69v-70r

[Fol. 69v:]

[rubric: Frixon. Tigris. Eufrates.]

¶ Frison e l'altro molto ad oriente
Che de li monti di persia al'india versia
In verso lo sirocho 'a la corrente
Tigris -e- il terzo che fa sua traversa
Contra gli asirii che intra molto reprehende
Eufrates -e- il quarto il qual sua mossa
L'acque sue in chaverne e fa ritorno
E l'uno e l'altra corre a meço çorno

¶ Quisti dui escon di monte ermini
Dove posso dolpo 'l diluvio l'archa
E tuti tri fano lungi camini
In fin ch'al mar d'india ciaschum varcha
Il qual mar par che stenda suo confini
Venendo strecto di l'occeano marcha
Fino in arabia a presso a sinai
Giu per ponente abbassera echessi

¶ Quivi vengon de l'india e d'etiopia
Le molte specierie a quelle gente
Che vien per epse quando n'ano in copia
E per conducere verso l'occidente
Quivi ne vien una incredibil copia
Per carovane e successivamente
Mandano insieme di camelli gran mandaria
Che portano a Damasco et Alexandria

[image, left margin: a stylized map showing two seas in aquamaine with a grey wave pattern. Both are annotated in red, the uppermost as (label: Mare de Bachu), the lower (label: MARE MAGIORE). They are separated by a stylised blue-tinted mountain range (label: Monte Tauro). The seas are joined by a small river, and another river begins in the mountian range and veers to left off of the page. The lower sea has several inlets and four labeled locations on the coast labelled in red, at 9 o'cock (label: Savastopoli), 11.30 (label: fascio), 12.30 (label: Lovati), and 2 o'clock a redish-brown city with blue towers and domes (label: Trabisonda).]

[image, right margin at ¶2 : a red landmass with green grass (label: Monte erminio), surmounted with a golden structure (label: Archa de noe), upon which perches a dove with an olive branch.]

[image, right margin at ¶3: a yellow stylised landmass with tufts of green grass (label: Monte erminio) from which two rivers eached annotated in red ink on f. 70r, the uppermost, (label: Fiume Tigris), and the lower (label: Fiume Eufrates) which flow over the gutter where the diagram is continued on f. 70r.]

[Fol. 70r:]

¶ Ven da sirocho un bracio d'alto mare
Che per il color del fondo e dicto rosso
Che cento miglia on piu ha afare
Lungo e disteso a figura d'un fosso
E torto como un archo e vien a fare
Suo termino e confin sopra del dosso
Del chiaro de babilonia tre giornate
Dove hebe pharaon le sue derate

¶ Da tramontana de quest'axia grande
Tartari sum sotto la freda zona
Gente bestiale di lege e de vivande
Fin dove l'onda di bachu risona
Per questa terra un gran fiume si spande
E'l piu del tempo el fe dolor visiva
Che d'altre due il dir dicio non falla
Ed evi su la gran cita di salla

¶ Il dicto fiume mette in un gran seno
D'aqua salata chiusa d'ogni banda
Di tanto giro on puco piu on meno
Quanto -e- il mar magior la sua girlanda
Da uno al'altro mare ha di terreno
Octo giornate e quasi ad andra ad andra
Sta da levante drito e di qua giu
Dala cita si noma del bachu

[image, left and right margins: Two rivers—named, in red ink, (label: Fiume Tigris) and (label: Fiume Eufrates)—extend from (label: Monte erminio) (itself located on f. 69v) across page to right margin to join a body of water designated, in red ink: (label: Mare Occeano) above, and (label: Mare de india) below. Rivers painted aquamarine; body of water painted aquamarine with wave pattern in grey.]

[image, lower margin: Coastal map of Mediterranean Sea from Egypt west to Israel, linked to above image by tributaries extending down to empty into a body of water—painted aquamarine with wave pattern in grey—marked, in red ink: (label: Mare de [sorio?]). Locations around coast marked, in red ink, left to right: (label: Jazia), (label: Alexandria), (label: Soldino), (label: lalecia), (label: Tortosa), (label: tripoli de soria), (label: Baruti), (label: Saito), (label: acri), (label: Cesaria), (label: inpen), (label: giafa), (label: gaziara), (label: larissa). Near rightmost end of the coast: a fortified city, in reddish-brown with blue roofs, enclosing a church topped with yellow-tinted crosses; above the city, in red ink: (label: Jerusalem).]

