#maps of the ancient world

[historyfiles]

The Iberian peninsula prior to the Carthaginian invasion and partial conquest was a melange of different tribal influences, with the Celtic influx being the most  recent and most pervasive as this map shows.

[thepastisalreadywritten]

Babylonian Map of the World (6th century BC), also known as Imago Mundi, is oldest clay tablet map written in Akkadian.

The tablet describes the oldest known depiction of the known world.

It was discovered at Sippar, southern Iraq, 60 miles north of Babylon on east bank of Euphrates River.

This map not only serves as a historical record of the region's geography but also includes mythological elements, providing a comprehensive view of the ancient Babylonian worldview.

Today, the Babylonian Map of the World is housed in the British Museum, where it continues to be a valuable artifact for understanding the ancient past.

Details of the map:

1. “Mountain” (Akkadian:šá-du-ú)

2. “City” (Akkadian: uru)

3. Urartu (Armenia) (Akkadian: ú-ra-áš-tu)

4. Assyria (Akkadian: kuraš+šurki)

5. Der (Akkadian: dēr)

6. Swamp (Akkadian: ap–pa–ru)

7. Elam (Akkadian: šuša)

8. Canal (Akkadian: bit-qu)

9. Bit Yakin (Akkadian:bῑt-ia-᾿-ki-nu)

10. “City” (Akkadian: uru)

11. Habban (Akkadian: ha-ab-ban)

12. Babylon (Akkadian: tin.tirki), divided by Euphrates

13. Ocean (salt water, Akkadian:idmar-ra-tum)

[blue-eyes-never-lie]

[theromaboo]

I've been looking at this map of the Roman Empire for a long time and I still have no idea what the fuck is going on with it. This is literally from Time Magazine. There is no way they can screw up so badly with a map.

So the red means "at death of Julius Caesar." Does that mean the land Rome had at the death of Caesar? No it can't mean that, because Roman land during 44 BC was certainly not made up entirely of Egypt, North Spain, and a bit of Central Europe. Rome didn't even have those yet.

Maybe it means land that was acquired after the death of Julius Caesar and before the death of Augustus? If they meant that, I think they should've said that, but it doesn't matter. If that's what they meant, it seems to make some sense.

So the orange means "at death of Augustus Caesar." They certainly didn't have all that in the East at the death of Augustus! So maybe it means land that was acquired after the death of Augustus and before the death of Trajan? Which (not including the Britain-sized elephant in the room) seems to make some sense.

But the brown means "at death of Trajan." What does that mean now? The Romans certainly did not acquire Italy after Trajan died! This ruins the entire pattern I was setting up!

I thought maybe the colors were just mismatched, but I have no idea how to match them back up. I thought maybe orange was supposed to mean "at death of Trajan," and red was supposed to mean "at death of Augustus," and that seems okayish enough (cough cough except britain).

But the brown can't mean "at death of Caesar," because they didn't have that much Britain in 44 BC! Or that much Germany.

(I'm just going to ignore how the Roman Empire is depicted as having both all that Britain and all that Germany at the exact same time... maybe the map is just depicting the land in Germany to be permanent to make it more simple. But if the color of lands acquired is supposed to change at Augustus' death, then Germany and Britain can't be the same color!)

Now that I look closer, what's that Galatia-shaped hole doing there in the East? Why isn't it colored in at all?

But, the brown. What's going on with the brown? Is there supposed to be an extra color? I think the brown was likely supposed to be "at death of Julius Caesar," but then someone fumbled by adding all that extra land especially in North-West Europe.

Maybe I figured it out? What the map is trying (poorly) to say? Brown is (attempting to be) death of Caesar. Red is (mostly) death of Augustus. And orange is (mostly) death of Trajan? Which is absolutely not what the key says but oh well.

But, if I'm right, how did all that slip through the cracks? How did someone make a map so poorly? How did everyone who looked it over give the green light? I must be misunderstanding what the map is trying to say. It's probably obviously correct to everyone else.

But, there's no way I'm the problem. What Roman Empire growth map shows Italy and Britain as the same color, but Egypt as a different color? I just don't understand what happened. Who made that map?

[vaguely-concerned]

one of the things mourn watch rook has the most comments about/seems pretty knowledgeable about when they're there is the way the necropolis will just shuffle rooms around every now and then on a whim, so I'm headcanoning that rye's previous area of expertise, outside of general watcher duties, was keeping track of and rediscovering these lost or displaced areas. that, and basically acting as a sort of tour guide when need be, such as on the day they met varric.

