ABSTRACT
The Latin term mappaemundi generally refers to maps of the world made in the medieval period. They reflect a Christian world, in which the supreme authority is God, and find their authoritative source of knowledge in the Bible, with some assistance from the classical authors. The Catalan Atlas is a set of 8 maps usually attributed to a Jewish cartographer named Abraham Cresques. The map combines features of the medieval navigational charts, and the illustrated world maps, with information from the Arab cartographic tradition and from the narrative of Marco Polo. Apart from the sequence of mountains with their biblical names, the cartographer is not interested in identifying or locating the biblical cities, except for the two ports on the Red Sea. The three important places inland are Damascus, Jerusalem, and St Catherine's monastery on Mt Sinai, sites of particular interest to western Christian rulers, travellers and pilgrims.
