Decrypting the Peutinger Map

Case

Permalink: https://www.decryptingthepeutingermap.com/caseIA272

Routes in the Itinerarium Antonini are also made of half-routes: ItAnt 272

Despite not being a map, the Itinerarium Antonini (ItAnt) contains a set of route descriptions that share many characteristics with the data in the Tabula Peutingeriana. Because of this, it appears that the information in the ItAnt came from a similar source as the information on the TP. Additionally, there are definite signs of the use of half-routes in this ItAnt. ItAnt 272 between Aquileia and Siscia is one of the more obvious examples.

 

Case: Aquileia / Emona – Siscia

The TP depicts the following locations and distances along the route Emona (Ljubljana SI) – Siscia (Sisak HR) (grid 4A1–4A5):

Emona – 18 – Acervone – 14 – Adprotorium – 16 – Crucio – 16 – Noviodum – 10 – Romula – 14 – Quadrata – 14 – Adfines – 20 – Siscia.

 

This route is described as follows in ItAnt 259:

Hemona – 34 – Praetorio Latovicorum – 24 – Novioduno – 28 – Quadrata – 29 – Siscia

 

Additionally, the ItAnt 272 contains a description of a route from Aquileia (Aquiléia IT) to Siscia.

There are two possible directions for a road from Aquileia to Siscia: either inland via Emona or along the coast via Senia. The route is presented in the ItAnt with the phrase "ab Aquileia per Liburniam Sisciam" or "from Aquileia to Siscia, via Liburnia", where Liburnia is the name of the coastal region. In other words, the road follows the coast.

 

ItAnt 272: [Aquileia …..] – Senia – 18 – Avendone – 10 – Arupio – 10 – Bibium – 10 – Romula – 14 – Quadrata – 14 – Ad Fines – 21 – Siscia

 

Figure 1: Area between Aquileia IT and Sisak HR. Added to the TP-routes in red are routes 259 and 272 from the Itinerarium Antonini, in green. (own graphic)

 

The route description from Romula onwards fits exactly with the route Emona – Siscia that is depicted on the TP¹, which is noteworthy given that, in contrast, Senia, Avendone (BAtlas: Avendo), and Arupio (BAtlas: Arupium) are well-known locations on the coastal road.²

There is no doubt that something went wrong in this situation, and it is now unclear whether Romula, Quadrata, and Adfines were stops on the road from Emona to Siscia (according to the TP) or from the coast to Siscia (according to ItAnt 272). But more importantly, it shows that half-routes coming from different sides are linked to one-another, and that this linking went wrong.

Romula has been located definitively thanks to two inscriptions carrying the name³, and the ItAnt 259, which mentions ‘Quadrata’, in fact validates the TP's itinerary; therefore it is obvious that the error is in the ItAnt 272. See fig. 1. The original sources of the TP apparently mentioned a half-route Siscia – Adfines – Quadrata – Romula and a half-route from Emona or Adprotorium (BAtlas: Praetorium Latobicorum) towards Noviodum (ItAnt: Novioduno, BAtlas: Neviodunum). The location of Romula is particularly strategic in a narrow passageway, and an inscription that describes the local customs activities has been discovered at the site. It was therefor the location of the border between the two areas, and served as the end point for the routes from Emona and Siscia.

The half-route Senia – Avendone – Arupio (– Bibium⁴) in turn forms a stretch from Senia in the direction of Burnum to the southeast. We can only speculate as to why the ItAnt's composer made this mistake of coupling the unrelated half-routes of Senia – Arupio and Siscia – Romula. A possible explanation: his source material may have stated that the half-route Senia – Arupio was "going inland" and the half-route Siscia – Romula was "pointing toward Aquileia" (or Italy), both of which are true and could have led to the conclusion that the two half-routes were pointing in each others direction.