01-07-2021, 07:59 PM
In my interpretation, the rosettes are a mnemonic portolan chart, which goes along with quire 13 which is a sort of mnemonic periplus.
I think it is correct to look at the rosettes on the diagonal to get full details, (in addition to looking at it in various other directions, like the direction of the text, etc) but the TO map being tilted when looking on the diagonal is also a clue that it is not north, but NW at the top when you do that.
That 45 degree angle keeps recurring in quire 13 also, and or 135 degrees, with regard to orientation of some bodies of water, etc. If you are looking at the rosettes on the diagonal with TO map at the top (which i do believe is a proper TO map with Europe Africa and Asia in their standard places, because the riverlike connotations leading to it make sense to me also), the analogous way to look at a standard map of today, or portolan chart of the time, is with the boot of the Italian peninsula arranged as north south. In that way you get some more detail on what is more north or south, east or west of each other in terms of the areas discussed in the rosettes and causeways.
And yet if you turn it to go with a north up map, you lose some of this perspective, because the north south aspects of some things are lost, ie the middle rosette on the north side is not the northernmost place, but it is oriented to north when held in that direction.
Thus the corners, as currently bound, would be:
SW NW
SE NE
Diane had said the clock looking thingy was a south marker, and as much as that fits for me, i can find no evidence of it, so i believe Koen is right about the north marker, but not that it points north per se. Rather, i think it describes the origin and direction of flow (north) (as opposed to northwest) of the Nile, thus it can be seen as a north marker but from the south, from the origin. Africa does continue to the southeast of the Nile Delta, but there is more to the south, in the direction of the Nile. The iconography of the mountains of the moon (often shown on old maps as the origin of the Nile), an inverted v shape with circles (lakes) attached could give context to what is north also, and so the shape does double duty. With TO map at top it is simply upside down, the most southern thing on the map, which makes sense to be outside of the Nile delta rosette since it is so much further south and there is so much more area between than shown in any other single rosette. Thus to me it stands for all the rest of (known or previously charted) Africa besides the Mediterranean shoreline that is shown on Portolan charts. I even think it is possible that the wording around it states that Asia and Europe are to the north, and to the south of this origin spot is unknown.
I think it is correct to look at the rosettes on the diagonal to get full details, (in addition to looking at it in various other directions, like the direction of the text, etc) but the TO map being tilted when looking on the diagonal is also a clue that it is not north, but NW at the top when you do that.
That 45 degree angle keeps recurring in quire 13 also, and or 135 degrees, with regard to orientation of some bodies of water, etc. If you are looking at the rosettes on the diagonal with TO map at the top (which i do believe is a proper TO map with Europe Africa and Asia in their standard places, because the riverlike connotations leading to it make sense to me also), the analogous way to look at a standard map of today, or portolan chart of the time, is with the boot of the Italian peninsula arranged as north south. In that way you get some more detail on what is more north or south, east or west of each other in terms of the areas discussed in the rosettes and causeways.
And yet if you turn it to go with a north up map, you lose some of this perspective, because the north south aspects of some things are lost, ie the middle rosette on the north side is not the northernmost place, but it is oriented to north when held in that direction.
Thus the corners, as currently bound, would be:
SW NW
SE NE
Diane had said the clock looking thingy was a south marker, and as much as that fits for me, i can find no evidence of it, so i believe Koen is right about the north marker, but not that it points north per se. Rather, i think it describes the origin and direction of flow (north) (as opposed to northwest) of the Nile, thus it can be seen as a north marker but from the south, from the origin. Africa does continue to the southeast of the Nile Delta, but there is more to the south, in the direction of the Nile. The iconography of the mountains of the moon (often shown on old maps as the origin of the Nile), an inverted v shape with circles (lakes) attached could give context to what is north also, and so the shape does double duty. With TO map at top it is simply upside down, the most southern thing on the map, which makes sense to be outside of the Nile delta rosette since it is so much further south and there is so much more area between than shown in any other single rosette. Thus to me it stands for all the rest of (known or previously charted) Africa besides the Mediterranean shoreline that is shown on Portolan charts. I even think it is possible that the wording around it states that Asia and Europe are to the north, and to the south of this origin spot is unknown.