Michael Baizerman Author

I downloaded another chapter from the second book, "The Enchanting Encounter with the East", on my site  https://independent.academia.edu/BaizermanMichael    The extract tells about the location of Jerusalem on the European medieval mind maps.  Jerusalem on the Madaba Map  Courtesy:  http://www.ancientpages.com/2017/06/16/stunning-madaba-map-oldest-known-mosaic-built-of-two-million-stone-cubes/   Throughout the late Middle Ages, Jerusalem functioned as the center of the inhabited world on contemporary 'world maps'. The article discloses various aspects of this spiritual vision which only intensifies after the crusaders' exile from the Holy Land.  Pope Urban II launched the First Crusade. Saewulf and San Severino were the pilgrims who visited the Holy Land in the 12th and 15th centuries. They both shared the vision of Jerusalem as the navel of the world.  Sir John Mandeville is a fictitious author of a 14th-century t...

My next chapter is devoted to the location of Jerusalem on European medieval mind maps. This is the second part (out of four) of Unit 2, titled The Saga of All My Sons, from my book, "The Enchanting Encounter with the East". The site of Jerusalem on the sixth century Madaba Map https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madaba_Map The T-O maps, whose function we cleared up in the previous discussion, centered Jerusalem amid the circle of lands. Image 1: Jerusalem, the Holy City from the sixth century Madaba map mosaic (1) They did it, following in the footsteps of the Hebrew Bible, which draws a convincing picture of the Holy City located at the heart of the world. Ezekiel, the prophet and the enthusiastic creator of this vision, copies the Lord’s very words, announcing: “This is Jerusalem, which I have set in the center of the nations, with countries all around her”. (2) The idea of the centrality of Jerusalem was deeply implanted into the Jewish thought. The Book of...