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The map drawn by Piri Re‘is dated to the month of Muharrem 919 AH (corresponding to spring 1513 CE) is well known in the fringe literature. Piri Re‘is was an admiral of the Turkish navy and this map, showing the Atlantic Ocean, West Africa, the Iberian Peninsula and lands on the western side of the Ocean, seems to have been based on twenty different maps. One of them has been thought to be a copy of the lost map made by Christopher Columbus, as Piri’s own annotations claim as much. The map was rediscovered by the Director of National Museums, Halil Etem Edhem (1861-1938), when the Topkapi Serail Palace in Istanbul was being converted into a museum in 1929. The map was subsequently studied by a prominent German orientalist, Paul Kalhe (1875-1964), who reported on it at the eighteenth Congress of Oriental Studies in Leiden in 1931.
What does it consist of?
It was drawn on camel skin parchment, using nine different colours of ink; it is 860 mm tall, 610 mm wide at the top (north) and 410 mm wide at the base (south). There is evidence along the top edge that another strip of parchment, which would probably have shown the British Isles, Iceland, Greenland and Newfoundland, has been lost. The eastern section of the map has also been torn away, leaving a ragged edge, although the change in width from north to south is a product of the natural shape of the skin. It is illustrated with a number of ships, most of which are Portuguese caravels, parrots (referred to as ‘tuti birds’, depicted on the island of Antilles) and mythical images. 117 place-names are shown on the map, most of which are typical of late medieval portolan charts and are easily identifiable.
All in all, the Piri Re‘is map of 1513 is easily explained. It shows no unknown lands, least of all Antarctica, and contained errors (such as Columbus’s belief that Cuba was an Asian peninsula) that ought not to have been present if it derived from extremely accurate ancient originals. It also conforms to the prevalent geographical theories of the early sixteenth century, including ideas about the necessity of balancing landmasses in the north with others in the south to prevent the earth from tipping over (just as Hapgood later hypothesised with his crustal displacement theory). Nevertheless, the map was a remarkable achievement, testimony to the skills of Piri as a cartographer and the only surviving representative of the maps made by Columbus during his first two voyages of discovery. As with so much in Bad Archaeology, it is only made mysterious by the wilful ignoring of evidence that explains its methods of composition (most importantly, the legends written by the mapmaker himself) and by making exaggerated claims about its accuracy while its manifest inaccuracy is overlooked.
Charles Hapgood (and those derivative of him) used other maps allegedly showing Antarctica that are, at first sight, even more convincing than the Piri Re‘is map. The first of these is a product of Orontius Finaeus Delphinus (1494-1555), whom most Bad Archaeologists consistently and incorrectly refer to as Oronteus (more properly, his name was Oronce Fine or Finé, although the Latinised version seems to be in more common use, at least among the Bad Archaeologists). The map in question was published in 1531 and its supporters claim that it shows the continent at the correct scale, placing the Weddell and Ross Seas as well as Queen Maud Land, Wilkes Land and Marie Byrd Land in their correct longitudes. Again, if these claims are correct, they would display an even more remarkable knowledge of the continent than that supposedly (but demonstrably not) shown by Piri Re’is.
Although there are fairly obvious similarities between the general depiction of the southern continent by Orontius Finaeus and modern maps of Antarctica, they do not stand up to close scrutiny; indeed, there are more differences than similarities, much as one would expect from a map drawn without genuine knowledge of the southern continent! To show that Orontius’s Terra Australis corresponds to the outline of Antarctica, it was necessary for Hapgood to rotate the depiction by about twenty degrees, move the South Pole by 7½° (1,600 km) and alter the scale, as Terra Australis is 230% the size of Antarctica. Hapg
Originally posted by ImNotACylon
reply to post by smyleegrl
while I find this topic interesting, It just didn't need to be posted about for the 10,000,000th time. This is not new, nor is it unknown to pretty much anyone with even a passing interest in the odd.
Not to rain on your parade as i applaud your posting interesting information. I just would've liked it if you had checked to see that this has been posted about before, seen on TV, mentioned in books, and is pretty much tantamount to beating a dead horse.
Also, a little balanced research would've been nice as there are competing theories about these maps and their origins.
The piri reis map has always fascinated me but I'm still undecided as to what it actually shows.
It sure does look like the land under Antarctica, but that's, really, about as far as one can go with it.
"It may or may not be... but it looks like it."
There is nothing definitive about it and the fact that it DOES exists means it should. IT only "shouldn't" if it actually shows the landmass under Antarctica.
There is no proof it does, though it makes a for an interesting and compelling topic of debate.
So, again, thank you for posting this but a thorough check of ATS beforehand would've done you well.
Originally posted by icanhearmusic
Has anyone read the book 'Finger prints of the Gods'? its a really good read and goes into detail about all of this. Ancient civilizations that had highly advanced technology and handed it onto the Egyptians Sumerians and many others, it stays away from the 'Alien intervention' story aswell. look it up people! very good read.
Originally posted by Telos
reply to post by smyleegrl
Graham Hancock must feel very happy and thankful to ATS for sharing entire chapters of is Fingerprints of the Gods book
Originally posted by smyleegrl
Originally posted by Telos
reply to post by smyleegrl
Graham Hancock must feel very happy and thankful to ATS for sharing entire chapters of is Fingerprints of the Gods book
Didn't get it from Fingerprints of the Gods, although someone did recommend that book lately and I just started reading it.
It is interesting, though, that he had a lot of the same info.
There's another book that is also interesting, called Earth's Forbidden Secrets. Its what inspired this thread, actually. You can find it online in pdf form for free if you're interested.