Mapping the Vilna Page

Map title

Mapping the Vilna Page

Author

Omer Shadmi

Publication date / version

October 20, 2026 / 1

Geographic coverage

Various

CRS

Source data WGS84 (EPSG:4326); maps drawn in a custom spherical Lambert azimuthal equal-area projection (R = 6371 km), centered separately on each map (see table); output in page pixels.

Dimensions

1123 × 1587 px page (A3 portrait)

Map file

Berakhot_2a_as_maps_A3 / [URL]

Software

Claude, models Opus 5.5 and Sonnet 5.5

Documentation date / method

October 19, 2026 / Retrospective

Permanent link

https://spatial-studio.net/maps/mapping-the-vilna-page/

#

Operation

1

I Uploaded to Claude an image of Berachot 2a Vilna page with boxes tracing each page section. Typed the following prompt: “Discussing an idea: create a vilna page of berachot 1b as maps showing where each part was created. In the file attached you see the boxes of each part for reference (not a guideline). Each map will show the places in the same font as the text. What’s outside the box at the top except for מסורת הש"ס remains as title, ignore the bottom. Each map also includes a timeline and name. Suggest nice ideas and raise difficulties”

2

Claude suggested several more ideas, some were good, some irrelevant, some impossible. After a conversation and several rounds of decisions it produced a first draft.

3

Stages 3-5 were done in parallel in about 15 rounds of review in chat: fixing maps frames to match the page layout, setting fonts to match the Vilna folio, deciding maps titles, deciding map extents, adding the original text in seas, choosing color and texture, fixing places with wrong locations, adjusting wrong and displaced labels, positioning time bar and scale bar.

4

Asked Claude to add historical political boundaries. Result was poor and I asked it to remove them. Labels for political entities kept, Claude’s initial labels were mostly right but required review and some changes.

5

Asked Claude to specify its data sources (see data source table)

6

I consulted the following book to verify several locations and map extents: Jacob Z. Mayer, and Ishay Rosen-Zvi. The Talmud: A History of Learning. (Magness, 2025) [in Hebrew]

7

Final review before publishing protocol. Changes: remove political boundaries traces in several maps; fixing displaced wrong and distorted labels; fixing north arrows style and position; adding data sources; writing this file

Map

Places

Mishnah

Pleiades (Usha, Beit She’arim, Sepphoris, Tiberias); OpenStreetMap (Shefar’am)

Gemara

Pleiades (Anbar for Nehardea, Veh Ardashir for Mahoza); OpenStreetMap (Fallujah for Pumbedita, al-Hirah for Sura); approximate for Sura and Pumbedita. Corrected by Omer.

Rashi

OpenStreetMap.

Tosafot

OpenStreetMap, checked; scholars from the Jewish Encyclopedia (1906), Encyclopaedia Judaica, a 2023 study in Revue des Études Juives, VIAF, the Posen Library and the Jewish Historical Society of England

Rav Nissim Gaon

Claude’s training data

Ein Mishpat

Claude’s training data

Masoret HaShas

Claude’s training data

Hagahot HaBach

Claude’s training data

Gilyon HaShas

Claude’s training data

Dataset

Publisher

Base map (coast, lakes, rivers)

naturalearthdata.com

Hebrew texts

Sefaria

Fonts: Frank Ruhl Libre, Noto Rashi Hebrew

Google Fonts

Map

Center longitude (° E)

Center latitude (° N)

Center on page (px)

Mishnah

35.3

32.78

606, 430

Gemara

44.487

31.890

606, 900

Rashi

6.2

49.2

884, 640

Tosafot

4.2

49.0

549, 1235

Rav Nissim Gaon

10.1

35.68

121, 1300

Ein Mishpat

11.6

45.05

121, 262

Masoret HaShas

14.7

48.0

1032, 490

Hagahot HaBach

21.8

51.1

1032, 1100

Gilyon HaShas

16.6

52.9

450, 1520