Isidore T-O Map (Earliest Printed)

Isidore T-O Map (Earliest Printed)

A T and O map or Isidore map: called T and O because the round earth (shaped like an O) is divided into continents by the Mediterranean (represented as a vertical line) and the rivers Nile and Tanais (represented as a horizontal line), so that these waters, together, form a T within the O. It is also-called an ‘Isidore’ map, because maps of this shape are often found in copies of Isidore’s Etymologies. Earliest printed example of a classical T and O map (by Günther Zainer, Augsburg, 1472), illustrating the first page of chapter XIV of Isidore of Seville, Etymologies.

Günther Zainer

Isidore of Seville, Etymologies

1472

Public Domain

Image

Latin

Augsburg, Germany