This document discusses the concept of anthropomorphic maps, where the body of a god or goddess is mapped onto a geographic region with place names corresponding to body parts. It provides examples of proposed anthropomorphic maps of the deities Aphrodite and Hermes. For the map of Aphrodite, Somalia is suggested to correspond to her left leg. The document also contains a lengthy letter from Israel Cohen further exploring these ideas and their implications, with poetic language used at points to describe the maps.

1. Unknown Viewpointson Sacred,
Undividable Somalia
One point that kept me busy for long is the overwhelming unawareness of
Modern Somalis about their country’s sacredness and the absolutely exquisite
value of Somalia, and the Somali soil itself, for many ancient peoples and
civilizations.
My interpretation of the disadvantageous fact revolves around the lack of
Egyptology and Classical Studies in the modern state of Somalia; if Somali
students of History, Archeology, Literature, History of Religions, and
Philosophy had the opportunity to study mythical Egyptian hieroglyphic
texts, such as the Narration of the Shipwrecked, Pharaonic historical Annals,
like Queen Hatshepsut’s Exhibition to Punt, and Ancient Greek and Roman
Literature from Strabo and Agatharchides to the unknown author of the
Periplus of the Red Sea, they would certainly realize the capital significance of
the sacred land of Somalia (also called Punt and Azania in different historical
periods).

2. All this does not mean that modern Somalis do not love their currently
divided and strife-stricken fatherland for which many poems have been
composed full in metaphors, allegories and symbols. Somali love, affection,
and devotion for Somalia is an undeniable fact that was so impressively and
epigrammatically described by Dr. Ahmed Artan Hanghee, Dean of the
Institute of Arts under the Somali Academy of Science and Arts, as follows:
"Somali poets talk in the abstract. You'll find one describing the beauty of a
camel, but what he really means is Somali liberty and independence. Or the
subject of the poem might be a horse, but he's really describing the woman he
loves. The waves of the Indian Ocean become the waves of decolonization
and the freeing of Africa".
(http://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issue/198806/a.nation.of.bards.htm)
GreatHope for United and Pacified Somalia
Certainly the subject is vast, and I will soon come up with several articles,
revealing the importance of Somalia for ancient peoples, priests, authors,
travelers and philosophers; however, the phenomenon has not ended, and
through various forms, ancient traditions have survived down to our days, as
they are spread among many people who still understand the sublime
importance of Somalia.
This is essential at the times of strife and division, and I find it as a good
reason for the Somalis to hope, and console themselves when terrible images
and disastrous news flood us on daily basis. Even more, I would say the
Somali Diaspora, instead of engaging in unnecessary conventional political
lobbying, further discord, split and schism, should take the initiative to
launch an Association "Worldwide Friends of Somalia", and thus mobilize
great pro-Somali resources that remain unexploited and unengaged.
GeographicDeterminism
Somalia’s Sacredness emanates from what we call today ‘Geographic
Determinism’ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geographic_determinism),
which is a vast academic field greatly developed in the Antiquity, but little
known in our times.
In fact, leading scholars are still trying to decode and interpret ancient texts
that would give us the right insight to this key issue for ancient connoisseurs
and erudite priests and scholars in Mesopotamia, Egypt, Rome and
elsewhere.
Anthropomorphicmaps
One reflection of the Geographic Determinism that has been recomposed and
reinstated in our times is the sector of anthropomorphic maps (indicatively:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthropomorphism;
http://geography.about.com/b/2005/06/01/anthropomorphic-map-of-
israel.htm; and http://www.holylandmap.net/anthro/enisrael.htm).

3. Anthropomorphic maps are generated by configuring the body of a god or
goddess over the geographic area to be mapped. The name for each part of
that body becomes the name for the area or feature under that part.
Israel Cohen and Somalia’sSacred Position
Immediately after the publication of my article titled ‘4000 Years of Illustrious
History of Somalia’ (http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/58344), I
received an email from the part of a multi-talented and erudite researcher,
Mr. Israel Cohen. His areas of research and professional activities oscillate
from actuarial analysis and technical writing to computer programming /
analysis, and software engineering (computer aided design, avionics,
electrical engineering).
Mr. Israel Cohen learned about the concept of anthropomorphic maps and
about the maps of Napi and his wife in Alberta, Canada from the
anthropologist Stan Knowlton, and from the late, distinguished linguist Dan
Moonhawk Alford (About: http://sacaaa.org, http://seedopenu.org,
http://www.visionaryaudiovideo.com/vis-cart-bio.asp?id=131,
http://www.enformy.com/dma-eulogy.htm, and
http://www.fdavidpeat.com/forums/indigenous/alford.htm).
Mr. Israel Cohen’sparticularareas of interest in Linguistics are:
1. The formation of idioms (narrowly defined as phrases whose meaning
cannot be determined by ordinary analysis of the words in them) primarily by
transliteration of foreign terms and secondarily by the translation of foreign
idioms, and
2. The pervasive tendency of homonyms in a language to combine the same
semantically unrelated concepts that are combined to form (near) homonyms
in other languages
A Website dedicated to AnthropomorphicMaps
As Mr. Israel Cohen concentrated his efforts on Europe, Africa and Asia, he
established an anthropomorphic map, by matching the body-part terms with
toponyms that represent areas that stretch from the Ukraine to Yemen and
from Morocco to Somalia. To further propagate the concept and the
application, he initiated the website
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/BPMaps, exclusively specialized in
BPMaps (Body Part Maps).
For Mr. Israel Cohen’s interpretational effort of Sacred Geography, Somalia
"had been the left leg on an anthropomorphic map of Aphrodite, seen in left-
profile with her head at Morocco and her waist at Misr/Egypt".
Sacred Geographyin Islam

