Tabula Peutingeriana Research Articles

La viabilità tardoantica: riflessioni e problemi aperti

Between the 4th and 5th centuries BC, the use, management and hierarchies of Roman roads changed. In particular, at that period the itineraria (Antonini, Burdigalense and Tabula Peutingeriana) and the milestones, together with the literary texts, attest on one hand the vitality of roads due to military and pilgrimage purposes, on the other hand the problems regarding their maintenance. The milestones from the Tetrarchic period became acts of tribute to the emperors by the local jurisdictions (cf. text in dative and the decrease of mileage indication), demonstrating a different management of the roads. In fact, the dedications to the central power may indicate a new role of the provinces/towns in the maintenance and care of the roads passing through their territory, together with the voluntary declaration of loyalty and devotion to the emperors. In the context of the late antique political transformations, deep changes are observed in the hierarchy between the roads, strictly related to the changes of urban and rural settlement: between the 4th and 5th centuries a few roads lost their importance, in favour to others (such as waterways) which before had had only a secondary use. The paper explains the phenomenon, and in Roman Cisalpina in particular. [Author]

Bilješke o antičkoj topografiji Gornje Mezije na osnovu rimskih itinerara (nekolika primjera sa Kosova i Metohije)

The paper considers the data about the problems of locating road stations and road communications in the province of Kosovo and Metohija. Researchers' opinions about their locations differ. The basis of successful research of ancient road communications and settlements in the province of Moesia Superior is provided by written source materials and material remains. What is especially significant are the data from Tabula Peutingeriana, Ptolemy's Geography and Anonymous Geographer from Ravenna, inscriptions, settlements and other material remnants. Archaeological findings point to the fact that Roman road network and settlements were developed in this area. Furthermore, the paper presents data concerning new observations about the remains of the road and settlements from this area. Due to data from written historical sources i.e. itineraries, and closer inspection of the terrain, we find out that in the area of Moesia Superior (The Province of Kosovo and Metohija) road stations on the main travel route Lissum-Naissus, namely Gabuho, Theranda, Viciano, Vindenis, and Ad Fines were drawn. Data from ancient cartographic sources as well as the results of archaeological research of road communications in the Province of Kosovo and Metohija, in addition to significant facts that were presented, have not given a complete picture of the location of Roman travel routs and stations. However, on the basis of the abovementioned written sources which reveal the distance among road station, and due to material remains i.e. data from the area (saved road segments and milestones), marked routes of Roman road communications with road stations in the Province of Kosovo and Metohija were determined, which partly contributed to the ancient topography of this area being well known.

Bilješke o putnoj stanici i naselju Vindenis na komunikaciji Naisus-Lisus (jedan primjer iz prve polovine IV vijeka)

The paper discusses the data on the issues of ubication of the road station Vindenis on the route Naisus (Niš) Lisus (Lješ). The opinion of the researchers on the ubication of the settlement and station are quite different. The various directions of the route implied the differ­ences in ubication of the road station Vindenis. The bigger strikink building was discovered on the mentioned route Naisus-Lisus near the village Glavnik (locality Poljanice). It is a villa in which the rooms were heated by the warm air. The rooms were luxurious with the floor mosaic representations. The movable archaeological findings (ceramic vessels, glass, nails, jewellery, money of the Constantine I and Constantine II) date from the first half of the 4th century. However, we believe that the past claims on the ubication of the station Vendenis in Vidin (a part of the village Marevice, near Novo Brdo) are not well founded. It was believed so because of the similar­ity of name, on the basis of the medieval sources. According to the insight into the terrain, the distances noted in Tabula Peutingeriana Ptolemy's Geographia, and to the preserved seg­ments of the road and milestones without inscriptions it can be said that the road station Vindenis was situated near Podujevo (five kilo­metres southwest from Podujevo, and north from Priština), near the village Glavnik (locality Poljanice) behind the left bank of the river Laba. Although the significant number of findings indicates the hypoth­esis that Vindenis station was in locality Poljanice (Glavnik) near Podujevo, it requires the systematic archaeological researches which would prove it or not.

