K a r e n C. P i n t o "Surat Bahr al-Rum" (Picture of the Sea of Byzantium): Possible Meanings Underlying the Forms Abstract In this paper I will display, examine, and deconstruct the "classical" medieval Islamic conception of the Mediterranean as seen through colorful, miniature maps found in medieval Arabic and Persian geographical manuscripts from the 11th to 17 t h centuries. In his classic book "Mohammad and Charlemagne" (1939), the Belgian scholar Henri Pirenne set forth what has since come to be known as the Pirenne thesis, expressing the dominant European view that the sudden advent of Islam on the "other" side of the Mediterranean disrupted the unity of the "Roman Lake" forever. "With Islam a new world was established on those Mediterranean shores, which had formerly known the syncretism of the Roman civilization. A complete break was made, which was to continue even to our own day. Henceforth two different and hostile civilizations existed on the shores of Mare Nostrum. The sea, which had hitherto been the center of Christianity became its frontier". A similarly antagonistic picture is presented by some scholars of the medieval Islamic approach to the Mediterranean. (See, for instance, André Miquel's discussion of the subject in "La géographie humaine du monde musulman"). Do the detailed maps of the Mediterranean and its surrounding littorals prepared by medieval Muslim geographers reinforce this traditional, polarized, oppositional view? If not, what kind of a vision of the sea do the maps present? What can the pictorial depictions of the sea be taken to signify? Did they mutate over time? The surprising, counter-intuitive responses to some of these questions form the core of this paper. If one had to rely upon a single word to sum up the historiography of the Mediterranean post-the Islamic conquests, it would have to be "contentious." Henri Pirenne set the tone of the debate with this assertion: "Henceforth two different and hostile civilizations existed on the shores of Mare Nostrum... That after the conquest of Spain, and above all Africa, the Western Mediterranean became a Muslim lake." 2 Conversely, Institute for Neohellenic Research N.H.R.F. Eastern Mediterranean Cartographies Tetradia Ergasias 25/26 (2004) p. 223-241  KAREN P I N T O Fernand Braudel proposed that "The Mediterranean (and the accompanying Greater Mediterranean) is as man has made it. The wheel of human fortune has determined the destiny of the sea, expanding or contracting its area." 3 Scholarship from the Islamic perspective has also been divided. There is the view that parallels the Pirennian one, namely that the Mediterranean was the last buttress between the Muslims and the Dar al-Harb (Abode of War). 4 In contrast there is also the view that the Muslims did not really care much about Europe; or that, if they did care, it was only from the point of view of trade. 5 The Muslim geographers also paint a conflicted picture - one that vacillates between the sensational and banal. Tales of the wrath of God abound. The geographers write of a rough, out-of- control sea that takes pleasure in drowning Muslim sailors and makes a loud roar at night, particularly Thursday nights, i.e. on the eve of the Muslim day of prayer. 6 They describe in great detail the terrible creatures that torment the sea, such as the monster "Tinnin", whose tail rises in the Black Sea and head in the Atlantic, near the mouth of the Mediterranean. 7 The geographer al-Muqaddasi (ca. d. late tenth century C. E.) suggests that the Mediterranean was anything but a "Muslim lake." As he puts it: "The Romaeans [i.e. the Byzantines] are the masters here and very much dreaded; and they and the inhabitants of Sicily and al-Andalus are the most familiar with this sea, and its confines and its gulfs, because they constantly journey over it, raiding the lands on the opposite side." 8 Mostly the geographers portray a banal, dispassionate view: that of a traveler going from one end of the Mediterranean to the other; passing in itinerant fashion one place after another around the littoral of the sea. This