Unveiling a Ghost. About an Islamic Mappa Mundi, the Tower of Hercules, and Representations of Lighthouses in Medieval Cartography

Abstract

The cosmographic and geographical Arab treatise titled The Book of Curiosities of the Sciences and Marvels for the Eyes (first half of the 10th century), is preserved, since its acquisition in the year 2002, at the Oxford Bodleian Library. Inside his pages it contains a rectangular world map, which shows as the only represented building the legendary Caspian Gates, attributed to Alexander the Great. In the other confines of the inhabited lands, opposite to the north-western angle of the Iberian Peninsula, an enigmatic shape of a dilapidated tower raised the possibility that it was the figure of the ancient Roman lighthouse known as Tower of Hercules (La Coruña, Spain). Although this hypothesis finally had to be abandoned, to avoid future confusions an explanation is necessary of the eventful circumstances that surround the appearance of this figure; as well as supplied new thoughts, concerning the representations of the Tower of Hercules and other lighthouses in medieval mappae mundi.

Keywords

• cartografía
• mapamundi
• torre de hércules
• faros
• antigüedad