Tabula Peueriana Essay

Unravelling the Tabula Peutingeriana: what Rome’s map of the world reveals and conceals en route to the edges of the ecumene

The Tabula Peutingeriana is one of the most important cartographical artefacts to have survived to the modern age. Not only is it an exquisite work of art, but it also provides a unique insight into how the Romans viewed the entire known world (ecumene). Whilst maps were not uncommon in the ancient world , very few have been preserved, making the Tabula Peutingeriana the only extant Roman world map. It is a pictorial version of a late Roman itinerarium: these catalogues of stations and distances along the road network were typically in the form of statistical tables. It has been proposed by Dilke that the traditional

The map will henceforth be referred to as such, thus avoiding any misconception that the map was itself a table. This thesis endeavours to examine the Peutinger Map’s purpose and the intentions of its cartographer. It will be argued that this map represents Rome’s perspective on the ecumene and the city’s place within it. Particular focus will be given to how the edges of the world are portrayed and whether this can inform our understanding of how the Romans perceived lands beyond their frontiers. No previous academic work has focussed on this aspect of the map and it is hoped that the original approach of this thesis can contribute to the growing discipline of ancient cartography. By placing the map in its

The length of every road is marked in miles or leagues such that one could calculate the distance between any two cities in the empire with a high degree of precision. However, the shaping of the map does not simply serve the purpose of fitting in the road network; there is an ideological element to the map’s design. Indeed, despite the accuracy of the numbers written alongside the roads, their length on the map bears no relation to their actual size: thus a road of 5 miles could appear to be “longer” than a road of 50 miles. The Italian peninsula’s size is exaggerated to become the world’s largest landmass; simultaneously, regions outside the empire, such as Arabia and India, are condensed and appear far smaller than the Romans knew them to be. Not only is the area controlled by Rome distorted to seem far greater than it actually was, but the city itself is also misrepresented. The map is designed intentionally to put Rome at the world’s centre, both horizontally and vertically. All roads literally lead to the city at the omphalos (centre) of the ecumene (fig.3). The city of Rome is personified as an enthroned ruler, very much in the manner of contemporary portrayals of emperors. This iconic representation is one of only three figures depicted on the map: the others represent Constantinople and Antioch, indicating that these cities were