The world as an apple on the hand: the orb and its relationship with medieval cartography

Abstract

This article focuses on the orb –an insignia of power that situates the world in the hands of the sovereign–, and the connection that it had in the Middle Ages with geography and cartography, both in form and symbolism. Due to the shortage of preserved examples, iconographic sources will be relied upon, as it is within portraits of emperors, kings and also Christ as the Savior where the orb appears as a defining element of the medieval image of power.

Keywords

• pomo
• regalia insignia
• edad media
• mapa
• claudio ptolomeo
• henricus martellus germanus
• cristo salvador.