[image, lower margin, above previous image: Rotated 90° counterclockwise (orienting image’s base towards page’s fore-edge), a red mountain—named, in red ink, (label: monte libano)—upon which sits a reddish-brown city with blue roofs and a blue-and-white dome. Above the dome, in red ink running vertically up the page: (label: Damascho); below the mountain, oriented similarly, in red ink: (label: cesarie). From the base of the mountain extend two aquamarine rivers—the uppermost named, in red ink, (label: fiume giordan)—which merge and flow right across two circular bodies of water and into a third. All three waters are painted aquamarine with wave pattern in grey. On the shore of the second—named, in red ink, (label: Mare galilea)—sits a small reddish-brown castle. On the shore of the third, a reddish-brown city with blue rooftops bursts apart, pitching tower tops into the sky. A caption above the scene, in red ink, reports (label: Sodoma distrutta propter Sodomia); another, below the body of water, asserts (label: lacho de sodoma.). From this water, an aquamarine tributary flows to the bottom of the page. Extending off it, rightwards and below the next image, is another body of water. Painted red with darker red wave patterning, it is named (label: Mare Rosso) in red ink.]

[image, right margin: Rotated 90° counterclockwise (making the page’s fore-edge the image’s base), a mountain, tinted blue with sporadic patches of green grass, atop which sits a church painted reddish-brown with blue roof and two black ink crosses. Above the church, in red ink, the name: (label: Sancta caterina.); below the mountain, in red ink, the caption: (label: Mons synai in quo deus dedit legem moysi.).]

Frison, Tigris, Euphrates

The Frison^{1Pishon (Bibl)} is another one, way to the east,
that flows from the mountains of Persia to India.
Towards the south runs the third one,
the Tigris River, which makes its way
through Assyria ^{2lit. "the Assyrians"} and goes very quickly [>>>e va molto repente].
The Euphrates, the fourth, sends^{3[>>> sommersa]} its
waters below into caverns which then reemerge.
Both of them [the Tigris and Euphrates] flow to the south.

These two flow down out of the Armenian mountains
where [Noah's] ark landed^{4Mount Ararat} after the flood.
All three take long routes
until each one encounters the Indian Sea.^{5Probably the entire Indian Ocean region including the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea.}
This sea seems to stretch out its shores,
with the Ocean becoming narrower
past Arabia and up near Sinai,
then [again] over to the west close to Basra and Chessi.^{6Dati seems to be referring to the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf as two narrow extensions of the Indian Ocean. Chessi is labeled on the Catalan Atlas, on the northeast shore of the Persian Gulf—so not a misspelling—but so far unidentified.}

Many spices arrive here^{7 Probably referring to the ports of Basra and Chessi.}
from India and Ethiopia; people
come for them when they do not have them
to take them to the west.
An incredible abundance [of spices] come here
by caravan, and after that
they send camels grouped together in great herds
to carry them to Damascus and Alexandria.

[Fol. 70r:]

From the southeast stretches up an arm of the deep sea
which is called the Red [Sea] from the color of its depths.
It goes on for 100 miles or more,
long and stretched out like a trench;
it twists in an arc and finally comes
to an end at a hill
about three days away from Cairo in Babylon^{1"Cairo de Babilonia" was a contemporary term for Cairo, Egypt, to distinguish it from several other Cairos in Europe},
where Pharaoh kept his granaries.

In the northern part of Asia Major^{1as opposed to Asia Minor, this refers to the area north and east of the Black Sea},
there are Tartars in the cold regions,
a brutish people in both laws and food.
As far as the waves of the Caspian Sea^{2Known at the time as the "Mar di Bachu", from the city of Baku on its shores.} resound,
a great river^{*The Volga River.} spreads across this land,
which is the joining of two tributaries, the Ile and the Tiro;^{3Discussed here in the context of Russian geography: http://archtat.ru/content/uploads/2020/02/p1-310_Tezisy_FD_Edit_sait-of-17.10.2016.pdf}
most of the time it is frozen by the cold.
The great city of Sarai is located there.

The aforementioned river flows into a great basin
of salt water^{*The Caspian Sea.}, enclosed on every side,
whose circumference is more or less
the same as the circumference of the Black Sea.
From one sea to the other, there is a path
that takes eight days or so from one end to another,
going directly east; this entire region
is named after the city of Baku.

