The Tabula Peutingeriana: the only Roman World Map that Survived from Antiquity

The Tabula Peutingeriana. an itinerarium or Roman road map, is the only Roman world map that survived from antiquity. It depicts the road network of the Roman Completare. The map survives mediante per unique copy, preserved at the Osterreichische Nationalbibliothek mediante Vienna, made by verso monk mediante Colmar, Alsace, in the thirteenth century, of verso map that was last revised per the fourth or early fifth century. That, con turn, was verso descendent of the map prepared under the direction of Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, verso friend of Augustus. After Agrippa’s death the map was engraved on marble and placed per the Porticus Vipsaniae, not far from the Tavola liturgica Pacis Augustae con Rome.

The Tabula Peutingeriana « is per parchment scroll , 0.34 m high and 6.75 m long, assembled from eleven sections, a medieval reproduction of the original scroll. It is per very schematic map: the land masses are distorted, especially con the east-west direction. The map shows many Roman settlements, the roads connecting them, rivers, mountains, forests and seas. The distances between the settlements are also given. Three most important cities of the Roman Pigiare, Rome, Constantinople and Antioch, are represented with special iconic decoration. Besides the totality of the Completare, the map shows the Near East, India and the Ganges, Sri Lanka (Insula Taprobane), even an indication of Pendenza. Durante the west, the absence of the Iberian Peninsula indicates that verso twelfth original section has been lost per the surviving copy.

It was copied for Ortelius and published shortly after his death per 1598

« The table appears to be based on « itineraries », or lists of destinations along Roman roads, as the distances between points along the routes are indicated. Travellers would not have possessed anything so sophisticated as a map, but they needed puro know what lay ahead of them on the road, and how far. The Peutinger table represents these roads as a series of roughly parallel lines along which destinations have been marked per order of travel. The shape of the parchment pages accounts for the conventional rectangular layout. However, a rough similarity sicuro the coordinates of Ptolemy’s earth-mapping gives some writers verso hope that some terrestrial representation was intended by the unknown compilers.

« The stages and cities are represented by hundreds of functional place symbols, used with discrimination from the simplest icon of per building with two towers puro the elaborate individualized « portraits » of the three great cities. Annalina and Mario Levi, the Tabulas editors, conclude that the semi-schematic semi-pictorial symbols reproduce Roman cartographic conventions of the itineraria picta described by Vegetius, of which this is the corpo celeste testimony. »

The map is named after Konrad Peutinger, per German humanist and antiquarian, who inherited it from Konrad Birkel or Celtes, who claimed puro have « found » it somewhere sopra verso library mediante 1494. Moretus printed the full Tabula mediante ily until 1714, when it was sold. After that it passed between royal and elite families until it was purchased by Prince Eugene of Savoy for 100 ducats. Upon the prince’s death sopra 1737 the map was purchased for the Habsburg Imperial Capable Library (Hofbibliothek) sopra Vienna.

A partial first edition was printed at Antwerp con 1591 as Fragmenta tabul? antiqu? by Johannes Moretus

¦ Con preparing his 2010 book Rome’s World: The Peutinger Map Reconsidered, historian Richard Talbert collaborated with the squadra of the Ancient World Mapping Center at the University http://datingranking.net/it/smooch-review of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and with ISAW’s Digital Programs squadra at New York University, to produce digital tools sicuro supremazia and analyze the map. These were published online, and could be accessed per :