view is often coupled with technical details debating the length and width of the sea, its tides, where it narrows and where it spreads out, etc. 9 But what about the view through maps? Specifically medieval Islamic ones? This is the question that I propose to address from the point of view of a large corpus of maps that accompany, in atlas-like fashion, a specific series of geographical texts that are 224  SURAT BAHR AL-RUM generally k n o w n by the universal title of their most prolific copy: The Kitab al-Masalik wa al-Mamalik (.The Book of Roads and Kingdoms).10 These illustrated m a p manuscripts first m a k e their appearance sometime in the mid-10 t h century and spawn a popular copying tradition that begins in the Abbasid heartlands of Iraq and continues through the 16 th century in the Ottoman Empire and the 19 th century in Mughal India and Qajar Iran. 1 1 It is to be noted that not all the geographical writings in this genre are illustrated. Of those that are there is a particular iconic form that dominates every image in the pack. I will focus upon aspects of these iconic forms and their subtle variations. In particular, I will b e addressing the maps of the Mediterranean as depicted in w h a t I refer to as the "full" or "regional" view - the view that focuses on the sea itself. 12 Note that the Muslim maps are usually oriented w i t h south on top. This is a significant change for viewers accustomed to seeing maps w i t h n o r t h on top. The Mediterranean maps are, however, oriented w i t h west at the top of the page - as if the Muslims w e r e looking out at the Mediterranean from their vantage point in the East. EXAMPLES OF THE MEDITERRANEAN IN THE MEDIEVAL ISLAMIC CARTOGRAPHIC IMAGINATION Starting with a regional map of the Mediterranean from the earliest extant Islamic carto-geographical manuscript dated to 1086 C. E., we note that it is a surprisingly mimetic map of the Mediterranean, on which the Iberian and Italian peninsulas, the Péloponnèse, and Anatolia can be made out (see Fig. 1). This manuscript's emphasis on the Mediterranean is startling and unprecedented. Prior to this single page map of the Mediterranean there is an even larger three folio map of the Mediterranean, the likes of which are not to be found again in subsequent copies. In this triple-page mimetic spread of the Mediterranean the key islands of Cyprus, Rhodes, Crete, Sicily, Sardinia, Minorca, Mallorca, etc, are scattered throughout the sea. 13 225  KAREN PINTO fig. 1: Map of the Mediterranean (Topkapi Sarayi Müzesi Kütüphanesi, Istanbul: MS. Ahmet 3346, fol. 58b, 479 A.H./1086 C. E.). This incredible mimesis is, however, short-lived. The maps are rapidly transformed in subsequent copies into a stylized geometric form that portray both sides of the Mediterranean as being almost perfect mirror images of each other. The next example comes 226  SURAT BAHR AL-RUM fig. 2: Typical Medieval Islamic Mediterranean Map (Bibliotheek der Rijkuniversiteit, Leiden, MS. Or. 3101, fol. 33a, 589 A. H./1193 C. Ej. from a manuscript dated to the late 12 th century C.E., and was likely produced in late Ayyubid Egypt (see Fig. 2). 1 5 The perfectly 227  KAREN P I N T O fig. 3: Translation of Mediterranean Map in Fig. 2U. balanced, stylized form of the Mediterranean, that is the hallmark of most medieval Islamic map manuscripts, jumps out at us. We notice, for instance, that the small, scattered islands of the mimetic image have disappeared. Instead the three islands of Cyprus, Crete, and Sicily are enlarged and now form the prominent central backbone of the image, as if they are the crucial stepping stones in the Mediterranean or the ultimate barrier between the Christian and Muslim sides (see Fig. 3 for a translation of the place names). Heading up these islands is a strange, triangular, mythical island, enigmatically labeled the Jabal al-Qilal (.Mountain of QilaD- This island acts as a cap to the Mediterranean. With inverted crescent markings it is a formidable-looking barrier 228  SURAT BAHR AL-RUM that appears to be forbidding travel beyond the m o u t h of the