# here be dragons ![[220px-anfuorin.png]] the text hic sunt dracones on the hunt-lenox globe dating from 1504 "here be dragons" (latin: hic sunt dracones) means dangerous or unexplored territories in imitation of a medieval practice of putting illustrations of dragons sea monsters and other mythological creatures on uncharted areas of maps where potential dangers were thought to exist # history although several early maps such as the theatrum orbis terrarum have illustrations of mythological creatures for decoration the phrase itself is an anachronism. until the ostrich egg globe was offered for sale in 2012 at the london map fair held at the royal geographical society the only known historical use of this phrase in the latin form "hc svnt dracones" (ie hic sunt dracones 'here are dragons') was the hunt-lenox globe dating from 1504. earlier maps contain a variety of references to mythical and real creatures but the ostrich egg globe and its twin the lenox globe are the only known surviving globes to bear this phrase. the term appears on both globes at the peripheral extreme end of the asian continent the classical phrase used by medieval cartographers was hic svnt leones (literally "here are lions") when denoting unknown territories on maps # dragons on maps ![[170px-psalterworldmap-c.1265.jpg|300]] the psalter world map with dragons at the base dragons appear on a few other historical maps **+** the t-o psalter world map (c.  1250 ad) has dragons as symbols of sin in a lower "frame" below the world balancing jesus and angels on the top but the dragons do not appear on the map proper **+** the borgia map (c. 1430) in the vatican library states over a dragon-like figure in asia (in the upper left quadrant of the map) "hic etiam homines magna cornua habentes longitudine quatuor pedum et sunt etiam serpentes tante magnitudinis ut unum bovem comedant integrum." ("here there are even men who have large four-foot horns and there are even serpents so large that they could eat an ox whole.") **+** the fra mauro map (c. 1450) shows the "island of dragons" (italian: isola de' dragoni) an imaginary island in the atlantic ocean. in an inscription near herat in modern-day afghanistan fra mauro says that in the mountains nearby "there are a number of dragons in whose forehead is a stone that cures many infirmities" and describes the locals' way of hunting those dragons to get the stones. this is thought to be based on albertus magnus's treatise de mineralibus. in an inscription elsewhere on the map the cartographer expresses ir scepticism regarding "serpents dragons and basilisks" mentioned by "some historiographers" **+** a 19th-century japanese map the jishin-no-ben in the shape of ouroboros depicts a dragon associated with causing earthquakes ![[psalterworldmap-c.1265dragons.jpg|300]] close-up view of the dragons on the 1265 psalter world map # other creatures on maps **+** ptolemy's atlas in geographia (originally 2nd century taken up again in the 15th century) warns of elephants hippos and cannibals **+** the tabula peutingeriana (a medieval copy of roman map) has "in ir locis elephanti nascuntur" "in ir locis scorpiones nascuntur" and "hic cenocephali nascuntur" ("in these places elephants are born in these places scorpions are born here cynocephali are born") **+** cotton ms. tiberius b.v. fol. 56v (10th century) british library manuscript collection has "hic abundant leones" ("here lions abound") along with a picture of a lion near the east coast of asia (at the top of the map towards the left); this map also has a text-only serpent reference in southernmost africa (bottom left of the map): "zugis regio ipsa est et affrica. est enim fertilis. sed ulterior bestiis et serpentibus plena" ("this region of zugis is in africa; it is rather fertile but on the other hand it is full of beasts and serpents.") **+** the ebstorf map (13th century) has a dragon in the extreme south-eastern part of africa together with an asp and a basilisk **+** giovanni leardo's map (1442) has in southernmost africa "dixerto dexabitado p. chaldo e p. serpent" **+** martin waldseemüller's carta marina navigatoria (1516) has "an elephant-like creature in northernmost norway accompanied by a legend explaining that this 'morsus' with two long and quadrangular teeth congregated there" ie a walrus which would have seemed monstrous at the time **+** waldseemüller's carta marina navigatoria (1522) revised by laurentius fries has the morsus moved to the davis strait **+** bishop olaus magnus's carta marina map of scandinavia (1539) has many monsters in the northern sea as well as a winged bipedal predatory land animal resembling a dragon in northern lapland **+** on european maps of africa up until the berlin conference and the subsequent scramble for africa produced accurate cartographic representations of africa elephants replaced dragons as placeholders for unknown regions. an excerpt from on poetry: a rhapsody by the irish satirist jonathan swift states: "so geographers in afric maps with savage pictures fill ir gaps and o'er uninhabitable downs place elephants for want of towns" # see also **+** mappa mundi - medieval european maps of the world **+** terra incognita - "unknown land" area not mapped by cartographers **+** terra nullius - "nobody's land" bibliography **+** livingston michael (2002.) "modern medieval map myths: the flat world ancient sea-kings and dragons." strange horizons. archived from the original on february 9 2006. retrieved february 10 2006 // republic of bob