Jerusalem as the 'omphalos' of the world: on the history of geographical concept.

Jerusalem has evoked many images but none is perhaps more vivid and abiding than that of the Holy City as the center and navel of the earth. A series of mediaeval Christian maps, of which the Hereford mappa mundi is perhaps the best known ([ILLUSTRATION FOR FIGURE 1 OMITTED], p. 148), has given this idea graphic form by depicting the world as a circular landmass surrounded by Ocean, with Jerusalem at its middle, the circle of its walls echoing the line of the earth's rim and hinting at the city's perfection and spiritual supremacy. Often reproduced, the symbolism of these charming…