Mediterranean. It is tempting to read into this mythical island a Muslim symbol for the Pillars of Hercules of y o r e - t h e Pillars beyond w h i c h it was said only death and danger lay. 16 They are presented in the Islamic geographical literature as an island containing pillars inscribed w i t h warnings to sailors not to venture past into the forbidding darkness of the Encircling Ocean, w h e r e monstrous fish and the devil and his helpers lurk. O n e of the medieval Islamic geographers, al-Mas'udi, without specifically n a m i n g the island, says: "At the point of junction of the two seas, the Mediterranean and the Ocean [a reference to the Encircling Ocean], is a lighthouse of copper and stone built by the great king Hercules (Hirqil). It is covered with inscriptions and [surmounted] by statues that (appear) to say by gesture: 'There is neither road nor route behind me' for those who would want to enter from the Mediterranean into the Ocean... It is said that this light house had not originated at this spot, but on an island of the Encircling Ocean, situated near the coast."17 As our eye moves around the image, we cannot help but notice the two large islands in the Nile Delta, representing the present day land-locked city of Damietta and its mysterious sister island Tinnis. The latter has since disappeared and is still the source of much mystery on these Mediterranean maps. 1 8 What is key is that these two islands are so large as to imbalance the perfectly symmetrical image of the Mediterranean to the Muslim side. They serve to highlight the main point of asymmetry in the image: the semi-circular Nile delta on one side as opposed to the rectangular mouth of the Bosphorus on the other. By the time w e arrive at a Mediterranean map from a late 13 t h century manuscript, also copied and illustrated in Egypt, the p r o m i n e n c e of the Nile delta and the t w o islands have b e e n greatly reduced. Instead it is the Bosphorus that dominates. The three islands still line up vertically as the b a c k b o n e of the image, but the fearsome island of Jabal al-Qilal has drifted off- center. It is a drift that will continue in later maps (see Fig. 4). As in the previous image, the three rivers o n the Anatolian and Syrian fronts, identifiable by their Arabic names as the 229  KAREN PINTO fig. 4: Mediterranean Map (Topkapi Sarayi Müzesi Kütüphanesi, Istanbul, MS. Ahmet 3348, fol. 37a, 684 Α. H./1285 C. E.). Jaihan, Saihan, and Baradan, carve up the image at its mid­ point, along the axis of the islands-reinforcing the idea of a major fault line running through the center of the image. th In Iran the trend is reversed. By the mid-15 century the carto-geographical manuscripts produced in Timurid ateliers 230  SURAT BAHR AL-RUM fig. 5: Mediterranean Map (Topkapi Sarayi Müzesi Kütüphanesi, Istanbul, MS. Bagdat 334, fol. 4a, 870 A. H./1460 C. Ej. 231  KAREN P I N T O have perfected the symmetric form of the Mediterranean (see Fig. 5). The islands continue to straddle the midrif of the sea, but they no longer dominate the image in the way that they did earlier. Instead it is the three rivers dividing Syria from Anatolia that have grown in prominence in the lower half of the image. Perhaps the illustrators were suggesting that the sea no longer dominates the Islamic imagination but the Syrio- Palestinian littoral. In this version the mythical island of the Jabal al-Qilal is adorned with an elaborate peacock. This Iranian trend to produce stylized, ornamental maps continues well into the 17th century. There are few breaks with the standard iconic form that is used to represent the Mediterranean. One of these is the image found in a mid-fifteenth century Ottoman copy (see Fig. 6). 