[Fol. 69v:]

[rubric: Frixon. Tigris. Eufrates.]

¶ Frison e l'altro molto ad oriente
Che de li monti di persia al'india versia
In verso lo sirocho 'a la corrente
Tigris -e- il terzo che fa sua traversa
Contra gli asirii che intra molto reprehende
Eufrates -e- il quarto il qual sua mossa
L'acque sue in chaverne e fa ritorno
E l'uno e l'altra corre a meço çorno

¶ Quisti dui escon di monte ermini
Dove posso dolpo 'l diluvio l'archa
E tuti tri fano lungi camini
In fin ch'al mar d'india ciaschum varcha
Il qual mar par che stenda suo confini
Venendo strecto di l'occeano marcha
Fino in arabia a presso a sinai
Giu per ponente abbassera echessi

¶ Quivi vengon de l'india e d'etiopia
Le molte specierie a quelle gente
Che vien per epse quando n'ano in copia
E per conducere verso l'occidente
Quivi ne vien una incredibil copia
Per carovane e successivamente
Mandano insieme di camelli gran mandaria
Che portano a Damasco et Alexandria

[image, left margin: a stylized map showing two seas in aquamaine with a grey wave pattern. Both are annotated in red, the uppermost as (label: Mare de Bachu), the lower (label: MARE MAGIORE). They are separated by a stylised blue-tinted mountain range (label: Monte Tauro). The seas are joined by a small river, and another river begins in the mountian range and veers to left off of the page. The lower sea has several inlets and four labeled locations on the coast labelled in red, at 9 o'cock (label: Savastopoli), 11.30 (label: fascio), 12.30 (label: Lovati), and 2 o'clock a redish-brown city with blue towers and domes (label: Trabisonda).]

[image, right margin at ¶2 : a red landmass with green grass (label: Monte erminio), surmounted with a golden structure (label: Archa de noe), upon which perches a dove with an olive branch.]

[image, right margin at ¶3: a yellow stylised landmass with tufts of green grass (label: Monte erminio) from which two rivers eached annotated in red ink on f. 70r, the uppermost, (label: Fiume Tigris), and the lower (label: Fiume Eufrates) which flow over the gutter where the diagram is continued on f. 70r.]

[Fol. 70r:]

¶ Ven da sirocho un bracio d'alto mare
Che per il color del fondo e dicto rosso
Che cento miglia on piu ha afare
Lungo e disteso a figura d'un fosso
E torto como un archo e vien a fare
Suo termino e confin sopra del dosso
Del chiaro de babilonia tre giornate
Dove hebe pharaon le sue derate

¶ Da tramontana de quest'axia grande
Tartari sum sotto la freda zona
Gente bestiale di lege e de vivande
Fin dove l'onda di bachu risona
Per questa terra un gran fiume si spande
E'l piu del tempo el fe dolor visiva
Che d'altre due il dir dicio non falla
Ed evi su la gran cita di salla

¶ Il dicto fiume mette in un gran seno
D'aqua salata chiusa d'ogni banda
Di tanto giro on puco piu on meno
Quanto -e- il mar magior la sua girlanda
Da uno al'altro mare ha di terreno
Octo giornate e quasi ad andra ad andra
Sta da levante drito e di qua giu
Dala cita si noma del bachu

[image, left and right margins: Two rivers—named, in red ink, (label: Fiume Tigris) and (label: Fiume Eufrates)—extend from (label: Monte erminio) (itself located on f. 69v) across page to right margin to join a body of water designated, in red ink: (label: Mare Occeano) above, and (label: Mare de india) below. Rivers painted aquamarine; body of water painted aquamarine with wave pattern in grey.]

[image, lower margin: Coastal map of Mediterranean Sea from Egypt west to Israel, linked to above image by tributaries extending down to empty into a body of water—painted aquamarine with wave pattern in grey—marked, in red ink: (label: Mare de [sorio?]). Locations around coast marked, in red ink, left to right: (label: Jazia), (label: Alexandria), (label: Soldino), (label: lalecia), (label: Tortosa), (label: tripoli de soria), (label: Baruti), (label: Saito), (label: acri), (label: Cesaria), (label: inpen), (label: giafa), (label: gaziara), (label: larissa). Near rightmost end of the coast: a fortified city, in reddish-brown with blue roofs, enclosing a church topped with yellow-tinted crosses; above the city, in red ink: (label: Jerusalem).]

