Mapping the unmapped: Transmedial representations of premodern geographies

Abstract

This paper discusses the problem of modeling descriptive geographies of the premodern world, with a focus on Greco-Roman sources. As premodern way-finding mechanisms are essentially unmapped, the importance of language and narrative becomes fundamental to spatial understanding: the first part of this paper proposes a discussion on the linguistic-expressive patterns that provide the foundation to spatial narratives. These include, at the most basic level, expressions of distance, orientation, and semantic/conceptual classifications. The second part of the paper addresses the problem of classifying regular expressive patterns through modeling: modeling is used as a strategy to better understand such linguistic-expressive phenomena, and as a hermeneutic exercise of application of computational methods to humanities data. The conclusion touches upon the idea of visual representations of premodern spatial narratives and discusses its challenges and advantages.