19 The Mediterranean is elongated and the islands break away from their strict vertical line up. The Jabal al-Qilal is demoted in importance to a tiny, brown, triangular lump that no longer commands the mouth of the Mediterranean. One is struck by the lack of ornamentation in this rendition. THEORIZING ABOUT FORM The surprise in this series of maps is that the Muslims were obviously more concerned with the precise shape and layout of the Mediterranean in the earlier centuries than in the later: i.e. the Muslim maps go -counter-intuitively- from being more mimetic to less. With the passage of time a stylized geometry takes over and with it a vision that seems (at least on the surface) to suggest that the Muslims conceived of the two sides of the Mediterranean as harmonious pieces of a whole-almost like the "Mare Nostrum" of European conception. It is a motif that predominates even at the level of the world maps. In these the Mediterranean is represented as a bulging, fish-like shape floating blissfully amidst the other forms of the world. 20 However, as one delves beneath the veneer of this geometric harmony one can see that the image embodies a great deal of 1M  SURAT BAHR AL-RUM fig. 6: Variant Representation of the Mediterranean (Sülemaniye Kütüphanesi, Istanbul, MS. Aya Sofya 2971a, fol. 24a, ca. 878 Α. H./1473 C. E.). tension. It is a tension that manifests in the stiff lining up of the islands, reinforced by the way in which the three rivers on the Syrian flank unmistakably divide the image into halves. It can be further inferred from the way in which the forbidding mythical mountain of the Jabal al-Qilal caps the Muslim vision of the Mediterranean. All these features reinforce the interpretation that this Muslim vision of the Mediterranean is not a simple representation of placid harmony, but rather one of frightening and ever-shifting conflict. This reading of the z:·,:·,  KAREN P I N T O >^ >^ fig. 7: Basic Outline of the Mediterranean. image of the Mediterranean fits with the negative passages of the sea that are sometimes boldly asserted, and at other times vaguely hinted at in some of the geographical texts. 21 Whatever the mutations from one image to the other may imply, there is one basic form that remains prevalent: the bulbous base with a narrow neck that has been ascribed by one scholar to the shape of a vase (see Fig. 7). 22 How did the Muslim cartographic illustrators come to adopt this particular iconic form as their basic stamp for the Mediterranean? Empirically one could argue that the Muslim representation of the Mediterranean was based solely upon their experience of the shape of the littoral along the Muslim end of the sea: namely the Levant and the North African coast, which is striking for its smooth coastlines and bulging base. Perhaps they took the side that they were most familiar with and created a mirror image for the other, not-so-familiar flank. But this answer is too simple. It ignores the fact that the Muslims were exploring and conquering the northern end of the Mediterranean -in particular, al-Andalus and Fraxineteum- by the eighth century. The earliest, most mimetic map, which clearly indicates the Péloponnèse and the Italian peninsula, suggests that the stylized image of the Mediterranean was one of 234  SURAT BAHR AL-RUM fig. 8: Schematic Representation of the Foot of the Prophet (Arkeoloji Miizesi Kitaphgi, Istanbul, MS. 975, fol. 7b, ca. 1700 C. E.). deliberate design. The question is, a deliberate design indicating what? Serendipity provided two possible image-related answers. Distracted and leafing through what seemed at first to be a completely unrelated manuscript in the library of the 235  KAREN P I N T O Archaeology Museum in Istanbul (one reason w h y o n e should always p e r m i t the m i n d and eye to w a n d e r in manuscript libraries!), I came upon an image that b o r e an uncanny resemblance to the form of the Mediterranean (see Fig. 8). The i m a g e is t a k e n from an 18 t h c e n t u r y O t t o m a n eschatological manuscript called Nur ul-Vahhac (The Blazing Light), w h i c h describes the life of the Prophet Muhammad and the seven stages of heaven and hell. The caption to the image tells us that it is n o n e other t h a n a representation of the footprint of the prophet! (Note that I have deliberately inverted this image so as to d r a w out the visual parallel). This stylized form symbolizing the foot of the Prophet so closely resembles the iconic