Philippe Forêt, Ph.D. (1992) in Geography, University of Chicago, is a Researcher at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology of Zurich and an Associate Professor at the University of Nottingham. He is the author of Mapping Chengde (Honolulu, 2000) and La véritable histoire d’une montagne plus haute que l’Himalaya (Paris, 2004), and the coeditor of La Haute-Asie telle qu’ils l’ont vue (Geneva, 2003) and New Qing Imperial History (London, 2004).Andreas Kaplony, Dr. (1986) in History and Arabic studies and Habilitation (2001) in Islamic studies, both from the University of Zurich, is an Assistant Professor at the Oriental Institute, University of Zurich. He is the author of Konstantinopel und Damaskus: Gesandtschaften und Verträge zwischen Kaisern und Kalifen 639–750(Berlin, 1996) and The Ḥaram of Jerusalem 324–1099 (Freiburg i.Br., 2002), and the coeditor of the Arabic Papyrology Database (www.ori.uzh.ch/apd) (2006) and Documentary Letters from the Middle East: The Evidence in Greek, Coptic, South Arabian, Pehlevi, and Arabic (1st–15th c CE) (Berne, 2008).

"Cet ouvrage est donc un moment fort dans la constitution d’un corpus de données qui permettront une réflexion sur les relations entre l’interculturalité et les objets graphiques qui la rendent visible." – Hervé Regnauld, in: espacestemps"… a rich feast for both experts and general readers and will invite far more transnational research on the Silk Road." – RANIN KAZEMI, Department of History, Yale University, in: Int. J. Middle East Stud. 42 (2010), 323–367"Accompanied by beautifully reproduced color figures, the articles in this volume weigh intriguing questions about the transmission of visual knowledge, considering, for example, how cultural blind spots can lead to copyists’ inaccuracies or how indigenous and foreign styles can affect one another. It is a rich feast for both experts and general readers and will invite far more transnational research on the Silk Road." – LIANG CAI, in: Int. J. Middle East Stud. 42 (2010)

• AcknowledgmentsContributorsTransliterations and ConventionsList of Illustrations and MapsForeword - Lorenz HurniPreface: What Is a Map? - Valerie HansenINTRODUCTION - Philippe Forêt and Andreas KaplonyPART I: THE BUDDHIST ROAD1 Traces of the Silk Road in Han-Dynasty Iconography: Questions and Hypotheses - Nicolas Zufferey2 Visualizing Pilgrimage and Mapping Experience: Mount Wutai on the Silk Road - Natasha Heller3 The Mapping of Sacred Space: Images of Buddhist Cosmographies in Medieval China - Dorothy C. WongPART II: THE MONGOL ROAD4 Lost in Translation: Gridded Plans and Maps along the Silk Road - Jonathan Bloom5 Square Horoscope Diagrams in Middle Eastern Astrology and Chinese Cosmological Diagrams: Were These Designs Transmitted through the Silk Road? - Johannes Thomann6 The Intrusion of East Asian Imagery in Thirteenth-Century Armenia: Political and Cultural Exchanges along the Silk Road - Dickran KouymjianPART III: WITHIN THE ISLAMIC WORLD7 Comparing al-Kāshgharī’s Map to His Text: On the Visual Language, Purpose, and Transmission of Arabic-Islamic Maps - Andreas Kaplony8 The Book of Curiosities: A Medieval Islamic View of the East - Yossef RapoportPART IV: THE MEDITERRANEAN ROAD9 Celestial Maps and Illustrations in Arabic-Islamic Astronomy - Paul Kunitzsch10 Revisiting Catalan Portolan Charts: Do They Contain Elements of Asian Provenance? - Sonja BrentjesCONCLUSION - Philippe Forêt and Andreas KaplonyAppendix: List of Geographical Nomenclature in al-Kāshgharī’s Text and Map - Andreas KaplonyGeneral BibliographyIndex