Provincia Lucania: Topography and land survey in a changing landscape, from Late Antiquity to the Early Middle Ages (part 2)

Provincia Lucania is the name used by sources in Late Antiquity to define the part of ancient regio III which the Diocletianic reforms included as one of the most productive regions of suburbicarian Italy. The heterogeneity of the studies carried out in the past and the treatment of archaeological and philological data together with statistical examples, even extended to non investigated parts, underestimate the exact content of textual, epigraphic and mapping sources about this land as well as the connections which existed between distant but culturally very close localities. The topographic analysis of the provincia also take place together with the surveyors’ texts, in such a way that the evolution of the landscape from the 5th to the 11th centuries emerges by comparing and relating the latter to the reality. The different versions of Tabula Peutingeriana, the itineraria and the so-called <Liber Coloniarum> or <Regionum> are here decoded and open up new perspectives to analyze a still largely unknown territory.

Provincia Lucania: topografia e agrimensura in un paesaggio che cambia, dalla Tarda Antichità all'Alto Medioevo (prima parte)

Provincia Lucania is the name used by sources in Late Antiquity to define the part of ancient regio III which the Diocletianic reforms included as one of the most productive regions of suburbicarian Italy. The heterogeneity of the studies carried out in the past and the treatment of archaeological and philological data together with statistical examples, even extended to non investigated parts, underestimate the exact content of textual, epigraphic and mapping sources about this land as well as the connections which existed between distant but culturally very close localities. The topographic analysis of the provincia also take place together with the surveyors’ texts, in such a way that the evolution of the landscape from the 5th to the 11th centuries emerges by comparing and relating the latter to the reality. The different versions of Tabula Peutingeriana, the itineraria and the so-called Liber Coloniarum or Regionum are here decoded and open up new perspectives to analyze a still largely unknown terri...

Sulla rappresentazione cartografica del così detto papiro di Artemidoro

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.

Written and archaeological sources for the reconstruction of Roman road network in the province of Lower Moesia

"In Moesia inferior traces of Roman roads are rare. Most of their descriptions belong to the late nineteenth century and were carried out especially by the Shkorpil brothers. Many of the roads thus mentioned do not exist anymore. The aim of this article is to propose the reconstitution of the communication network of the province based on the analysis of literary, epigraphic and archaeological sources. Th e most important written sources are listed grouped by the type of given information on the roads: defi nition, types, stages of construction, juridical regime etc. Th e cartographic sources are the main ones: Tabula Peutingeriana, Itinerarium Antonini, Notitia Dignitatum etc. Epigraphical and archaeological sources are added to these. If the literary or juridical sources, maps, etc. contain general information, valid throughout the Roman Empire, for the reconstitution of the road system of Moesia Inferior the most important role is played by inscriptions: the milestone inscriptions, those mentioning military annexes built along the roads or second-ranking soldiers charged with guarding roads. All these data enable not only to outline the routes but also to establish their chronology. "

Rome’s World: The Peutinger Map reconsidered by Richard A. Talbert (review)

