The first map of the Holy Land It was published as a Bible exactly 500 years ago, in 1525. It was initially printed reversely (with the Mediterranean to the east), but its inclusion set a precedent that still influences understanding of state borders today.
This is what a new study he conducted showed Nathan MacdonaldProfessor of Old Testament Interpretation at the University of Cambridge (UK) and published this Sunday in Journal of Theological Studies. “This is, at once, one of the publishing industry’s greatest failures and triumphs,” says the author.
The map was printed upside down, showing the Mediterranean Sea east of Palestine. In Europe, very little was known about this part of the world, and no one in the workshop seemed to notice. But it changed the Bible forever and today Most of these works contain maps.
MacDonald asserts that Map Lucas Cranach the Elderprinted in Zurich, Switzerland, not only turned the Bible into a Renaissance book, it contributed to the way people began to think about boundaries.
“This has been wrongly assumed Bible maps “They followed the modern instinct to create maps with clearly defined territorial divisions,” says the professor, before adding: “In fact, it was these maps of the Holy Land that led the revolution.”
As more people gained access to Bibles in the 17th century, these maps spread an idea of how the world was organized and their place in it. This remains very impressive.
the first
Very few copies of the Old Testament Christopher Froschauer (1525) preserved in libraries around the world. The Wren Library at Trinity College, Cambridge holds one of the few surviving copies.
In it, it represents the biblical Cranach map Hajj seasons Across the desert, in addition to dividing the Promised Land into 12 tribal regions.
These boundaries were of distinct Christian concern, because they communicated the truth about it They inherit the holy places of the Old and New Testaments.
Cranach’s map followed the example of ancient medieval maps, which They divided the lands of Israel On well-defined strips of land. This reflects his reliance on the Jewish historian Josephus, who simplified complex and contradictory first-century biblical descriptions.
“Joshua 13-19 does not present a completely coherent and consistent picture of the lands and cities occupied by the different tribes. There are many differences. The map helped readers understand the situation“Even if it’s not geographically precise,” MacDonald says.
A literal reading of the Bible has been fundamental to the church Swiss reformIt is therefore not surprising that the first written map was published in Zurich.
MacDonald says that with the increasing focus on… Literal reading of the Bible, Maps helped prove that events occurred in a recognizable time and place.
In the world of the Reformation where certain images were prohibited, maps of the Holy Land were permitted They became an alternative source From the sanctification of piety.
“When you look at the map of Cranach, and you stop at Mount Carmel, Nazareth, the Jordan River, and Jericho, “People felt transported to an authentic pilgrimage.”“In their minds, they were traveling on a map, encountering sacred history as they did so,” MacDonald asserts, before adding.
The inclusion of Cranach’s map was, according to MacDonald, a crucial moment in the transformation of the Bible and deserves greater recognition. Among the most famous changes are the move from parchment to manuscript, and the creation of the first single-volume portable Bible (the Paris Bible) in the 13th century, Add chapters and versesand the incorporation of new introductions during the Reformation and recognition of prophetic expressions as Hebrew poetry in the eighteenth century.
“The Bible never was An immutable book. “It’s constantly shifting,” MacDonald says.
Revolution on the border
On medieval maps, the division of the Holy Land into tribal territories had a spiritual meaning: the inheritance of everything by Christians. But since the end of the fifteenth century, Lines spread from maps of the Holy Land To maps of the modern world they began to represent something completely different: political borders. At the same time, these new ideas about political sovereignty were incorporated into biblical texts.
“The Biblical maps that They determined the lands of the twelve tribes They were powerful agents in the development and dissemination of these ideas. “The text, which is not about political borders in the modern sense, becomes an example of how God arranges the world according to nation-states,” MacDonald explains.
The lines on the maps began to symbolize The limits of political sovereignty Instead of unlimited divine promises. This changed the way written descriptions of geographical space were understood.
Early modern concepts of nationhood were influenced by the Bible, but interpretation of the sacred text was influenced by new political theories that emerged in the early modern era. The Bible was both the agent and the target of change.
Current importance
“For many people,” MacDonald asserts, “the Bible remains an inspiration An important guide to your core beliefs About nation-states and borders.” “They view these ideas as having biblical authority and therefore fundamentally true and correct,” he says.
This professor is concerned that too many people take boundaries as Biblical for granted. “When I asked ChatGPT and Google Gemini if the limits were biblical, they both simply said yes. The reality is more complex“, he says.
“We should be concerned when any group claims that its way of organizing society has a divine or religious basis, because it often simplifies and simplifies They distort ancient texts that formulate different kinds of ideological statements in very different political contexts.”