{"id":5303,"date":"2012-02-16T10:38:06","date_gmt":"2012-02-16T15:38:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2012\/02\/ancient_map_of_the_mesopotamian\/"},"modified":"2017-10-19T19:25:34","modified_gmt":"2017-10-19T23:25:34","slug":"ancient-map-of-the-mesopotamian-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2012\/02\/ancient-map-of-the-mesopotamian-world\/","title":{"rendered":"An Ancient Map of the Mesopotamian World"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"The<\/a> I’ve encountered plenty of claims for something to be the “world’s oldest map” (most of which depend on how broad or narrow your definition of “map” is). One I wasn’t aware of until recently is this Mesopotamian map on a cuneiform tablet<\/a>, which dates from between 700 and 500 BC, currently held by the British Museum. “The map is sometimes taken as a serious example of ancient geography, but although the places are shown in their approximately correct positions, the real purpose of the map is to explain the Babylonian view of the mythological world.” More at Visual Complexity<\/a>. Via Cartophile<\/a>.<\/p>\n

For other claims to the world’s oldest map, see the following Map Room entries: Engraved Rock Is 14,000-Year-Old Map: Researchers<\/a>; Candidates for the World’s Oldest Map<\/a>; The Other World’s Oldest Map<\/a>; The Western World’s Oldest Map<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Update, Feb. 20<\/i>: John Padula points<\/a> to this reconstruction<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’ve encountered plenty of claims for something to be the “world’s oldest map” (most of which depend on how broad or narrow your definition of “map” is). One I wasn’t aware of until recently is… More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"link","meta":{"autoblue_enabled":true,"autoblue_custom_message":"","autoblue_shares":[],"autoblue_post_url":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[966,965,964],"class_list":["post-5303","post","type-post","status-publish","format-link","hentry","category-antique-maps","tag-babylon","tag-cuneiform","tag-mesopotamia","post_format-post-format-link"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1833408,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2024\/08\/the-babylonian-map-of-the-world\/","url_meta":{"origin":5303,"position":0},"title":"The Babylonian Map of the World","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"3 August 2024","format":"link","excerpt":"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=LUxFzh8r384 The British Museum has posted this video about the Babylonian Map of the World, a nearly 3,000-year-old clay tablet inscribed with Akkadian script and a schematic map that is often called the oldest map in the world. The video, part of the Museum\u2019s Curator\u2019s Corner series, focuses on the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Antique Maps"","block_context":{"text":"Antique Maps","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/antique-maps\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/LUxFzh8r384\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1805447,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2021\/11\/piri-reis-map-back-on-display\/","url_meta":{"origin":5303,"position":1},"title":"Piri Reis Map Back on Display","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"19 November 2021","format":"link","excerpt":"The Piri Reis map is back on display at the Topkap\u0131 Palace in Istanbul. Like the Tabula Peutingeriana, it\u2019s only taken out for display at intervals to protect it from the elements. Discovered when the palace was being converted into a museum in the 1920s, the map is the western\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Antique Maps"","block_context":{"text":"Antique Maps","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/antique-maps\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/piri-reis-221x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1784856,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2018\/01\/a-beginners-guide-to-map-collecting\/","url_meta":{"origin":5303,"position":2},"title":"A Beginner’s Guide to Map Collecting","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"25 January 2018","format":"link","excerpt":"Two things about\u00a0CityGuide\u2019s beginner's guide to map collecting. One, it's not so much\u00a0for beginners as written\u00a0by a beginner; the author, Chris Sharp, is recounting his own journey into map collecting. Which brings me to the other thing: what kind of map collecting he's talking about, which is to say, the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Map Collecting"","block_context":{"text":"Map Collecting","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/map-collecting\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1786681,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2018\/11\/restoring-a-150-foot-map-of-australia-in-the-english-countryside\/","url_meta":{"origin":5303,"position":3},"title":"Restoring a 150-Foot Map of Australia in the English Countryside","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"15 November 2018","format":"link","excerpt":"During World War I, Australian troops staying at nearby Hurdcott Camp carved a gigantic map of Australia into a Wiltshire hillside. Chalk gravel was used to fill shallow trenches to create an outline map some 150 feet wide with 18-foot-tall letters. Since then, despite a restoration in the 1950s and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Conflicts"","block_context":{"text":"Conflicts","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/conflicts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/awm-australia-map.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/awm-australia-map.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/awm-australia-map.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1844945,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2025\/09\/usgs-announces-new-national-geologic-map\/","url_meta":{"origin":5303,"position":4},"title":"USGS Announces New National Geologic Map","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"5 September 2025","format":"link","excerpt":"USGS (screenshot) The USGS announced a new, more detailed national geologic map last week. The new USGS map, called\u00a0The Cooperative National Geologic Map, was created using more than 100 preexisting geologic maps from various sources and is the first nationwide map to provide users with access to multiple layers of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Geology"","block_context":{"text":"Geology","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/geology\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/cooperative-national-geologic-map.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/cooperative-national-geologic-map.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/cooperative-national-geologic-map.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/cooperative-national-geologic-map.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/cooperative-national-geologic-map.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/cooperative-national-geologic-map.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1787924,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2019\/10\/h-maps-a-new-discussion-list-about-map-history\/","url_meta":{"origin":5303,"position":5},"title":"H-Maps, a New Discussion List About Map History","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"24 October 2019","format":"link","excerpt":"Despite the imminent shutdown of Yahoo Groups, and the lamented demise of MapHist in 2012, discussion lists are still a thing, it seems: H-Net, that venerable purveyor of academic discussion lists since I was in academia, has, with the collaboration of the International Society for the History of the Map,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Antique Maps"","block_context":{"text":"Antique Maps","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/antique-maps\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5303","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5303"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5303\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5329,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5303\/revisions\/5329"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5303"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5303"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5303"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}