Reviewed by: Rome’s World: The Peutinger Map reconsidered by Richard A. Talbert Tønnes Bekker-Nielsen Richard A. Talbert, assisted by Nora Harris, Gannon Hubbard, David O’Brien and Graham Shepherd, with a contribution by Martin Steinmann. Rome’s World: The Peutinger Map reconsidered. New York: Cambridge University Press. 2010. Pp. xviii + 357. CDN $91.95. ISBN 9780521764803. Students of the classical world are accustomed to classify the texts and artifacts that form the basis of our research by type, genre, style, material or period, into neat categories defined and refined by generations of tidy-minded scholars. The document forming the subject of this book, however, eludes all attempts at categorization. It combines elements of text and image, road map and road-book, yet it is neither one nor the other. Its purpose is disputed: was it intended for journey planning or as ornamentation? Its original dimensions are unknown, since part of the scroll had already been lost before the present copy, measuring 6.94 meters in length by 0.33 meters in height, was produced at some time around the year 1200. According to the view of Theodor Mommsen and others, the original was derived from the wall map of Agrippa (late first century bc) while Emily Albu has recently argued that it was compiled as late as the ninth century ad. Today, the document is formally known as the Codex—which it is not—Vindobonensis 324, slightly less formally as the Tabula Peutingeriana after its onetime owner, Konrad Peutinger (1465-1547). Nothing is known about the original creator(s); Konrad Miller’s attempt to identify him as the Castorius cited by the Ravenna cosmographer earned the ridicule of many later scholars, including the authors of the present volume (133-34). Given the many uncertainties surrounding the Tabula Peutingeriana, not to mention the acerbity of the scholarly debates it has engendered, Richard Talbert and his collaborators deserve our admiration for embarking on a ten-year voyage of discovery through the world of the anonymous cartographer(s). The present volume is one product of this endeavor; another is an online [End Page 145] database, to which appendices 7 through 9 (196-286) provide a user’s guide. The larger part of the book is devoted to the origin, reception and purpose of what the authors call the Peutinger Map (henceforth PM). This is in itself a programmatic statement. Whereas most recent studies have interpreted the PM as an itinerarium pictum or route diagram, this book returns to the earlier view that the PM is a true work of cartography, i.e. an attempt at depicting the earth’s surface as a graphic image. The chapters follow an inverse chronological sequence, the first and longest (10-72) tracing the modern history of the PM since its acquisition by Konrad Peutinger and supplemented by appendices 1-6. This is followed by a brief, but rich chapter (73-85) on the medieval copy: its material, its paleography, date and place of origin (co-authored with Martin Steinmann). In Chapters 3 on “design and character” (86-122) and 4 on “recovery of the original from the surviving copy” (123-32), we move closer to Antiquity and by Chapter 5, “The Original Map” (133-57) we have reached the late Roman world in which the archetype of the PM was created. The concluding chapter discusses “the map’s place in Classical and Medieval cartography”. The book offers a number of new insights and provocative ideas, especially in Chapter 5 where Richard Talbert attempts to reconstruct the format and context of the PM’s archetype. The majority opinion among scholars holds that our twelfth-century copy reproduces a map of the later fourth century whose peculiarly elongated shape was dictated by the need to fit it onto a papyrus scroll. Talbert does not question the late fourth-century date of the version transmitted to posterity, but contends that this in its turn was based on an earlier archetype, a wall map produced under the Tetrarchy and probably displayed in the apse of an imperial audience chamber. He hypothesizes (146) that it would be natural for the apse of an aula to possess not just one...

Οι αποκρύψεις έκτακτης ανάγκης στην κυρίως Ελλάδα επί Γαλλιηνού (253-268 μ.Χ.) με αφορμή τον «θησαυρό» Χαιρώνεια 2001

Emergency hoards concealed in mainland Greece during the reign of Gallienus (A.D. 253-268) and the Chaironeia/2001 ‘hoard’. Boeotia during the first half of the third cent. A.D. and the Herulians. The Chaironeia/2001 coin hoard, exhibited today in the Numismatic Collection of the Chaironeia Archaeological Museum, was found during a rescue excavation of a Roman farmhouse (villa rustica), 500 m. outside of modern Chaironeia. This hoard consists of 10 antoniniani issued either during the joined reign of Valerianus I – Gallienus (A.D. 253-260) or the sole reign of Gallienus (A.D. 260-268).The date of the latest coin, issued from 266 to the middle of 267 or to the beginning of A.D. 268, establishes either the date of hoard’s concealment or the date of farmhouse’s abandonment. The short space between the earliest and the latest coin of the hoard, 10-11 years, the almost good condition of the coins, and their small number suggests that the house’s owner concealed the money lest he suffer some danger, so that he could regain his money safely at a later date.Prompted by this small find an overview of the emergency hoards concealed in mainland Greece during the reign of Gallienus (A.D. 253-268) has been undertaken, so that conclusions concerning their geographical distribution, the quality, and the quantity of hoards can be deduced.When looking for reasons why a farmer would feel the need to hide his money, one possible explanation comes from the literary evidence. In Historia Augusta, Vita Gallieni 13.8, the Herulians are going through Boeotia and sacking villages and farms. Their course, in combination with the findspots of the emergency hoards and the scattered information collected from the partly preserved Itinerarium Antonini 325/6, of Diocletianus era, and Tabula Peutingeriana map, of the second half of the fourth century A.D., helps strengthen the argument that Boeotians had reason to hide their money until it was safe to go back to their homes.Finally, it is likely that the Herulian going through Boeotia is more than possible, since the German intruders eventually fled northwards to Epirus and Macedonia. The Chaironeia/2001 hoard constitutes one of a lost link in a chain of emergency hiding places deposited during the reign of Gallienus. To the unproved indication of Herulian presence in Lebadeia could be added now the more secure proof of Chaironeia, which is based on the heavier numismatic evidence. The fact that the Herulian troops were persecuted by the Roman legions could be a good reason for the absence of well-founded destruction remains throughout Boeotia.

