ABSTRACT
Writing in the monastery of San Martin de Turieno, nestled amid the hills and streams of the Cantabrian Mountains, the eighth-century monk Beatus of Liebana penned his Commentary on the Apocalypse. The emphasis placed on waterways in the Beatus tradition, which were prominent features of the landscape, but not essential to everyday subsistence, further suggests the symbolic significance of the landscape. The emphasis on rivers in these early Beatus scenes is particularly noticeable when these representations are compared with other world maps produced during the medieval period. That the Mappaemundi were included the original Beatus text suggests that showing Christian space was a priority for Beatus when he wrote the text, and continued to be important when the tradition was revived and re-produced so frequently—beginning in the tenth century. Given that these tenth-century mappaemundi were designed in a way that particularly emphasizes rivers in the manner suggested, the symbolic nature of these waterways should be considered.
