Navel of the world
The navel of the world is a place that, according to a mythological idea, should embody the center of the world. Examples of such places are:
- the Umbilicus urbis in Rome
- the Easter Island in the South
- the Omphalos at Delphi
- Biʾr al-arwāh in the Al-maghāra cave in the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem
- the Catholic Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem
- the city of Cusco in Peru
- the "center of the empire" (umbilicus imperii) on the Domberg in Bamberg
- the Omphalion in Hagia Sophia in Istanbul.
The expression “to consider oneself for the center of the world” found its way into everyday German as a paraphrase for egocentrism .