Mark R. Altaweel, Stefan R. Hauser. « Trade routes to Hatra according to evidence from ancient sources and modern satellite imagery ». Baghdader Mitteilungen, 35, 2004, pp. 59-86.

Even if the city of Hatra is well known as a political and religious centre of Eastern Jazirah, its role in long distance trade-routes still remains enigmatic. This article focuses on the major routes leading towards the city, comparing the study of modern satellite imagery with a further reading of ancient sources, in particular the so-called Tabula Peutingeriana. This Roman itinerary map points out the city of Hatra as a pivot in ancient trade-routes, connecting lowland Mesopotamia with the...

The Venerable Bede and the Tabula Peutingeriana

There is hidden within early texts information, which if analysed, can be used to increase our understanding of early cartography. This paper considers the possible relevance of the Venerable Bede's concept of Britannia to cartography, his comprehension of the original data, and, why that may have affected his view of Britannia. The information also provides us with an opportunity to construct an alternative for the lost portion of the Tabula Peutingeriana, at least as it pertains to Britain, and to consider the residual areas.

Una postazione di miliari presso Abu Kammash (Tripolitania)

AbstractIn 1998 a mile-station was discovered along the ancient coastal road 1400 m east of Abu Kammash, a centre identified with ancient Pisida on the basis of the Roman itineraries: the Itinerarium Antonini records a distance of 54 miles from Sabratha; the Tabula Peutingeriana of only 53. The Department of Antiquity of Sabratha in collaboration with the Archaeological Mission of the University Roma Tre recovered a milestone of Caracalla (216 AD) and another of Diocletian and Maximian (290-292 AD). Both bear the number of 54 miles, a distance evidently reckoned from the city of Sabratha, in perfect accordance with the figure of the Itinerarium Antonini.

Rutilia's Lake

The Lago di Bracciano is a lake in Southern Etruria with a surface of 57.5 square kilometers. Its maximum length is 9.3 kilometers. The width goes up to 8.7 kilometers. The extent of the lake is 31.5 kilometers. Its water originates in part from some small rivers, and in part from underground springs. The lake is situated in a volcanic area, a fact which is important in our case.The Romans called the Lago di Braccianolacus Sabatinus. We find the lake referred to by this name on the tabula Peutingeriana. Collumella mentions the lake in his workDe re rusticain the chapter on pisciculture. He points out that due to farmers' care some lakes have sea-fish, which can stand fresh water:Inde Velinus, inde etiam Sabatinus, item Volsiniensis et Ciminius lupos auratasque procreaverunt, ac si qua sunt alia piscium genera dulcis undae tolerantia.

The Embassy of Romulus to Attila. One of the last citations of Poetovio in classical literature

Poetovio, an important Norican settlement on the ancient amber trading route, belonged to the province of Pannonia in the period of its greatest prosperity, and was known from the period of Trajan onwards as colonia Ulpia. As is shown by the Itinerarium Hierosolymitanum (561, 4) and the Tabula Peutingeriana (IV, 20), in the 4th century - undoubtedly after the changes in provincal administration introduced by Diocletian - the city was again attached to Noricum, more exactly: to the province of Noricwn Meditarraneum, as is confirmed by later sources.

The Biblical Shephelah of Judah

Previous articleNext article No AccessThe Biblical Shephelah of JudahA. F. RaineyA. F. Rainey Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Bulletin of the American Society of Overseas Research Volume 251Summer 1983 A journal of the American Schools of Oriental Research Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.2307/1356823 Views: 14Total views on this site Citations: 2Citations are reported from Crossref Journal History This article was published in the Bulletin of the American School of Oriental Research (1921-2021), which is continued by the Bulletin of the American Schools of Overseas Research (2022-present). Copyright 1983 The American Schools of Oriental ResearchPDF download Crossref reports the following articles citing this article: James W. Hardin , Christopher A. Rollston , and Jeffrey A. Blakely Biblical Geography in Southwestern Judah, Near Eastern Archaeology 75, no.11 (Nov 2018): 20–35.https://doi.org/10.5615/neareastarch.75.1.0020 Ron E. Tappy The Tabula Peutingeriana: Its Roadmap to Borderland Settlements in Iudaea-Palestina With Special Reference to Tel Zayit in the Late Roman Period, Near Eastern Archaeology 75, no.11 (Nov 2018): 36–55.https://doi.org/10.5615/neareastarch.75.1.0036

