The Trefoil of the World
My next chapter, titled "The Trefoil of the World", elaborates on the conventional geographical construct of the three continents forming the habitable world. This image, linked to the scholastic ideas of ancient Greeks and to the Christian philosophy, had further developments throughout the Middle Ages, culminating in detailed "world maps". Image: Noah’s sons observing their estates from Jean Mansel's illustration to "La Fleur des Histoires" https://www.pinterest.com/dekockmarijke/noah/?lp=true "Mappamundi, that is to say, image of the world and of the regions which are on the earth and of the various kinds of peoples which inhabit it."-The Catalan Atlas (2) The cosmographers who contemplated the mysteries of the Earth would employ two distinct approaches. On the one hand, they mulled over dry land as an orphan island, whose patchy outlines almost merged with the turbulent waves of the boundless Ocean. On the other hand, they...