shape given to the Mediterranean that one cannot help but w o n d e r if the simple bulging shape, m a s q u e r a d i n g on the surface as a h a r m o n i o u s " m i r r o r " representation of either side of the Mediterranean, is in fact related to the eschatological r e n d i t i o n of the Prophet's foot. Could it have been intended as n o n e other than a m e t a p h o r i c representation of the curse of the Prophet himself? Can w e read into the typical Islamic representation of the Mediterranean Allah's displeasure w i t h it, such that his p r o p h e t left his footprint on its face? A hadith (a saying of the Prophet) recorded by the previously m e n t i o n e d 10 t h century geographer cum cartographer, al- Muqaddasi, provides additional corroboration for this bizarre find. In a dramatic flourish, comparing the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean, al-Muqaddasi, says: "I was informed of the following tradition by the jurist Abu al- Tayyib 'Abd Allah bin Muhammad al-Jalal, at al-Rayy, who had it from Ahmad bin Muhammad bin Yazid al-Astrabadhi, who had it from 'Abbas bin Muhammad, who had it from Abu Salama, who had it from Sa'id bin Zayd, who had it from Ibn Yasar reporting it from 'Abd Allah bin 'Amr. The tradition relates that when God created the Sea of al-Sham, he uttered this inspiration to it: "I have created thee and designed thee as a carrier for some of my servants, who seek my bounty, praising me, worshipping me, magnifying me, and glorifying me; so how wilt thou act towards them?" Said the sea: "My Lord, then shall I drown them." Said the Lord: "Begone, for I 236  SURAT BAHR AL-RUM fig. 9: Schematic Representation of a Church (Bodleian Library, Oxford, MS. Laud Or. 317, fol. 27v). curse thee, and will diminish thy worth and thy fish." Then the Lord inspired into the sea of al-'Iraq [the Persian Gulf/Indian Ocean] the selfsame words, and it said: "My Lord, in that case I shall carry them on my back; when they praise Thee I praise Thee with them, and when they worship Thee I worship Thee with them, when they magnify Thee I magnify Thee with them." Said the Lord: "Go, for I have blessed thee, and will increase thy bounty and thy fish."23 This comparison is b o r n e out at the m a c r o level in the Muslim w o r l d maps. Reinforcing the message from the hadith, the Persian Gulf/Indian Ocean significantly outweighs the Mediterranean in the typical medieval Islamic w o r l d m a p . However, this is not the only possible explanation for the curious Muslim icon of the Mediterranean. In a unique copy of iy:  KAREN P I N T O a late 16 th century ms. entitled Kitab al-Bad' wa al-Tarikh (Book of the Beginning History), housed at the Bodleian, w h i c h also contains a n u m b e r of cartographic images, I stumbled upon a stylized image of a church. Again there is a striking parallel. The form ascribed to the interior of the church bears a remarkable resemblance to the form of the Mediterranean (See Fig. 9. Invert the image to see the parallel in form). Perhaps w h a t w e are dealing w i t h is an iconic representation of the Mediterranean as the interior of an inverted, stylized church. If this reading is correct, then it would fly in the face of Pirenne's argument and support instead the idea that the Muslims did not see the Mediterranean as a Muslim sea, but a Christian one. The Muslim n a m i n g of the Mediterranean as the "Bahr al-Rum" -i.e. "The Sea of Byzantium"- reinforces this idea. Perhaps these are just t w o sides of the same picture. The Christian sea cursed by the Muslim p r o p h e t - a sentiment confirmed by the symbolic affinity of form. To go out on a limb and take this symbolic analogy further: are w e to read into this a sense that the form of the Christian church can be equated to the form of the footprint of the prophet, and all else implied therein? There is of course always the possibility that my analysis places the cart before the horse: the form of the Mediterranean clearly predates the image of the footprint of the prophet and the one of the interior of a church. Perhaps this was