Though classical antiquity was the main source of medieval knowledge and fancy concerning India, it was not the only source. The mysterious Ophir, whence came the gold and jewels of Solomon, was placed in India on the Lambert map [1293] and on the Jerome map of the world.[1294] There also early came into existence a well-rooted idea that this country was the home of a large and flourishing Christian colony. The origins of the latter belief are to be found in reports which had filtered through to Europe at an early date of St. Thomas the Apostle’s preaching of the gospel in India and of the existence of Nestorian Christianity in southern Hindustan.[1295] The story of St. Thomas contains some elements of geographical interest.[1296] Christ was said to have sold Thomas to the merchant Habban in order that he might be taken to India to convert the people. Once arrived there by ship, having landed at a port of Sandaruk, or Andrapolis, he succeeded in gaining for the Christian religion the king, Gundophorus, and his brothers. The saint built for the king a palace in heaven. According to the original story, this palace was not a real structure but merely the symbol of a heavenly habitation for the monarch. As the legend was subsequently developed, St. Thomas was represented as an architect whom Gundophorus summoned to his court to build an actual dwelling, and one of the miracles by which the saint succeeded in converting the Indian potentate to Christianity was his almost instantaneous construction of the palace. The legend then proceeds to relate how St. Thomas was conducted by one Siphorius to the kingdom of a certain Mazdeus, of his martyrdom at the hands of the latter, and of the subsequent removal of his body to Edessa in Syria. [Illustration: FIG. 8—Two sections from the Hereford map to illustrate the marvels of India. (From the reproduction accompanying Miller, _Mappaemundi_, vol. iv, 1896.) In this first section are shown, among others, a _skiapod_, or sunshade-footed man (to the left), and _cynocephali_, or men with dogs’ heads. ] [Illustration: FIG. 8 (second section)—In this section is shown a _mantichora_, or beast with a man’s head and a lion’s body. ] The stories of St. Thomas and St. Bartholomew were often retold during our period, notably, for instance, in the _Historia ecclesiastica_ of Ordericus Vitalis.[1297] The Osma Beatus map[1298] shows heads representing the twelve apostles in the various countries of the world; that of St. Thomas is placed in India (see Fig. 4, p. 123, above). The unknown writer of the _Letter of Prester John_ was undoubtedly familiar with the legend of St. Thomas, because he makes Prester John’s palace correspond exactly to the palace built by the saint.[1299] This legend was a favorite subject for representation in the sculptures of cathedrals and stained glass windows of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries.[1300] _Visit of Patriarch John of India to Rome_