The Roman Peutinger Map
The club's copy of the Peutinger Map comprises seven scrolls bound in leather easily legible for viewing.
The Tabula Peutingeriana ("Peutinger Map") is an illustrated itinerarium (road map) showing the cursus publicus, the state-run road network in the Roman Empire. It is based on the map of Marcus Agrippa that was engraved on marble and displayed in the Porticus Vipsania, not far from the Ara Pacis in Rome, during the reign of the emperor Augustus (27 BC – AD 14). It runs from Britannia in the west, all the way to India in the east, listing all the distances between settlements. It was last revised in the fourth century, because it shows Constantinople (founded in 328) and Ravenna (seat of the Western Roman Empire from 402-476). The presence of certain cities of Germania Inferior that were destroyed in the mid-fifth century also provides a terminus ante quem.
The map is very schematic, and disorts all of the land masses in order to fit the information showing over 555 cities and 3,500 other place names. The three most important cities of the Roman Empire – Rome, Constantinople and Antioch – are represented with special iconic decoration. Besides the totality of the Empire, the map shows the Near East, India and the Ganges, Sri Lanka (Insula Taprobane), and even an indication of China. It shows a "Temple to Augustus" at Muziris, one of the main ports for trade to the Roman Empire on the southwest coast of India.
The table consists of "itineraries" represented as a series of stepped lines along which distances and destinations have been marked in order of travel. The semi-schematic, semi-pictorial symbols reproduce Roman cartographic conventions of the itineraria picta described by Vegetius, of which this is the sole testimony.
The Roman mile or mille passus ("thousand-pace") consisted of the left foot hitting the ground 1000 times. The ancient Romans, marching their armies through uncharted territory, would often push a carved stick in the ground after each 1000 paces. Well-fed and harshly driven Roman legionaries in good weather thus created longer miles. The distance was indirectly standardised by Agrippa's establishment of a standard Roman foot (Agrippa's own) in 29 BC, and the definition of a pace as 5 feet. An Imperial Roman mile thus denoted 5,000 Roman feet, which is about 1,481 metres. All roads radiated out from Rome, some 50,000 miles of stone-paved roads, and at every mile was placed a milestone carved with a Roman numeral, so you always knew how far away you were.
The map is very schematic, and disorts all of the land masses in order to fit the information showing over 555 cities and 3,500 other place names. The three most important cities of the Roman Empire – Rome, Constantinople and Antioch – are represented with special iconic decoration. Besides the totality of the Empire, the map shows the Near East, India and the Ganges, Sri Lanka (Insula Taprobane), and even an indication of China. It shows a "Temple to Augustus" at Muziris, one of the main ports for trade to the Roman Empire on the southwest coast of India.
The table consists of "itineraries" represented as a series of stepped lines along which distances and destinations have been marked in order of travel. The semi-schematic, semi-pictorial symbols reproduce Roman cartographic conventions of the itineraria picta described by Vegetius, of which this is the sole testimony.
The Roman mile or mille passus ("thousand-pace") consisted of the left foot hitting the ground 1000 times. The ancient Romans, marching their armies through uncharted territory, would often push a carved stick in the ground after each 1000 paces. Well-fed and harshly driven Roman legionaries in good weather thus created longer miles. The distance was indirectly standardised by Agrippa's establishment of a standard Roman foot (Agrippa's own) in 29 BC, and the definition of a pace as 5 feet. An Imperial Roman mile thus denoted 5,000 Roman feet, which is about 1,481 metres. All roads radiated out from Rome, some 50,000 miles of stone-paved roads, and at every mile was placed a milestone carved with a Roman numeral, so you always knew how far away you were.
Peutinger map online - detailed viewing
The Peutinger Map route planner - Explore the ancient Roman map and plan Roman travel itineraries - great fun!
The Peutinger Map route planner - Explore the ancient Roman map and plan Roman travel itineraries - great fun!
The Antonine Itinerary or Itinerarium Antonini Augusti ("The Itinerary of the Emperor Antoninus") is a register of the stations and distances along various Roman roads, traditionally ascribed to the patronage of Antoninus Pius (138-161 AD).
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Roman trade with India
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