Although they do not concern morals, many other representations are very useful. Such are the descriptions of cities and countries used by the ancients. Without looking for other examples, Platina writes that Charlemagne owned three silver tables: on one, which he presented to the basilica of Blessed Peter, was engraved the image of the city of Constantinople; on another, which he offered to the church of Ravenna, was the image of the city of Rome; on the third, which he left to his sons, was the description of the world. Pope Zechariah had the description of the earthly universe painted in the tower of the Lateran patriarchate, as is stated in the Liber Pontificialis, Volume III of the Councils. But they were not the first to describe the world: on the talar robe (which Aaron, an irreproachable man, portrayed, offering his prayer and supplication with incense) was the earthly universe, and the great deeds of the ancestors were chiselled on four rings of precious stones.

“Sunt et aliae picturae, quae tametsi non morales, multum tamen utiles sunt. Quales sunt descriptions urbium et regionum, quibus etiam veteres usi sunt. Nam ut alia relinquam exempla, scribit Platina Carolum Magnum tres habuisse mensas argenteas, quarum unam (in qua urbs Constantinopolitana insculpta erat) Basilicae Beati Petri, aliam (ubi imago Urbis Romae cernebatur) Ecclesiae Ravennati dono dedit, tertiam filiis reliquit, ubi inerat orbis terrarium descriptio. Sic et Zacharias Papa in turri Lateranensis patriarchii, orbis terrarum descriptionem depinxit. Ut habet Pontificialis liber tomo 3. Conciliorum. Neque vero hi primi orbem descripserunt in veste enim poderis (quam habebat homo sine querela Aaron, proferens pro populis servitutis suae scutum, orationem et per incensum deprecationem allegans) totus erat orbis terrarum et parentum magnalia in quatuor ordinibus lapidum sculpta erant.”