La sopravvivenza della tradizione classica nella geografia medievale

Abstract

According to Jean Seznec, the ancient gods survived through the Christian Middle Ages as historical figures transformed into gods, as symbols of cosmic forces, as allegories. This paper suggests the importance of the geographical tradition for this survival. Because of the continued influence of Graeco-Roman geographies and histories on medieval learning, world maps of the period included several references to classical lore. On medieval mappae mundi there are Roman settlements, the boundary lines of Roman provinces like Gallia, Germania, Achaea and Macedonia, or towns such as ancient Troy in Asia Minor, and Leptis Magna and Carthage in North Africa. A case in point is the myth of Hercules, recorded in classical sources, which had a Christian afterlife in medieval cartography.