Al-Idrīsī’s Map (1154)

Or “Tabula Rogeriana” a Mappamundi for the Norman king of Sicily

Issue 01 — Fall 2019 — Session 03 — Microliteratures: In the Margins of the Law
By Jesús R. Velasco | Published on October 1, 2019

Al-Idrīsī‘s map was created in 1154. K. Miller prepared a full version of the map in 1927, with Roman transliteration of the Arabic texts and geographic notations. The map is also known as “Tabula Rogeriana.” It was prepared by the polymath (and geographer, of course) from Ceuta, Al-Idrīsī, for the Norman king of Sicily, Roger III at the death of Roger II in February of 1154.

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The Library of Congress hosts a digital version of Konrad Miller’s “restoration” of Al-Idrīsī’s Map of 1154. As it is well known, the south is at the top of the map, and the north is at the bottom. Likewise, the east is at on the left side, and the west on the right side. This is an “inverted” map in relation to common representations of the cardinal points. However, a medieval map is more often than not an horizontal device, and the reader moves around the map to read it in many directions. But it is true that this map was conceived to be read from the north (bottom), as the script is oriented that way.

Idrīsī, Approximately, and Konrad Miller. Weltkarte des Idrisi vom Jahrn. Ch., Charta Rogeriana. Stuttgart: Konrad Miller, 1928. Map. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/2007626789/>.

Al-Idrīsī’s Map (1154)

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