Who can decipher this map of the Freemasons?
An 18th century Masonic document shows a city, a river, and many strange symbols and letters. Can a reader solve this cryptogram?
On Cipherbrain I have blogged about many things in the last years: about encrypted postcards, encrypted letters, encrypted diaries, encrypted inscriptions and encrypted dedications – just to name a few examples.
An encrypted map, on the other hand, has never been a topic on this blog before. Although I have already presented some encrypted texts that are supposed to reveal the location of a treasure (the number of treasures found with them, on the other hand, was less numerous), these cryptograms do not contain a map – even though this would make perfect sense.
I have also blogged about maps hiding messages. But that is not the point here. In my book “Hidden Messages – The Fascinating History of Steganography” there are also a few sections about maps where streets, roads or small places are marked that do not exist. This is supposed to convict copyists. But also this shall not be the topic today.
As it seemed, in the past centuries nobody had the idea to encode the places mentioned on a map.
The Masonic map
Thanks to Russian blog reader Alexander Uliyanenkov, however, I can now present for the first time a document that can be interpreted as an encoded map. Here it is:
Quelle/Source: 12Auction
Alex found this map on the website of the Russian auction house 12Auction. According to the description there, the document dates back to the 18th century and was created by Freemasons. It indicates the 15th degree in the high degree system of Freemasons – whatever that means. That’s all I know about this card.
At the four ends of the map the words “Oriens” (East), “Meridies” (South), “Occidens” (West) and “Setentrio” (North) are indicated in plain text. Unlike today’s practice, the East is at the top.
The cryptogram
On the map there are numerous symbols which remind of a rebus. Possibly they are to be interpreted in such a way. Some years ago I presented a freemason book on Cipherbrain, whose content consists exclusively of such rebus symbols. A certain similarity to the symbols on the card is not to be overlooked:
Quelle/Source: Freimaurer-Archiv London
In addition, the following letters can be found on the card:
JB EG WM T L SDP
Their meaning is not known to me. The text under the frame is also interesting:
Quelle/Source: 12Auction
The upper part looks like a key. The lower part could be a short encrypted message.
Finally, the question remains what the map (if it is one) is supposed to represent. I see a river and a city underneath. Can anyone recognize the city? You probably won’t be able to identify the river from the drawing alone. But maybe a reader will know what the skulls mean.
Overall, I find this document very intriguing. Thanks to Alexander Uliyanenkov for the tip. Maybe my readers can help decipher this map (or whatever it is supposed to be).
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Further reading: Wer kann diesen Freimaurer-Stempel entschlüsseln?
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