ABSTRACT
This is the first of two introductory overview chapters in this book. This chapter first introduces the concept of the medieval ‘encyclopedia’ and discusses the genre category to which the Imago mundi belongs. It then addresses the text’s origin, composition, and the question of the identity of its author, Honorius Augustodunensis. The chapter concludes with a survey of the contents of the Imago mundi, focusing in particular on its geographical and astronomical Book I. This part of the encyclopedia is constructed according to the doctrine of the four elements: earth, water, air and fire. The section dedicated to the element of ‘earth’ is also quadripartite, covering Asia, Europe, Africa, and Islands (of the Mediterranean) in that order.
