A new chapter from my second book, 'The Enchanting Encounter with the East", presents the ideas of classical and medieval literati on the existence and character of the fourth part of the world. That was a controversial notion that could bring trouble to its carriers because it bordered with heresy.
The medieval concept of the Antipodes was the brainchild of the classical philosophic discourse about the latitudinal zones. The interaction between the pair of inhabited zones was null and void because these counterpart worlds were separated by impregnable obstacles: the searing Torrid Zone and the unbounded equatorial ocean.
The issue of the extent of the inhabited world was mingled with the reach of the Christian mission since the word of God had to permeate the earth's furthest fringes.
The hypothesis of the Antipodes raised the practical issue of circumnavigation.
The above illustration is called Burgo de Osma Mappamundi
Courtesy: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mapamundi,_Beato_da_Catedral_de_El_Burgo_d_Osma.jpg
This is an eleventh-century copy of the Mappa Mundi created to illustrate Beatus of Liebana commentary on the Apocalypse. In the right section of the chart, which corresponds to the southern area, the fantastic Sciapod raises his single leg to find shade from the merciless sun.
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