4. To Muslims, who may be shocked from this approach, I want to remind how
deeply embedded the Islamic Sacred Geography was at the times of Al
Khwarizmi and Ibn Al Arabi (http://web.uni-
frankfurt.de/fb13/ign/astronomy_in_baghdad/bibliography.html and
http://www.sacredsites.com/africa/morocco/morocco.html).
I add here an enlightening excerpt from Prof. David King’s ‘Reflections on
some new studies on applied science in Islamic societies (8th-19th centuries)’
(http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G1-119627483.html).
"On Jan 31, 2004, an American convert to Islam, with a Jewish father and
Christian mother, was interviewed by CNN about the hajj. He mentioned
that the Ka'bah, the physical centre of the world of Islam, was in itself
nothing more than bricks and mortar. The interested reader will find a lot
more about the significance of the layout of the rectangular base of the
Ka'bah--based on medieval texts written by Muslims--in the first and fourth
of the books mentioned above. When I was teaching at New York University
in the early 1980s, I had a doctoral student begin a dissertation--alas never
finished--on medieval texts dealing with the Ka'bah. The history of the
Ka'bah still has to be written, but it is just one amongst many topics that
demands our attention.
The task of the orientalist, or rather, an orientalist with my kind of interests
in the practical interaction between Islam and science over many centuries, is
to pose questions like the following and seek their answers. Why is the sacred
direction in Islam called qiblah, from the root q-b-l? Why is the term salat
for the Islamic prayer ritual written with a waw? Is it significant that the
major axis of the rectangular base of the Ka'bah is aligned towards the
rising-point of the star Canopus over the horizon of Makkah, and the minor
axis is aligned to the solar rising at the summer solstice? Muslims centuries
ago certainly thought it was. How have Muslims determined the qiblah and
the prayer-times over the centuries? Why do medieval mosques face all sorts
of curious directions, when any medieval astronomer could have advised on a
qiblah in accord with contemporaneous geographical knowledge? What is the
origin and significance of the distinctive definition of the beginning of the
time of the 'asr prayer in terms of the increase of the gnomon shadow over its
midday minimum by an amount equal to the length of the gnomon"?
Now, I will publish Mr. Israel Cohen’s letter integrally; I want to draw your
attention to its poetical ending. I did not edit the text, and I will not comment,
as it consists in a holistic approach very clearly expressed. I will soon come up
with details about Somalia’s sublime importance and sacredness in the
Antiquity.
In the light of these texts, approaches, viewpoints, and considerations, today’s
Somalis have to understand that, despite all evil schemes and all evildoings
perpetrated by evil enemies, like the criminal rulers of Abyssinia, and pathetic

