Jewish Global Geography: From the Second Temple Period to Rabbinic Literature

While Second Temple-era Jewish literature contains references to the world's structure, rabbinic literature includes far fewer mentions of the earth's geographical structure or of more remote spaces, instead focusing on Israel, Syria and Babylonia. This paper examines this transformation through the prism of depictions of the mappa mundi, relating primarily to interpretations of the biblical Table of Nations. The explanation offered for this transformation links Jewish historical writing to Jewish geographical writing, and highlights the connection between international political activity and interest in global geography. When the Jews had a political framework and were involved in international politics, they had an interest in the structure of the world; when there was no political framework in which they acted as a central or influential factor, reference to global geography was significantly reduced.