BOOK REVIEW
Journal of the International Map Collector Society, UK
(Spring 2009, Number 116)
Countries South of the Caucasus in Medieval Maps – Armenia, Georgia and
Azerbaijan by Rouben Galichian. Joint publication by Printinfo Art Books
(Yerevan) and Gomidas Institute (London), 2007, 28 x 22 cm, 208 pp.,
illustrations. ISBN 1-903656-69-9. GB£30.00 / US$50.00. Available from
[email protected]
According to the author, the intent of this work is to familiarize the
reader with medieval cartography on Armenia, Georgia and Arran
(Caucasian Albania, or present Republic of Azerbaijan), situated south
of the Caucasus range. It is arranged in four chapters: Introduction
to Early Medieval Maps, Early [European] Medieval Maps, Islamic Maps,
and Late Medieval Maps. List of Maps appears at the beginning of the
book, Conclusion, Bibliography and Index of Toponyms and People at the
end. The author has investigated collections of medieval maps in
several European major libraries and those of Yerevan, Istanbul,
Teheran etc., trying to give the reader a broad historical background
on medieval maps, both European and Islamic.
The author depicts and describes 82 main maps (mappa mundi. European
and Islamic), with 26 details, mainly showing Armenia and the
neighbouring territories in three well-balanced chapters (two to
four). Chapter two includes 32 European medieval maps (Nos1-32) and
nine details, beginning with a simple T-O map by Caius Crispus
Sallustius, known as Sallust (86-34 BCE), a Roman senator and
historian. This pictured manuscript copy dates from the 9th or 10th
century, drawn on vellum and kept at the University of Leipzig.
The third chapter focuses on 23 Islamic world maps (Nos 33-55) and two
details, produced originally by Ibn-Hawqal, Istakhri, Muqaddasi,
Idrisi, Qazwini, Ibn-Said, Mustawfi and others. The newly discovered
Arabic manuscript in Egypt, Book of the Wonders of Sciences and Visual
Delights, acquired by the Bodleian Library, Oxford, is also described
in some length. (pp.108-113, plates 45, 45a and 46).
Chapter four contains images and descriptions of 27 later [European]
medieval ‘naps (Nos 56-82) and 15 details. In my view, this chapter
includes the most important achievement or the author, namely
depicting and describing a medieval Armenian map (plate 67) and
several tables, diagrams and texts on celestial bodies, little known
in Western cartographic circles. The author has succeeded in
unearthing these valuable cartographic documents during a search in
the Armenian manuscript depository, the Matenadaran, Yerevan. Plate 67
is the only T-O type map in the Armenian language by an anonymous
cartographer. Various scholars have dated it as early as 1206 to as
late as 1360.
The author concludes that in medieval times, due to lack of border
demarcations and the rule of force, few borders were fixed for long,
or could be even approximately determined. Consequently, most medieval
maps lack bordering lines between countries which are shown just by
mentioning their names somewhere in the area they occupied. Therefore,
the countries south of the Caucasus, although being almost at the edge
of the known world, do appear on many important medieval maps in one
form or another. Armenia appears in almost every map showing some
sort of detail, and in many cases both Greater and Lesser-Armenia
(Armenia Major and Minor) are depicted. Colchis and Iberia, the
constituent parts of Georgia, as well as [Caucasian] Albania, the
prede-cessor of the Republic of Azerbaijan, appear in many maps, but
they do so less frequently. Perhaps a more prominent position given to
Armenia is due to the fact that it was the oldest and easternmost
Christian nation, which proclaimed Christianity as the state religion
in 301 CE, and due to the Biblical account of the Flood and Mount
Ararat, where Noah’s Ark came to rest.
In Islamic cartography, the regions and countries south of the
Caucasus are presented somewhat differently. Maps of the Balchi-School
usually show Armenia, [Caucasian] Albania, and the Persian province of
Azerbaijan in their regional sheets. The only Syrian map by Bar
Hebraeus, produced during the early thirteenth century, includes many
toponyms related to Greater as well as Lesser Armenia, while from
their neighbouring countries the Persian province Azerbaijan is shown
in the south and lands of the Alans and Bulgars mentioned in the
north. It is noteworthy that in medieval times the area of today’s
Republic of Azerbaijan was called [Caucasian] Albania, a Christian
country which disappeared during the 9th or 10th century, and its land
was later divided into various provinces, such as Daghestan. Derbend
(Derbent), Shirwan, Shamachi, etc. The term `Azerbaijan’ which over
two millennia was solely the name of the north-western province of
Persia, was also given to [Caucasian] Albania around 1918, creating
the Republic of Azerbaijan.
Rouben Galichian, the author, was born in Tabriz, Iran, to a fancily
of immigrant Armenians. After attending school in Teheran he received
a scholarship to study in the UK, and graduated in engineering
sciences. His interest in cartography started early in life, but in
earnest during the 1970s. His first book Historic Maps of Armenia: the
Cartographic Heritage, 2004 became a success (reviewed in IMCoS
Journal, No. 97, p. 65). He received an Honorary Doctorate for his
cultural services to Armenia in November 2008 from the Armenian
authorities.
Anyone interested in the history of medieval maps generally, and maps
of Armenia in particular, will surely benefit from this excellent
work.
Cyrus Alain