5. renegades, like the pseudo-regime of Hargeysa, nothing from today’s
destruction and chaos can or will ultimately have impact on the diachronic
prevalence of Undividable Somalia.
Mr. Israel Cohen’sLetter
Dr. Muhammad Shamsaddin Megalommatis,
Saw your article entitled 4000 Years of Illustrious History of Somalia. To the
extent that etymologies of the toponyms described below are correct, they
indicate that Somalia had been the left leg on an anthropomorphic map of
Aphrodite, seen in left-profile with her head at Morocco and her waist at
Misr/Egypt.
Many years ago, Ethiopia was the name of an area that stretched all the way
from West Africa bordering on the Ethiopian Sea (now the South Atlantic
ocean) to the southern part of the Red Sea. It may have represented the body
of Cassiopia. Abyssinia (compare Hebrew kHaBaSH) reverses to form the
name of Queen Sheba.
I learned about anthropomorphic maps from the linguist Dan Moonhawk
Alford (deceased) and the anthropologist Stan Knowlton. They described the
maps of Napi, the creator of the Blackfoot Indians (aka The Old Man) and his
wife (The Old Woman) in Alberta, Canada. I "found" similar maps of a male
body (Hermes ?) in the Middle East and a female body (Aphrodite) in north
Africa.
AnthropomorphicMaps
Anthropomorphic maps were generated by configuring the body of a god or
goddess over the area to be mapped. The name of each part of that body
became the name of the area under that part. This produced a scale 1:1 map-
without-paper on which each place name automatically indicated its
approximate location and direction with respect to every other place on the
same map whose name was produced in this way.
You are cordially invited to join the BPMaps discussion group on this topic, a
very quiet list that averages about 2 messages per month. The URL is:
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/BPMaps/
The Challenge: To produce computer software that will find additional body-
part maps elsewhere in the world. Available inputs:
(1) geographic databases with ancient place names (e.g., the Perseus project).
(2) body-part names on Swadesh lists. Unfortunately, the navel is not
included.
Attributes of AnthropomorphicMaps
(1) The navel is the center of the body, the center of the map, and usually the
center of the map's language community.

6. (2) Place names (toponyms) may be reversed, metathesized, misspelled or
euphemized for various reasons:
(a) The same part in the same language exists on another map of a different
body. Cranium > Mo[n]rocco because Ukraine existed? Aphrodite is looking
backwards over her right shoulder. She is bent at her waist (Misr/Mitzraim =
MoSNaiM).
(b) The left (sinister) part is altered in names for left-right pairs (arms, legs,
eyes, ears). DoFeN = side reversed to Nafud in north Arabia. SHvK = thigh
with a T-sound for the letter shin = TvK reversed to Kuwait. BeReKH = knee
metathesized to Bahrain.
(c) Names that represent taboo body parts or functions are reversed or
euphemized:
Semitic PoS (female pudenda) reverses to yam SooF = sea of reeds (Red Sea).
Mare Rubrum (Latin for Red)
CaNa3an (3 = aiyin with a G-sound as in 3aZa = Gaza) is a reversal of Greek
gyneco-.
Sinai = "snatch" is spelled SiNi in Hebrew. The aleph=CHS is intentionally
missing.
ZaYiN = weapon (a euphemism for his male member) is in Sinai as the desert
of Zin.
(3) Names may be loan-translated due to conquest or language-change.
(a) Roxolania (Semitic Ro[chs]SH = head) => Rus *( Ro@SH) => Ukraine
(Greek kranion)
* Caused by a change in the sound of the aleph from CHS to a glottal stop.
(b) Libya (Semitic LeB = heart) => Cyrenaica (Latin cor = heart, compare
coronary) => Libya
(4) Rivers and bodies of water may be named after bodily excretions:
(a) Milk River in Alberta.
(b) Red Sea (Latin Mare Rubrum) is Aphrodite's menstruation.
(c) Gulf of Aqaba (Semitic QaVaH = digestion/defecation)
(5) Internal body parts may represent subdivisions of external parts.
(a) Arabic Misr / Hebrew Mitzraim (< TSaR = narrow) = waist (Hebrew
MoSNaim). Egypt (< Greek hepato- = liver). Goshen (with a T-sound shin <
Semitic QiTN = bean) = bean-shaped kidney. Goshen exported Arabic QuTN
= cotton => Latin Gossypium (English gossamer = cotton-like)