the way that the form of the Mediterranean was interpreted from the 16 th century onwards: as embodying a curse in symbolic form that is then linked up to the most logical source-the Prophet Muhammad. I leave readers to p o n d e r these possibilities assured that I have not clarified the overall picture, but added another layer of confusion to t h e h i s t o r i o g r a p h i c a l d e b a t e about t h e Mediterranean via the dimension of medieval Islamic maps and the stories that they can b e coaxed into telling. Karen C. Pinto American University of Beirut and University of Alberta 238  SURAT BAHR AL-RUM NOTES This paper has benefited from presentation in varying formats at the American Research Institute of Turkey, the XVIII th International Conference on the History of Cartography (ICHC), and the Edmonton Mediterranean Society. Thanks go out to Olivia Remie Constable, whose class on the Mediterranean inspired my work on medieval Islamic maps, and to my advisor Richard W. Bulliet for his assistance and support. A generous grant from the Friends of J. B. Harley and support from the Conference Organizers made it possible for me to attend the XVIII th ICHC in Athens, while a J. B. Harley Fellowship provided me with the opportunity to examine the Islamic map collection at the British Library. A postdoctoral fellowship from the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada facilitated the conversion of the talk into this paper. I am also indebted to Andrew Gow, Robert Smith, and the Department of History and Classics at the University of Alberta for their support of my work. In Istanbul, the custodians of Topkapi Sarayi Müzesi Kütüphanesi and Sülemaniye Kütüphanesi, Filiz Cagman and Nevzat Kaya respectively, kindly granted me unlimited access to their Islamic map collections. They generously permitted me to photograph the maps. Dr. J. J. Witkam of the Bibliotheek der Rijkuniversiteit in Leiden and Doris Nicholson of the Bodleian in Oxford went out of their way to facilitate my research trips to the Islamic collections in their respective libraries. Both of them provided me with room and board and arranged for low cost slide reproductions. Finally, I would like to thank Devon Richards for his editorial comments and support. I dedicate this article to our newborn daughter, Safiye Felice Pinto Richards. 1. HENRI PIRENNE, Mohammed and Charlemagne (s. 1.: Barnes & Noble, 5 Inc., 1968), 156-62. 2. FERNAND BRAUDEL, The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Age of Philip II, English trans, by Siân Reynolds (New York: Harper Row Publishers, 1972), 168-70. Braudel goes on to say: "Rome succeeded in converting the Mediterranean world in the strict sense into what was almost a closed system, setting up as it were locks on all the routes into and out of it, and thereby abandoning (perhaps mistakenly) the possibility of controlling the outer limits... But this policy of lock-building, which was only relatively effective in any case, has been the exception rather than the rule in Mediterranean history. The rule has been that Mediterranean civilization spreads far beyond its shores in great waves that are balanced by continual returns. What leaves the sea comes back and departs once more." 3. A. ABEL, "Dar al-Harb," The Encyclopaedia of Islam, 2nd Edition, [abbr. EI2], ed. by C. E. Bosworth et. al. (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1960-2002), 2: 126. 239  KAREN PINTO 4. In conversation with Richard Bulliet, Professor of Middle Eastern History at Columbia University, who believes that the Sahara was the 'sea' of the Muslims not the Mediterranean. On trade see, OLIVIA R. CONSTABLE, Trade and Traders in Muslim Spain: The Commercial Realignment of the Iberian Peninsula, 900-1500 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994). 5. AL-MUQADDASI, The Best Divisions for Knowledge of the Regions: a translation of Ahsan al-Taqasim fi Ma'rifat al-Aqalim, English trans, by Basil Anthony Collins (Reading, U.K.: Centre for Muslim Contribution to Civilization - Garnet Publishing Limited, 1994), 16. 