Sulla rappresentazione cartografica del così detto papiro di Artemidoro

Abstract

The geographic map on the Papyrus of Artemidorus, datable according to its editors to the first century B.C., is analyzed on two levels. The image is first placed in its context of similar cartographic productions in classical Antiquity. This first level of analysis admits that it is impossible to establish parallels between the papyrus map and similar images, which are rarities in the preserved graphic patrimony. It is difficult, without exaggerating, to find comparisons with maps that are distanced in time and space, such as the Tabula Peutingeriana (a thirteenth-century map based on a Roman model of the second to fourth century), the mosaic at Madaba from the sixth century, or the maps present in the copies of the Geography of Ptolemy, attested at the latest in the thirteenth century. The second level of analysis treats the content of the map. The absence of significant indications hinders conclusions about the symbols and characters; the map remains mute due to the total lack of explanatory texts. No internal or external element supports the different hypotheses expounded in the last ten years of research. The only possible conclusion is that the document itself will not help us progress in any of the fundamental epistemological areas: modelling of space, techniques of representation, the notions of scale, the use of codified symbols, the orientation of the map, its use, those who had it made, etc. The question of whether the papyrus is ancient or a fake, while important to other areas of research, has no meaning from the point of view of cartographic history.