[image, lower margin, above previous image: Rotated 90° counterclockwise (orienting image’s base towards page’s fore-edge), a red mountain—named, in red ink, (label: monte libano)—upon which sits a reddish-brown city with blue roofs and a blue-and-white dome. Above the dome, in red ink running vertically up the page: (label: Damascho); below the mountain, oriented similarly, in red ink: (label: cesarie). From the base of the mountain extend two aquamarine rivers—the uppermost named, in red ink, (label: fiume giordan)—which merge and flow right across two circular bodies of water and into a third. All three waters are painted aquamarine with wave pattern in grey. On the shore of the second—named, in red ink, (label: Mare galilea)—sits a small reddish-brown castle. On the shore of the third, a reddish-brown city with blue rooftops bursts apart, pitching tower tops into the sky. A caption above the scene, in red ink, reports (label: Sodoma distrutta propter Sodomia); another, below the body of water, asserts (label: lacho de sodoma.). From this water, an aquamarine tributary flows to the bottom of the page. Extending off it, rightwards and below the next image, is another body of water. Painted red with darker red wave patterning, it is named (label: Mare Rosso) in red ink.]

[image, right margin: Rotated 90° counterclockwise (making the page’s fore-edge the image’s base), a mountain, tinted blue with sporadic patches of green grass, atop which sits a church painted reddish-brown with blue roof and two black ink crosses. Above the church, in red ink, the name: (label: Sancta caterina.); below the mountain, in red ink, the caption: (label: Mons synai in quo deus dedit legem moysi.).]

Frison, Tigris, Euphrates

The Frison^{1Pishon (Bibl)} is another one, way to the east,
that flows from the mountains of Persia to India.
Towards the south runs the third one,
the Tigris River, which makes its way
through Assyria ^{2lit. "the Assyrians"} and goes very quickly [>>>e va molto repente].
The Euphrates, the fourth, sends^{3[>>> sommersa]} its
waters below into caverns which then reemerge.
Both of them [the Tigris and Euphrates] flow to the south.

These two flow down out of the Armenian mountains
where [Noah's] ark landed^{4Mount Ararat} after the flood.
All three take long routes
until each one encounters the Indian Sea.^{5Probably the entire Indian Ocean region including the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea.}
This sea seems to stretch out its shores,
with the Ocean becoming narrower
past Arabia and up near Sinai,
then [again] over to the west close to Basra and Chessi.^{6Dati seems to be referring to the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf as two narrow extensions of the Indian Ocean. Chessi is labeled on the Catalan Atlas, on the northeast shore of the Persian Gulf—so not a misspelling—but so far unidentified.}

Many spices arrive here^{7 Probably referring to the ports of Basra and Chessi.}
from India and Ethiopia; people
come for them when they do not have them
to take them to the west.
An incredible abundance [of spices] come here
by caravan, and after that
they send camels grouped together in great herds
to carry them to Damascus and Alexandria.

[Fol. 70r:]

From the southeast stretches up an arm of the deep sea
which is called the Red [Sea] from the color of its depths.
It goes on for 100 miles or more,
long and stretched out like a trench;
it twists in an arc and finally comes
to an end at a hill
about three days away from Cairo in Babylon^{1"Cairo de Babilonia" was a contemporary term for Cairo, Egypt, to distinguish it from several other Cairos in Europe},
where Pharaoh kept his granaries.

In the northern part of Asia Major^{1as opposed to Asia Minor, this refers to the area north and east of the Black Sea},
there are Tartars in the cold regions,
a brutish people in both laws and food.
As far as the waves of the Caspian Sea^{2Known at the time as the "Mar di Bachu", from the city of Baku on its shores.} resound,
a great river^{*The Volga River.} spreads across this land,
which is the joining of two tributaries, the Ile and the Tiro;^{3Discussed here in the context of Russian geography: http://archtat.ru/content/uploads/2020/02/p1-310_Tezisy_FD_Edit_sait-of-17.10.2016.pdf}
most of the time it is frozen by the cold.
The great city of Sarai is located there.

The aforementioned river flows into a great basin
of salt water^{*The Caspian Sea.}, enclosed on every side,
whose circumference is more or less
the same as the circumference of the Black Sea.
From one sea to the other, there is a path
that takes eight days or so from one end to another,
going directly east; this entire region
is named after the city of Baku.