Un exemplaire de la Tabula itineraria ou Tabu la Peutingeriana édition Moretus 1598, conservé à Mons

[In the collection of maps and plans belonging to the Central Library of the State University Centre at Mons (Belgium) there is a copy of the Tabula Peutingeriana, editio princeps, Antwerp, Plantin-Moretus, 1598. This copy, which was acquired in 1960, forms part of the Puissant Collection. There appear to be only two copies of this itinerary in Belgium: in the Royal Library, Brussels, and at Mons. The Royal Library also possesses the incomplete Venice edition, produced by Aldus in 1591. Prior to 1914 the University of Louvain also owned a copy. The Tabula at Mons is a roll, 4.08 metres long, with a linen backing; the Brussels copy is preserved in an oblong binding 52 cm. in length. This itinerary has become well-known, notably through the labours of K. Miller, and also because it has been published on various occasions since the 17th century, either with the help of the Antwerp plates of 1398, or with the use of other plates, or by means of modern reproduction processes, especially lithography. The medieval manuscript forming the source of this edition is housed in the Osterreichische Nationalbibliothek at Vienna. The edition of 1598 consisted of 250 copies; at this moment the whereabouts of 10 of these are known (Cf. p. 210, note 1). The author would be very grateful for information about the existence and location of any copies unknown to her., In the collection of maps and plans belonging to the Central Library of the State University Centre at Mons (Belgium) there is a copy of the Tabula Peutingeriana, editio princeps, Antwerp, Plantin-Moretus, 1598. This copy, which was acquired in 1960, forms part of the Puissant Collection. There appear to be only two copies of this itinerary in Belgium: in the Royal Library, Brussels, and at Mons. The Royal Library also possesses the incomplete Venice edition, produced by Aldus in 1591. Prior to 1914 the University of Louvain also owned a copy. The Tabula at Mons is a roll, 4.08 metres long, with a linen backing; the Brussels copy is preserved in an oblong binding 52 cm. in length. This itinerary has become well-known, notably through the labours of K. Miller, and also because it has been published on various occasions since the 17th century, either with the help of the Antwerp plates of 1398, or with the use of other plates, or by means of modern reproduction processes, especially lithography. The medieval manuscript forming the source of this edition is housed in the Osterreichische Nationalbibliothek at Vienna. The edition of 1598 consisted of 250 copies; at this moment the whereabouts of 10 of these are known (Cf. p. 210, note 1). The author would be very grateful for information about the existence and location of any copies unknown to her.]

Preliminary Report on Excavations at Şar, Comana Cappadociae, in 1967

The site of Comana Cappadociae lies, according to Strabo (XII. 2. 3.), in a deep and narrow valley of the Antitaurus, on both banks of the river Sarus. That this description is aptly fitted by the ruins at the village of Şar, in the valley of the Göksu or Sarız çay, in the kaza of Mağara (in 1967 renamed Tufanbeyli), at the northernmost point of the vilayet of Adana, was soon noted by visitors (Plates XLIV a, b, XLV a). The best evidence for the location of Comana is given by the Tabula Peutingeriana and by the Itineraria Antoniniana, both of which show the city to be on the direct route from Caesareia (Kayseri) to Melitene (Eski Malatya). The Tabula Peutingeriana shows that the traveller had to cross a range of mountains as he approached Comana from the west, as now one can approach Şar by the direct route across the Antitaurus. The Itineraria Antoniniana (210.5–211.4) give a distance of 154 Roman miles between Melitene and Comana, while a milestone in the village at Şar, of the great series belonging to that road, bears the number 157. This close correspondence makes it certain that the ruins at Şar are those of the classical Comana, even without the cumulative circumstantial evidence of the inscriptions. The relationship of the Hittite Kummanni, and Kizzuwatna, with Comana is of course another problem which, regrettably, remains unsolved.