Winged map of Asia......

I found a postcard of this map whilst in Israel. The map shows Asia in the shape of a winged horse. It is taken from Heinrich Bunting's, Itinerarium Sacrae Scripturae, Ambrosii Kirchner, Magdeburg, 1594. The Itinerarium Sacrae Scripturae, was an extremely unusual work relating to the Bible, first published in 1581. In this volume, Bunting rewrote the Bible in the form of a travel account, and illustrated the volume with a series of maps. The book proved popular, and was frequently reprinted, into the seventeenth century. In classical mythology, Pegasus was a winged horse which sprang from the body of the Gorgon Medusa when Perseus cut her head off. He was tamed by Bellerophon with the assistance of the goddess Athena, and featured in a number of Bellerophon's exploits, most particularly when Bellerophon provoked the anger of the gods by trying to ride Pegasus up to Heaven.