An error in the Bible that changed the boundaries of European nations

In 1525, the first edition of the Bible containing a map of the Holy Land was published in Zurich. Although the map was printed mirrored - with the Mediterranean Sea "upside down" to the east - its appearance was a turning point in the development of cartography and the way Europeans had perceived the territorial organisation of the world for centuries.

This is the conclusion reached by Professor Nathan Macdonald of Cambridge University. His study was published in The Journal of Theological Studies.

According to the scholar, the inclusion of the map created by the artist Lucas Cranach the Elder for Christopher Frostbauer's Old Testament edition can be considered both a failure of the publishers and their great achievement. Despite the printing error, the image became a model for subsequent generations and cemented the tradition of including maps in the Bible, a habit that continues today.

Cranach's map showed the wanderings of the Israelites and the division of the Promised Land into twelve tribes - but it did so in the spirit of Reformation-era Christian interpretations. Medieval cartographers relied on the writings of Josephus Flavius, who simplified the ambiguous biblical descriptions of territories. The map was therefore not geographically accurate, but helped readers to 'visualise' the text.

MacDonald notes that the appearance of the map in the Zurich Bible is related to the Swiss Reformers' special attention to a literal reading of Scripture. The image was becoming a kind of "authorised" religious object - in an era when many kinds of images were forbidden. For the faithful, the map became an instrument of mental pilgrimage: the eye travelled from Mount Carmel to Nazareth, across the Jordan to Jericho.

However, the influence of the map went far beyond religious visualisation. According to the researcher, it was such biblical maps that contributed to our familiar notion of clear lines of state boundaries. Medieval maps interpreted the borders of the tribes of Israel as spiritual symbols, but from the XV-XVI centuries these lines began to be perceived as political, reflecting the sovereignty of the territories. This approach soon carried over to the interpretation of biblical texts, although the scriptures themselves did not describe boundaries in the modern sense.

"Biblical maps were a powerful tool that shaped new conceptions of the state and space," MacDonald emphasises.

He notes that even today many people consider national boundaries to be "biblically justified," although this is a simplistic understanding. He cites the example of a recent US Customs and Border Protection video that uses a biblical quote in the context of border security.

The professor warns: when modern political structures try to justify their validity by invoking "divine order," it can lead to a distorted reading of ancient texts.

"Reality is much more complex," he summarises.