The Babylonian clay tablet often called the oldest known world map is the Imago Mundi.
Created in the sixth century BCE during the Neo-Babylonian period, the tablet presents Babylon at the center of a circular world. It shows the Euphrates, surrounding regions, and a ring representing the “Bitter River,” usually identified with the ocean known to the Babylonians.
The map is not a geographically accurate survey in the modern sense. Its purpose was likely to express Babylonian ideas about the known world, combining geography with mythological and literary information. Cuneiform text on the reverse describes places and distant regions.
A common mix-up is calling the tablet simply a “map of Babylon.” Babylon is only the central location; the object depicts a broader world-view. The term Imago Mundi is a modern Latin name meaning “image of the world.”