Rosettes foldout: cardinal directions?

[Linda]

Interesting! It strikes me as relevant, as there are seven, just as there are in the rosette. I think of them as the seven seas, a figurative term for all the seas of the world, which makes perfect sense in a TO map.

This is why i see this rosette as standing for both Europe and the world in its entirety. By the time of the carbon dating, many countries or city states had spread out to Africa and Asia, so it makes sense to me to see it as both.

The term "Seven Seas" can be traced to ancient Sumer in 2300 B.C., where it was used in a hymn by Sumerian high priestess Enheduanna to Inanna, the goddess of sexual love, fertility and warfare.

In Medieval European literature, the phrase referred to the North Sea, Baltic, Atlantic, Mediterranean, Black, Red, and Arabian seas. 

I believe all of these (and more: Alboran, Balearic, Ligurian, Tyrrhenian, Adriatic, Ionian, Aegean, Caspian, Aral, Persian, etc) are referenced in quire 13, along with some of the largest lakes, mainly in Italy and Asia, along with a few gulfs and rivers.