Forêt P., Kaplony A. (eds.) The Journey of Maps and Images on the Silk Road

Brill, 2008. — 246 p. — (Brill’s Inner Asian Library; Volume 21). — ISBN: 978-90-04-17165-7.This book covers new ground on the diffusion and transmission of geographical knowledge that occurred at critical junctures in the long history of the Silk Road.
Much of twentieth-century scholarship on the Silk Road examined the ancient archaeological objects and medieval historical records found within each cultural area, while the consequences of long-distance interaction across Eurasia remained poorly studied. Here ample attention is given to the journeys that notions and objects undertook to transmit spatial values to other civilizations. In retracing the steps of four major circuits right across the many civilizations that shared the Silk Road, The Journey of Maps and Images on the Silk Road traces the ways in which maps and images surmounted spatial, historical and cultural divisions.Foreword (Lorenz Hurni).
Preface: What is a Map? (Valerie Hansen).i
Introduction (Philippe Forêt and Andreas Kaplony).
The Buddhist Road.
Traces of the Silk Road in Han-Dynasty Iconography: Questions and Hypotheses (Nicolas Zufferey).
Visualizing Pilgrimage and Mapping Experience: Mount Wutai on the Silk Road (Natasha Heller).
The Mapping of Sacred Space: Images of Buddhist Cosmographies in Medieval China (Dorothy C. Wong).
The Mongol Road.
Lost in Translation: Gridded Plans and Maps along the Silk Road (Jonathan M. Bloom).
Square Horoscope Diagrams in Middle Eastern Astrology and Chinese Cosmological Diagrams: Were These Designs Transmitted through the Silk Road? (Johannes Thomann).
The Intrusion of East Asian Imagery in Thirteenth-Century Armenia: Political and Cultural Exchange along the Silk Road (Dickran Kouymjian).
Within the Islamic World.
Comparing al-Kashghari’s Map to his Text: On the Visual Language, Purpose, and Transmission of Arabic-Islamic Maps (Andreas Kaplony).
The Book of Curiosities: A Medieval Islamic View of the East (Yossef Rapoport).
The Mediterranean Road.
Celestial Maps and Illustrations in Arabic-Islamic Astronomy (Paul Kunitzsch).
Revisiting Catalan Portolan Charts: Do They Contain Elements of Asian Provenance? (Sonja Brentjes).
Conclusion (Philippe Forêt and Andreas Kaplony).List of Geographical Nomenclature in al-Kashghari’s Text and Map (Andreas Kaplony).