light blue ocean (al-baḥr al-muḥīṭ); dark blue water

Preparation Steps

Original Recipe Text

The pigments are applied to represent geographical and cosmological features of the world map: a light blue ocean (al-baḥr al-muḥīṭ) immediately surrounding the oikoumene (inhabited world), which is in turn surrounded by a mass of dark blue water signifying the impassable ocean (p. 22). The map also features the representation of mountain ranges using perspective (p. 22).

Evidence

"The extant world map shows us the oikoumene in the unmistakable shape of an island, surrounded by a light blue ocean (al-baḥr al-muḥīṭ), which itself is surrounded by a mass of dark blue water that is meant to represent the impassable ocean."

Remarks

The data refers to the rediscovered world map from the encyclopedia Masālik al-abṣār by Ibn Faḍlallāh al-‘Umarī, which is an author's copy dated to approximately 740 H./1340 A.D. (p. 21). This manuscript is a copy of a lost geographical work originally commissioned by the Abbasid Caliph al-Ma’mūn in the 3rd/9th century (p. 22, 24). The author notes that the surviving specimen has suffered distortions caused by repeated copying over a period of 500 years (p. 22). The map is notable for its use of a globular graticule and mathematical representation of the Earth's surface (p. 22).