6. The Tinnin was said to have been "horrible and black with its tail rising out of the waters of the Mediterranean and its head stretching as far as the land of Gog and Magog." André Miquel believes that this fantastic legend refers to the phenomenon of a tornado. See ANDRÉ MIQUEL, La géographie humaine du monde musulman jusqu'au milieu du lie siècle: géographie et géographie humaine dans la littérature arabe des origines à 1050 (Paris: Mouton, 1967). 7. AL-MUQADDASI, op. cit., 16. When speaking about the Mediterranean, al- Mas'udi says that: "Supremacy here pertains to them [the Christians], and they are very much dreaded." See ANDRÉ MIQUEL, op. cit., 3: 240. 8. See, for example, IBN HAWQAL, Kitab Surat Al-Ard (Configuration de la terre), French trans. J. H. Kramers & G. Wiet (Beirut: Commision Internationale pour la Traduction des Chefs-d'Oeuvre, 1964), 1: 187-8; and al- Mas'udi on "The Mediterranean and the Atlantic," in Extraits des principaux géographes arabes du Moyen Age, éd. par RÉGIS BLANCÈRE et HENRI DARMAUN, in Etudes Arabes et Islamiques (Paris: C. Klincksieck, 1957), 228-9- 9. They are sometimes named Surat al-Ard (Picture of the Earth) or Suwar al-Aqalim (Pictures of the Climes/Climates). 10. For further information see the "Introduction" to my doctoral dissertation: KAREN C. PINTO, Ways of Seeing. 3- Scenarios of the World in Medieval Islamic Cartographic Imagination, Unpublished Doctoral Dissertation, Columbia University, 2002. Also see, GERALD R. TIBBETTS, "The Balkhi School of Geographers," in The History of Cartography: Cartography in the Traditional Islamic and South Asian Societies (abbr. HoC 2.Ï), ed. by J. B. Harley and David Woodward (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1992), 2.1: 108-36; and MAQBUL AHMAD, "Djughrafiya," in EI2, 3: 575-87. 11. For an analysis of the Mediterranean at the "macro" level in the world maps as well as the image of the sea at the "micro" level, particularly in the maps depicting North Africa and al-Andalus (Muslim Spain) see KAREN C. PINTO, "Surat Bahr al-Rum: The Mediterranean in the Medieval Muslim Cartographical Imagination," Unpublished Masters Essay, Columbia University, 1992 (forthcoming Medieval Encounters), and ID., "Passion and Conflict in Medieval Islamic Views of the West" (forthcoming). 240  SURAT BAHR AL-RUM 12. For further details on this manuscript see my comments in "The Geography of Lands," Letters to the Editor, Mercator's World 6.5 (2001): 7-9· 13· English translation my own. Line drawing adapted from KONRAD MILLER, Mappae Arabicae: arabische Welt- und Länderkarten des 9--13- Jahrhunderts in arabischer Urschrift, lateinischer Transkription und Übertragung in neuzeitliche Kartenskizzen. Mit einleitenden Texten hrsg. von K. M., 6 Bde (Stuttgart: Selbstverlag des Herausgebers, 1926-31), Vol. 1, Islam- Atlas NR. VI, Die Karten des Mittelmeers, Fig. 3· 14. The Ayyubids are well known in the annals of western history because of the fame of one of their sultans, Salah al-Din, the famous Muslim adversary of the Crusaders. 15. For more detail on the Encircling Ocean and its association with death and the devil see, KAREN C. PINTO, '"Its a Bird. Its a Plane. No, It's a Hat!': Iconography, Meta-Cartography, & The Hierophany of Encirclement," in Ways of Seeing, 3: 240-5. 16. AL-MAS'UDI, Muruj al-Dahab (Les prairies d'or), revised French trans, by Charles Pellat (Beirut: Manshurat al-Jami'ah al-Lubnaniyah, 1965-79), 2: 105. 17. The former island of Tinnis is another medieval Islamic cartographic locale that is a matter of considerable mystery. It seems that Tinnis was at one point a flourishing center for silk production and trade. No one seems to know how and why it disappeared. 18. For details on this manuscript and the cluster that it belongs to please see KAREN C. PINTO, "Fatih Revisited: A View Through the Ottoman Cluster," in Ways of Seeing. 3- 19. For an example see, KAREN C. PINTO, Ways of Seeing. 3, 1; and J. B. Harley and David Woodward, HoC 2.1, 121 & Plate 7. 20. See hadith quoted in detail later. 21. KONRAD MILLER, Mappae Arabicae, 1: 27-8. 22. AL-MUQADDASI, op. cit., 17. 241