts Mesopotamia?
Mesopotamia, which is called the "cradle of civilisation", has been shown as a historical region in the Middle East.
In a rectangle strip, the city of Babylon is marked. The parallel lines which cross this rectangle are said to be the Euphrates River.
Other cities and kingdoms like Assyria, Der, and Urartu are also marked on the map. A near-perfect circular band encloses all these settlements which represent “Bitter Water” or “Bitter River", which means the ocean.
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Beyond the ocean, at the top of the map is labelled a place “where the Sun is not seen.” It is said that they believed that this was a land of everlasting darkness.
A part of the text included various monsters as well as different creatures which live in the different regions, these included a great sea serpent, a scorpion-man, a winged horse and and a bull-man.
Meanwhile, it also mentions animals like gazelle, panthers, deer, monkeys,ibex, water buffalo, and wolves.
(With inputs from agencies)