• Journal of the Korean Geographical Society
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• v.43 no.3
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• pp.412-431
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• 2008

The achievements of the medieval mappaemundi should be evaluated on their own terms and in the context of their purpose. Medieval mappaemundi expressed christian world view which reflected Augustinian theology. These Christian world view and Greek and Roman classical geography were combined to form the cultural barkground of the medieval mappaemundi. These maps had a function to organize physical space according to religious principles. The Christian concept of the world as a temporal phenomenon, derived from the simultaneous creation of time and space as described in St. Augustin's theology was represented in these maps. The purpose of this paper is to consider geographic characteristics of earthly paradise expressed in medieval mappaemundi and their cartographic characteristics. For this, firstly, we reviewed medieval Christian scholars' opinions on earthly paradise. Secondly, centered on geographic location and representation method, we examined cartographic characteristics of medieval paradise mapping, Thirdly, we considered the shift of paradise according to chronological change. Fourthly, we examined the reason why earthly paradise disappeared from world map after fourteenth century.

• Journal of the Korean Geographical Society
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• v.45 no.1
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• pp.165-183
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• 2010

For the study of the development of Asia map made by european map makers, one should consider Gog and Magog which existed in the maps for more than 700 years. Gog and Magog are described as an apocalyptic people in the Bible and medieval literature, and they are important elements in medieval mappaemundi and early modem world maps. This study classified representation types of Gog and Magog in old western maps. Maps were classed in to six categories according to the location and ethnic groups which they represent, and they were discussed in cartographic context. The maps until the fourteenth century place Gog and Magog, shut up by Alexander, near Caspian Sea. In the fifteenth century, Gog and Magog were described as Closed Jews in maps. From the sixteenth century they appear in the far northeastern part of Asia and they are named as Amagog or Ung and Mongul. In the mid-seventeenth century, they are located in Eastern Siberia by French cartographers. But with the expansion of geographic knowledge, Gog and Magog disappeared completely in the eighteenth century. In general, God and Magog were represented on the basis of traditional lore rather than on the Bible, and they became one means of mapping others of European community.