7. (b) Atlas Mountains < atlas = first cervical vertebra that supports the cranium.
(6) Islands near a body's hands may be named for weapons.
(a) Trinacria = trident (< Gk tri = three + Semitic NaKaR = to pierce) => Sicily
(< VL *sicila < Latin secula = sickle to harvest wheat; compare Semitic SaKiN
= knife). The trident was in Neptune / Poseidon's right hand (Italy, like
Anatolia < N'TiLas yad = arm being washed by the seas).
(b) Greece = reversal of Semitic S'RoG = (weighted) net, held in his left hand.
(c) Crete = reversal of targe = small shield (compare English target) also in his
left hand.
Aphrodite
The map of Aphrodite is in North Africa. Her face [PaNim] was lost during
the 3rd Punic war. The rest of her is still there. She is looking backwards over
her right shoulder, so her CRaniuM is reversed at Morocco. It still has a Fez.
Her chin [SaNTir] is reversed at Tunisia. The Atlas (anatomy: first cervical
vertebra) mountains support her head. Her hair [Sa3aRa] is the Sahara desert.
Her backbone [amood SHiDRa] is the Gulf of Sidra. Her heart [LeB] is Libya.
Her breast [SHaD] is Chad. Her narrow [TZaR] waist is Misr / Mitzraim. Her
liver (Greek hepato-) is Egypt. Cotton (Arabic QuTN, Latin Gossypium) was
exported from Goshen, her [QiTNit = bean]-shaped kidney. Her side [TZaD]
is Sudan. Her other side [DoFeN] is Dafur. Her left [SMoL] leg is Somalia.
[NeGeV] is a reversal of vagina and may be related to [NeKeV] = aperture.
[CaNa3aN] was her Latin cunnus (and a reversal of Greek gyneco-). Its name
changed to [YiSRa@eL] at the time when [Ya3aKoV] / Jacob "fought with god
and men" [Gen 32:29]. This represented a change in sovereignty from Africa
to Asia Minor. [ YiSRa@eL] is that body part that gives [@oSHeR] = delight to
[@eL] = god when it is [YaSHaR] = straight, upright. Changing Jacob's name
from [Ya3aKoV] = "ankle; curved, bent" to [YiSRa@eL] = "straight, upright +
god" is a well-known Hebrew pun.
Hermes
The body-part map of Hermes is in Asia Minor. kHermes [kHoR = hole +
MoSnaim = waist] lived at Mt. kHermon before he moved Mt. Olympus
(Greek omphalos = navel). Later his name was reversed to become Latin
Mercury. Compare Amerigo Vespucci and America.
His head [Ro@SH] was at Roxolania/Rus, south of Belarus. Its name changed
to the Ukraine (Gk kranion = cranium, *not *Slavic u kraina = to/at the
border). His throat [GaRGeret] is Georgia. His left shoulder [KaSaF] is the
Caspian Sea. His right shoulder [@aTZiL] was Euxinus, now the Black Sea.

8. His right arm/hand is being washed [NaTiLat] at Anatolia. His upper arm
(Sanskrit irma) at Armenia, biceps (Greek pontiki = muscle) at Pontus, elbow
[KiFooF yaD] at Cappadocia, wrist [m'FaReK] at Phrygia, and thumb
[BoHeN] at Bithynia were in Anatolia. His heart (Greek cardia) became
Kurdistan. His narrow [TZaR] waist is Syria and his navel (Sanskrit nabhila)
reverses to LeBaNon.
South of Lebanon is the male member (Greek phallus) named Philistina. See
[CaNa3aN / YiSRa@eL] above. His buttocks [YeReKH] are Iraq. His thigh
[shin-vav-kuf] sounded like TvK and reversed to Kuwait. His knee [BeReKH]
is partially reversed in Bahrain. His right [Y'MiN] foot is at Yemen.
These two bodies are connected, literally, at Sinai (with an aleph that is not
written in Hebrew, compare "snatch", a reversal of [K'NiSah] = entrance), a
part of her body that contains the desert of Zin, his "zaiyin".
Aphrodite asan AnthropomorphicMap
The goddess we call Aphrodite
Is not just an old Grecian deity.
The Phoenicians did make
Her a map. It's not fake.
Her body is cartograffiti.
The Punic war destroyed her face,
The Romans left nary a trace.
But her hair is still there,
In Sahara, that's where.
And her chin's a Tunisian place.
Mt. Atlas is her first verTebra.
Her backbone is now Gulf of Sidra.
Her heart is in Libya,
Her left leg, Somalia.
Her breast is in Chad wearing no bra.
The Greeks called her liver Egypt, an'
Her kidney was Biblical Goshen.
She's bent at her waist,
Now Misr-ably placed.
The Red Sea was her menstruation.
As a kid I did think the Red Sea
Was an English map typo: lost E,
From Reed Sea in Hebrew.
But that could not be true,
Mare Rubrum 'twas Latin, B.C.

9. Aphrodite with Hermes did sin,
We know this is true 'cause within
Her "snatch" we call Sinai
His "zaiyin" does still lie.
It's known as the desert of Zin.
Best regards,
Israel Cohen
To learn more:
http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G1-119627483.html; http://web.uni-
frankfurt.de/fb13/ign/astronomy_in_baghdad/bibliography.html;
http://sacredgeography.blogspot.com;
http://www.sacredsites.com/europe/greece/ancient_greek_sacred_geograp
hy.html; http://www.sacredsites.com/resources/sacred_geometry.html;
http://kataragama.org/research/cosmography.htm;
http://www.philipcoppens.com/karnak.html;
http://moses.creighton.edu/JRS/pdf/2001-12.pdf; and
http://www.mythography.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=1716&st=40
Note
Picture: Queen Europe as an anthropomorphic map by Heinrich Buenting,
Itinerarium Sacrae Scripturae. Praha 1592, Knihovna Národního musea 29B8
By Prof. Dr. Muhammad Shamsaddin Megalommatis
Published: 4/17/2008