Odysseus’s voyage secularizes mythic space into surveyed, rational geography

Evidence

These were another source of knowledge. The Middle Ages reinterpreted geography in terms of the Bible. Jerusalem was the center of the earth because it was the Holy City. Asia was the home of the Three Wise Kings; Africa that of King Solomon. Columbus believed the Orinoco (in Venezuela) to be a sacred river flowing out of the Garden of Eden. — Stuart Hall, Essential Essays, Volume 2, 599 (#complicates, via linked claim)

For the better comprehension of the unknown parts of the world and their perplexing inhabitants two kinds of historical text served more than any others: the Bible and the Greek and Latin Classics. These texts of course were the main educative texts of Europe and it is not therefore surprising that they were turned to with such regularity; indeed it can be said that in some ways they served as maps to these unfamiliar territories and to their inhabitants and their beliefs. — Ivan Davidson Kalmar, Derek Penslar, Orientalism and the Jews, 315 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Medieval geography interpreted physical space through biblical narrative — Stuart Hall, Essential Essays, Volume 2: Identity…, 599; Voyages expanded Europe’s physical horizon but not its cultural worldview; The Bible and Classics served Europeans as cognitive maps for new lands — Ivan Davidson Kalmar, Derek Penslar, Orientalism and the Jews, 315

Broader Connections

• Medieval geography interpreted physical space through biblical narrative #complicates (0.80) — Stuart Hall, Essential Essays, Volume 2, 599
• Voyages expanded Europe’s physical horizon but not its cultural worldview #complicates (0.75)
• The Bible and Classics served Europeans as cognitive maps for new lands #complicates (0.72) — Ivan Davidson Kalmar, Derek Penslar, Orientalism and the Jews, 315