ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the main apocalyptic works, both Christian and Muslim, produced as part of the profusion of eschatological texts following the birth and sudden expansion of Islam. Apocalyptic writing has had a major influence on the late antique and medieval mind-set. This influence contributed substantially to the shaping of the geographical conception of the world. It is thus worth analyzing both the use and role of geographical terms in apocalyptic texts and considering why these works were so authoritative for evolving cartographical practices. Proximity to the border was certainly a central motivation for the production of apocalyptic traditions and, as noted by Wilferd Madelung, the chains of transmitters show the central role of Himsi traditionists. Apocalyptic knowledge provides the key to understanding and transforms history into meta-history; but it also gives new sense to the places of the geographical world, thus creating a meta-geography.
