Mystery of ‘world’s oldest’ map finally solved as 3,000-year-old tablet reveals mystical world beyond Babylonian empire
THE mystery surrounding a 3,000-year-old tablet, believed to be the oldest map in the world has finally been solved.
The ancient tablet has been deciphered after centuries and offers a glimpse of what Babylonians believed about the known world at the time.
The map called Imago Mundi, showing an aerial view of Mesopotamia that dates back to the 6th century BC has been a mystery for researchers for centuries.
The cuneiform tablet was discovered in the Middle East and was acquired by the British Museum in 1882.
Experts were finally able to decode it after finding a missing part.
The tablet has a series of paragraphs where the author describes the creation of Earth and what it was believed at the time that existed beyond it.
The map depicts ancient Mesopotamia (modern-day Iraq), surrounded by a double ring dubbed the “Bitter River,” which marked the borders of the known world at the time.
In a video released by the British Museum cuneiform expert Dr. Irving Finkel says: “You have encapsulated in this circular diagram, the whole of the known world in which people lived, flourished and died.
“However, there’s more to this map than that.”
“When it comes to operating beyond the limits of the known world into the world of imagination, [the tablet] is indispensable.”
Researchers confirm the circle around Mesopotamia suggests that Babylonians believed the area was the centre of the world.
There also shows the river Euphrates cutting through ancient Mesopotamia.
Finkel added: “This is a very important ring of water because it meant for the Babylonians, they had an idea of the limits of the world where they lived in about the sixth century.”
The tablet also confirms the Babylonian’s belief in the God of creation Marduk and other mythical monsters such as scorpion-man and a lion-headed bird called Anzu.
The ancient Babylonians had their own version of the Noah’s Arc named Utnapishtim.
“That’s quite a meaty thing, quite an interesting thing to think about because it shows that the story was the same, and of course, that one led to the other,” Finkel said.