The Beatus World Map

Discovering the
Chessboard of Europe
in a 12th Century worldmap

"There is a game of puzzles," he resumed, "which is played upon a map. One party playing requires another to find a given word--the name of a town, river, state, or empire--any word, in short, upon the motley and perplexed surface of the chart. A novice in the game generally seeks to embarrass his opponents by giving them the most minutely lettered names; but the adept selects such words as stretch, in large characters, from one end of the chart to the other. These, like the over-largely lettered signs and placards of the street, escape observation by dint of being excessively obvious; and here the physical oversight is precisely analogous with the moral inapprehension by which the intellect suffers to pass unnoticed those considerations which are too obstrusively and too palpably self-evident."

from: "The Purloined Letter" by Edgar Allan Poe

In medieval times, it was traditional to depict the world in a form which is now known as a "T-O" map. Simply put, the known world was shown as contained within a circle internally divided by a "T" shape. An example of this simple schematic is shown below. East is at the top. The horizontal diameter (the cross bar of the "T") represented the Nile and Don Rivers, while the vertical line (the upright of the "T") stood for the Mediterranean Sea. Thus, this simple geometric figure divided the world into the three great continents of Asia, Africa and Europe. Many such examples of these "T-O" maps remain in existence today.

It has always been considered that these maps were merely symbolic, convenient depictions of the approximate shape and relation of the continents and major water bodies. Any suggestion that they might depict accurate geographical information has never been seriously entertained, for obvious reasons. However, now that we have devised the "chessboard of Europe" form, from Professor Stecchini's research on the grid maps of the ancient Egyptians, it is possible to view these T-O maps in a new light.

We could easily imagine a stylised version of the chessboard form, by reducing it to its bare essentials. Thus, if we were to draw a square to represent the outer border of the 8 x 8 grid, and then add nothing more that the Prime Meridian, and the 36 degree parallel which represents the opening at the Straits of Gibraltar, we would arrive at a diagram shown below:

With the simple subsitution of the outer square for a circle, and a 90 degree rotation to match the orientation with east at top, it can be seen that this diagram is essentially equivalent to the traditional "T-O" map form shown at top.

If this is so, and admittedly it is nothing but conjecture at this point in the argument, then we might understand the "T" bars in the "T-O" map-form to be references to specific longitude and latitude lines, namely the Prime Meridian of Egypt at 31°14' and the 36° parallel of latitude. This leads to the tantalising suggestion that the "T-O" maps may have their antecedents in the "chessboard of Europe" form , which though not explicitly identified by Professor Stecchini, is a simple extrapolation from his scholarly data.

Can we find specific examples of "T-O" maps which might reveal additional detail to corroborate the suggestion above, namely that these medieval map-forms are stylised descendants of the ancient chessboard map? The surpising answer is yes. It is to be found in an elaborate version of the "T-O" map, traditionally attributed to "Beatus", though it is more likely that this name refers to the style of map rather than the cartographer, as many such examples over several centuries are also known by this name. The map is question is reproduced below, in the traditional orientation with east at the top.

The first item to take note of in the above map is the depiction of Adam and Eve in the upper portion. They are shown standing on a set square, or right angle, with the serpent entwined around the upright bar. Taking this as a clue that a grid might be hidden within the image, I created a simple grid as an overlay. Trying to keep my assumptions as simple as possible, I drew a square to encompass the outer circle, and then subdivided this square into a grid of 12 x 12 sub-squares. I also drew in the outer circle, and the inner circle which represented the "shore" of the ocean where it met the circle of lands. Superimposing this grid, with its two circles, seemed to suggest that, indeed, something was happening, but the fit was clearly not completely satisfying.

Then I noticed the rectangular "islands" in the circular ocean surrounding the continents. I noted that there is something unsettling about the lack of symmetry in these. Perhaps they indicated that a "shift" was required to find the correct match of the grid to the map. Playing with my acetate grid, I decided to move it "upwards", in relation to the orientation depicted above. A slight vertical translaton brought the lower edge of the outer circle perfectly into position to define the lower edge of the islands.

To my delight, I then noticed that in this position, the upper edge of the inner circle perfectly co-incided with the lower edge of the upper islands. This seemed strong confirmation of my hunch, and showed the apparent reason for the off-centre appearance of the islands. They were indeed drawn in this way to describe the shift of the grid by using the ocean circles as reference curves.

Proof that this was the correct position for the overlay was provided by the relation of the grid to the Adam and Eve set-square. Not only do the grid squares neatly align with the right-angled bar on which the two humans stand, but a line also runs precisely between them. Furthermore, to my amazement, the heights of the figures was revealed to be exactly two squaures, thus justifying my initial intuitive choice of 12 x 12 squares as the natural subdivision of the greater square. All of these correlations may be seen in the completed image of the map and grid overlay below. (Note that the map has been turned 90 degrees at this point so that north is upwards, conforming to the modern convention.)

It will be noted that in the image above, I have further subdivided each of the basic 12 x 12 squares into 6 x 6 smaller squares. Careful inspection will confirm that the majority of the writing on the map falls on or within these guidelines.

By now, I was convinced that I had stumbled upon the hidden grid which the cartographer responsible for the map had employed to lay it out. No doubt there will be readers of this who will be quick to cry "co-incidence", and perhaps it is. Nevertheless, there is much more to be said about this map and grid, and close inspection, particularly of the full-size version reveals a host of additional correlations. I leave these for the open minded searcher to explore.

However, there is a further tantalising link between this map and the chessboard form which it remains to describe.

The Chessboard of Europe

The King is the Land: Geosiris, or To-Mera Man

The Gates of Dan and the Straits of Gibraltar