Copyright © 1997, The British Library Board

The Psalter map is so called because it accompanied a 13th Century copy of the Book of Psalms.

It is one of the earliest maps with Jerusalem at the centre, reflecting the medieval world view.

Although tiny (15 cms x 10 cms), it contains a wealth of information. It is the earliest surviving

map to symbolize Christ's power as overseer of the world; and one of the earliest maps to depict

Biblical events - for example, Moses crossing the Red Sea (the large red expanse, top right); and

the earliest to display the `monstrous' races in Africa (the strange figures, some without heads,

depicted on the right-hand edge).

The map shows the world with an encircling sea and three important waterways: the rivers Dan

and Nile and the Mediterranean. They divide the land into three continents with Asia at the top,

Africa bottom right and Europe in the bottom left quarter. The map has east at the top; just below

Christ is a depiction of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. If the map is rotated so that north

is at the top it becomes much easier to understand.

In this rotated detail, the Mediterranean is the waterway on the left. The Nile, with its prominent

delta, runs from bottom right into the Mediterranean and to the right is the vivid Red Sea. North

of the Nile is the Aegean sea and beyond that the Black Sea.

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