Old Besokian World Map

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The Old Besokian World Map is a schematic representation of the lands surrounding the Besokan river. Found among the Nishûnâc stone carvings, it is labelled in Proto-Besokian and thought to represent the Besokian knowledge of the world in the late 3rd millennium B.E.B.

Description

The map is found in a dedicated chamber to the west of the Mule’s chamber, carved into the flat surface of a round pillar around one kâl high and three kâla in diameter. No other carvings have been found in the chamber, suggesting its purpose was related directly to the map itself; whether it had a spiritual or practical function cannot be determined.

Markings on the map are schematic, with squares used to represent mountains and hills, long horizontal or vertical lines to represent water, and loosely hatched areas presumably representing woodland. Islands are given as large rectangles, lakes as ellipses, and rivers as lines. The map itself is circular and centred on Nishûnâc, showing a mountain range to the (presumed) north and a large body of water with two islands, presumably the sea, to the south. East and west are filled by plains, bordered by a forest in the west and three lakes in the east; mountains and sea are bent into a crescent shape and meet in the far east and west, producing a world entirely surrounded by mountains and water. A river (the Besokan) is shown emerging from a mountain on one edge and traversing the map in a straight line before discharging into the sea. Several additional details are shown, including minor rivers, forests, and mountain ranges. The map has no primary direction, labels roughly rotate around Nishûnâc.

22 locations are annotated with short labels written in the Besokian abugida and a later form of Proto-Besokian. It is unclear whether these labels are meant to give proper names or merely descriptions of locations; many are strikingly general terms, so kîrîmin ‘mountains’ for the mountain range presumed to represent the Reknaya. Given the language and the locations included, the map is usually dated to around 2200 B.E.B., making it the second oldest extant evidence of Besokian writing, roughly 700 years younger than the Besokian Cosmogony. The inscriptions are consistent with those of the latter in both writing and language, leading to the general classification of the language represented as Proto-Besokian; this identification has been criticized mostly based on the historical distance of the two inscriptions, suggesting a form of Old Besokian with a conservative orthography might be a better interpretation of the find. Nonregarding the language used in its labels, the map is almost invariably dated to the early Old Besokian period, hence gaining its appellation.

Analysis

The map is often assumed to represent the world as known to the Besokians in the early years of their explorations. It is focused on the sacred complex at Nishûnâc and includes detailed depictions of its surroundings, including Lake Marin, Tár, Pár, and the Forests of the Besokan. The large body of water shown in the bottom, labelled as urenân ‘sea’, is presumed to be the Gulf of Seligon, with the two islands possibly representing Golim and Kirospel or Margnan. Two hills are marked by the estuary, one on each side. The western location is labelled menârîmor ‘holy site’ and usually identified with the hill of Telassin near Nendrem-Tinar; the eastern label reads mênârûnû ‘halidom’ and has been identified with the hills of the Gnangar, the Besokan estuary, and even the Beahal of Loskilón.

The plain to the east is labelled as Nôrâshet ‘land of summer’, the name used for the Third Hill in the Besokian Cosmogony and ancestor of names for Old and New Seligon in later Besokian languages. It has a small forest in the north crossed by a river that later joins the Besokan; these are presumed to represent Parmirgeb forest and the river Estennil, respectively. The far east is taken up by three lakes, most likely the great lakes of Amasia, which are likely to have been known to the Besokians either through trade with the Avalians or their own earliest explorations.

The western plain is labelled tûnûshetor ‘marsh’, a name later used for Belkondíl. Its only features are a long river mouthing into the sea in an indicated delta and a large forest filling its west. The river most likely is the Nellac, which crosses Oakshire and would have been known to the Besokians. Its portrayal as culminating in a river delta is somewhat puzzling, as neither the Nellac nor its target body of water, the Cëlac, develop a delta; the carving might have been influenced by knowledge of the Brethan delta, which is however unlikely to have been known to the Besokians at this point, or could represent the unstable riverbed of the Nellac upon its entering the Marsh of Singrall, which could have been interpreted as the edge of the world by early exploring Besokians. The forest is labelled nâkerânat ‘boundless’, which survives as appellation for the Old Rouningwood in Soskish and Reknayan, and identification is likely.

The presumed north of the map is hemmed by a line of mountains; there are fewer labels in this area. The mountains themselves are merely labelled as kîrîmin ‘mountain range’. The central river presumed to be the Besokan has its source in the extreme north, beneath what seems to indicate a spring or a cave, labelled kûrîmor ‘large mountain’, a word likely related to the later Kûrima, the World Mountain of Soskish religion.

Relationship with the Besokian Cosmogony

The map postdates the inscription of the Besokian Cosmogony by around 700 years, but as they are found in close proximity in the Nishûnâc complex and the Old Besokian World Map is said to reflect the early Besokians’ view of the world, comparisons have been drawn. If presuming that the map represents the entirety of the world as seen by the Besokians, most notably is the absence of several important locations from the creation myth. A mountain Sen is given a central role during the Divine Sequence, comparable to that of the Shea’voch in Olgish religion, but no such mountain appears on the map; likewise, the First and Third Hill, Kâmârod and Nôrâshet, are not indicated on the map, the latter term now used for Old Seligon as a whole. This suggests that either by the time of the map’s creation, these locations had lost significance in the Besokian cult, or that they were never considered to pertain to the earthly plain in the first place.

Alternatively, Mt. Kûrima might be a late incarnation of the Sen, seeing as both fulfil similar roles (foremost among the mountains) and their names have similar meanings (Sen ‘the big one’ and kûmrîmor ‘tall mountain’). In a similar vein, the hills to both sides of the Besokan estuary could be, and have been, identified with the First and Third Hill from the Cosmogony. Finally, while this is strongly indicated by the placement of water and mountains, the map might not be intended to show the world as a whole, and absent locations could have been assumed to lie outside of known geography.

List of places indicated

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