The Journey of Maps and Images on the Silk Road (Brill's Inner Asian Library)

281 Pages·2008·28.08 MB·English

by  Phillipe Foret

The Journey of Maps and Images
on the Silk Road
Brill’s
Inner Asian Library
Editors
Nicola di Cosmo
Devin Deweese
Caroline Humphrey
VOLUME 21
The Journey of Maps and Images
on the Silk Road
Edited by
Philippe Forêt
Andreas Kaplony
LEIDEN (cid:129) BOSTON
2008
On the cover: Map of Lake IssÌq Kul from the Book of Curiosities, an eleventh-century Arabic
treatise on world geography. Many travelers through Central Asia toured Lake IssÌq Kul. For
a full discussion, see Yossef Rapoport’s chapter in this volume. Source: The Book of Curiosities,
Map of all lakes of the world: Lake IssÌq Kul, Bodl.Ms.Arab.c.90, f. 40b–41a. Courtesy of the
Bodleian Library.
This book is printed on acid-free paper.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
The journey of maps and images on the Silk Road / edited by Philippe Foret, Andreas
Kaplony.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-90-04-17165-7 (hardback : alk. paper) 1. Asia—Historical geography—Maps.
2. Trade routes—Asia—History—Maps. 3. Silk Road—Maps. I. Forêt, Philippe, 1957-
II. Kaplony, Andreas. III. Title.
G2201.S1J6 2008
911’.5—dc22
2008040532
ISSN 1566-7162
ISBN 978 90 04 17165 7
Copyright 2008 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands.
Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Hotei Publishing,
IDC Publishers, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers and VSP.
Published with the kind support of the Gerda Henkel Foundation, Düsseldorf, and the
Cogito Foundation, Wollerau.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in
a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical,
photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher.
Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use is granted by Koninklijke Brill NV
provided that the appropriate fees are paid directly to The Copyright Clearance Center,
222 Rosewood Drive, Suite 910, Danvers, MA 01923, USA.
Fees are subject to change.
printed in the netherlands
contents v
To Peter Frei, Professor Emeritus of Ancient History at the University of Zurich,
mentor always eager to learn yet another language, to study yet another source,
and to become acquainted with yet another field of research.
To Staffan Rosén, Member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Letters, History,
and Antiquities, Professor of Korean Studies at Stockholm University, in
admiration and constant gratitude.
vi contents
contents vii
CONTENTS
Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi
Contributors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiii
Transliterations and Conventions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xvii
Illustrations and Map . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xix
Color Section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxxiii
Foreword
Lorenz Hurni . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxv
Preface: What is a Map?
Valerie Hansen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxvii
Introduction
Philippe Forêt and Andreas Kaplony . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
PART I
THE BUDDHIST ROAD
Chapter One Traces of the Silk Road in Han-Dynasty
Iconography: Questions and Hypotheses
Nicolas Zufferey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Chapter Two Visualizing Pilgrimage and Mapping
Experience: Mount Wutai on the Silk Road
Natasha Heller . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Chapter Three The Mapping of Sacred Space: Images of
Buddhist Cosmographies in Medieval China
Dorothy C. Wong . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
PART II
THE MONGOL ROAD
Chapter Four Lost in Translation: Gridded Plans and Maps
along the Silk Road
Jonathan M. Bloom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
viii contents
Chapter Five Square Horoscope Diagrams in Middle
Eastern Astrology and Chinese Cosmological Diagrams:
Were These Designs Transmitted through the Silk Road?
Johannes Thomann . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
Chapter Six The Intrusion of East Asian Imagery in
Thirteenth-Century Armenia: Political and Cultural
Exchange along the Silk Road
Dickran Kouymjian . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
PART III
WITHIN THE ISLAMIC WORLD
Chapter Seven Comparing al-K§shgharÊ’s Map to his
Text: On the Visual Language, Purpose, and Transmission
of Arabic-Islamic Maps
Andreas Kaplony . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
Chapter Eight The Book of Curiosities: A Medieval Islamic
View of the East
Yossef Rapoport . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
PART IV
THE MEDITERRANEAN ROAD
Chapter Nine Celestial Maps and Illustrations in
Arabic-Islamic Astronomy
Paul Kunitzsch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
Chapter Ten Revisiting Catalan Portolan Charts: Do They
Contain Elements of Asian Provenance?
Sonja Brentjes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
Conclusion
Philippe Forêt and Andreas Kaplony . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203
contents ix
Appendix List of Geographical Nomenclature in
al-K§shgharÊ’s Text and Map
Andreas Kaplony . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
General Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231