Case
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Half-routes
expressed in mp appear in the leuga area of the
Tres Galliae (1):
Divoduri Mediomatricorum –
Augusta Tresvirorum
Most connections on the Tabula Peutingeriana in the Tres Galliae (Gallia Aquitania, Lugdunensis, Belgica and Germanica Inferior and Superior) are expressed in leuga (between 2200 and 2500 m).
The second article shows that the unit of length that is used to show
distance values in was determined per half-route, and that for a long period in the Tres Galliae the leuga and the mp were used side by side. As a consequence, the possibility of half-routes expressed in mp
must be taken into account in this area because, for example, there
may be half-routes for which only information in mp was available. One route where this occurs is the Diuoduri Mediomatricorum – Avgusta Tresvirorum route.
Others are Luguno - Noviomagi (upper) and
Lugduno - Noviomagi (lower).
Diuoduri Mediomatricorum – Avgusta Tresvirorum (grid 2A1)
Figure 1: Diuoduri Mediomatricorum (Trier DE) – Avgusta Tresvirorum (Metz FR).
The TP provides the following information on this route: Diuoduri Mediomatricorum – 42 – Caranusca – 10 – Ricciaco – 10 – Avgusta Tresvirorum. Diuoduri Mediomatricorum is the French city of Metz, Avgusta Tresvirorum the German city of Trier (see Fig. 1). The shortest path on foot between these two places is 89 km. However, the TP seems to describe a much longer path: the first connection, between Divoduro and Caranusca, already gives a distance value of 42 (XLII) which in leugae corresponds to at least 42 * 2.2 = 92.4 km. Miller therefore assumes a copying error in this value, stating that the 'L' is a corruption of a 'V'. Even with such an adjustment though, the distance values are not consistent with found archaeological sites.However, the map data and the real distances can be aligned by assuming that the three values mentioned on this route are correct, but expressed in mp: 42+10+10 = 62 mp = 93 km, only 4 km more than the shortest route between the two regional centres. Based on the route shown in the Barrington Atlas, Ricciaco then coincides with the site known as 'Tabernae' near Tawern DE (14.5 km from Trier), while Caranusca coincides with the crossing of the Moselle between Palzem DE (16.1 km from Tavern) and Stadtbredimus LU, where remains of a Roman bridge have been found.1
The whole forms a half-route described from Augusta Treverorum in the direction of Divoduro; two stages within the area of the Treveri, followed by the crossing of the Moselle which here may have served as a border between the two civitates.2 Unfortunately, no information will have been available from Divoduro, which would have included place names in the area of the Mediomatrici. Thus, this is a type E half-route set-up (Fig. 2). However, the description of the half-route from Augusta, in addition to the mention of the places in the Civitas Mediomatricorum and the distances between them, will have also given the high value of the total distance between the border and Divoduro, with which it can be called a supplemented type E, or E+ (see Fig. 2).
Figure 2: Half-routes type E and E+: E is an ‘orphaned’ half-route from the left to the right location, but no matching half-route from the right to the left. With E+, the same applies, but the original half-route description also mentioned the distance from the border to the destination.
This theory deviates from the common interpretation, that Caranusca corresponds to Hettange-Grande FR and Ricciaco to Dalheim LU. Although the location of both places cannot in any way be related to the distance values indicated on the TP, Dalheim does have a strong claim to the name Ricciaco. Indeed, near Dalheim, 4 lead tesserae with the inscriptions “RICC” and “RICCIAC” were found, as well as an inscription mentioning “VICANI RI / CCIENSES” (inhabitants of the vicus Ricciacus).3 This means that either both the lead tesserae and the inscription refer not to Dalheim but to Tawern, 27 km away, or both places had virtually the same name, or the mention of Ricciaco on the TP was an erroneous later amendment, replacing an earlier name.
1Talbert 2000, map 11. ; Cuppers 1967.
2Of the Civitas Treverorum, the area of the Treveri, on the one hand, with principal town Augusta Treverorum (Trier DE); the Civitas Mediomatricorum, of the Mediomatrici, on the other, with principal town Divodurum Mediomatricorum (Metz FR).
3Small chips, in this case made of lead. ; Krier 2011.
Bibliography
Cuppers, H. 1967 “Vorrömische und römische Brücken über die Mosel” In: Germania 45, 60-69
Krier. J. 2011. “Deae Fortunae ob salutem imperi : nouvelles inscriptions de Dallheim (Luxembourg) et la vie religieuse d’un vicus du nord-est de la Gaule à la veille de la tourmente du IIIe siècle.” In: Gallia - Archéologie de la France antique, 68 (2), 313-340. https://hal.science/hal-01930885/document
Talbert, R. (ed.) 2000. The Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World. Princeton: Princeton University Press.