'have we really misplaced the ashen cathedral again? *sigh* that's the third time this year, we really must strengthen the wards. oh well. someone send for ingellvar, they'll track it down in no time I'm sure. and it might keep them out of trouble for a while'

[ballpitbee]

I absolutely love your streetlamp city stuff and how you can just look at all your toontown characters and make a whole new world for them. It's like that one post with how au art of mlp characters eventually evolved into their own characters with separate lore and names. It's so cool

THANK YOU!! I realised that aphter a while I was having more phun doing my own thing with my own rules and world building - so I yoinked those phellas away and put them in my new place!

(Course, I still LOOOOVE toontown- but nothing theres nothing I love better than going wild with ideas and whatnot X3)

[spotsupstuff]

If five pebbles was ever built for zephyr the same way he was built for moon, would he ever see her as a mentor?

i imagine that he'd!!! be more open with her than he is with Moon, because their personalities match better. Zephyr isn't really the doting, overprotective kind. She didn't have the chance to learn how to be affectionate and warm even though she wishes she could be and she needs to watch her own systems like a hawk 24/7 so she ain't got the attention to spare to nag at him even if she wanted to. they'd end up bonding over their anger at the injustice of the Iterators' fate, though

Pebs would probably take someone else as Mentor™ (she wouldn't be capable of fullfilling the expectations of that role), but he'd probably still look up to her a lot. she'd be like. a not-the-title mentor in the specific field of being angry at their situation and doing Something about it

[ancientstuff]

Well, I mean the title for this article is hugely misleading, but the article itself is really interesting.

[morebagels]

fucking around with gradient maps because i've only just learnt about them but am already in love. so cool....

(don't mind me spending an ungodly amount of time on their mask design either...)

un gradiented version here too

[1five1two]

[lord-of-tomatoes]

Sorry if this feels like pro Egypt propaganda she's just stuck in the past

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[elbiotipo]

One thing that seems increasingly important to me is that cultures interacted a lot with each other in the past, probably way more than we give them credit for. Yes, in general, for a peasant life was in their village with occassional trips to town. But then there are also Roman merchants who travelled to India, medieval European communities in Persia and China (and their own Christian churches), Jewish cultures in India and Ethiopia, and the ethnobotanical and cultural evidence in favor of Mesoamerican-South American contact piles up so high it's hard to dismiss it. People weren't isolated, they knew what was going on in the rest of the world, even as rumors.

[historyfiles]

New Banner Feature European Mesolithic: defining the start of the European Mesolithic is a moveable feast, but this vast period covered a general advance from 'cave man' to early farmer.

[liiacfleur]

ahhh i'm so happy to finally get to write max's pov

[rrcraft-and-lore]

Uh...super totally cool and not nerdy stuff....

Um nothing about the new discovery of Harrapan civilization shipyards at Lothal - the heart of the old south Asian civ.

And how that explains south Asian artifacts and more in cradle Mesopotamia and Egyptian sites and what that means for earlier old world trade, this stories, and back and forth religious perhaps influences too?!

Because it is officially now recognized as THE WORLD'S OLDEST PORT!!!!!

And they found foreign artifacts IN the shipyards too! So back and forth trade as well as obvy like mentioned the fact Indian artifacts showed up in the Persian Gulf coast.

But what's crazy is the fact there's networks of rivers and paths showing people traveled and traded TO Lothal (on their way) and then some from Lothal bought and traded onwards and some continued their journeys from there to Mesopotamia (today Iraq). That is huge!

Um...oh, and uh cars, and how to make a PVC tube snow ball when winter comes so I'm prepared to be the most dominant force on my block. Get rekt!

...also the history of sapphic pirates.

Oh, map representation of the water was from Nal Sarova and all the way up from Ahmedabad for how people could get to Lothal -- for some the boat trip was only two days on a boat with a little humped thatched roof over it.

Two days of river going comfortably and you could be at a trade epicenter (water NYC) then from there outward into the wider world to trade with other cradle civilizations. Idk if you get how fucking huge that is for a trader. Think about the stories traded back and forth, superstitions, myths, folktales, lives, and of course they money, goods, information. Learned people would travel ABSOLUTELY for the sake of knowledge and the new.

South Asia was home to the world's oldest residential university. Most of the cradle civilizations were more advanced than many give them credit for because they had built up the wealth/resources at the time to invest back into the collection and pursuit of knowledge so higher level learning through schools of various sorts and private tutelage and having just people dedicated to its pursuits (and libraries of course) all existed and could be funded/possible.

The old world was FAR more interconnected than people realize.

But this is freaking super duper cool.

The Silk Road maritime routes were absolutely documented. But that is a far way away from this period in time.

[quibbs126]

Question, does anyone know what these symbols mean? Like, has any discernible language been figured out with it?

These were all the instances I could find on the World Map of the language