Peutingeriana

The Peutingeriana, also known as the Tabula Peutingeriana, is a medieval copy of a Roman road map that depicts the cursus publicus, the road network and stations maintained by the Roman state. The surviving manuscript dates to late antiquity, probably the 4th or 5th century, and is believed to preserve an earlier Roman map used for administrative and military purposes. The document is named after Konrad Peutinger, a 16th‑century German humanist who acquired the map and contributed to its study and publication.

The map is preserved as a long parchment roll, measuring about 0.34 meters in height and roughly 6.8 meters in length. It presents a schematic, non-geographic representation of the empire’s roads. Roads are drawn as lines, settlements as named points, and distances between stations are given in miles (milia passuum). The Peutingeriana covers a broad swath of the Roman world, from the western provinces in Europe to the eastern frontiers and parts of Asia. It highlights major routes and cities, with a focus on the network of travel and administrative centers rather than precise spatial accuracy.

History and significance: The Vienna parchment in which the Peutingeriana is preserved dates from the 13th century and is the only surviving manuscript of the original Roman map. Konrad Peutinger acquired it in the early modern period, which is how the map earned its name. Today the manuscript is housed by the Austrian National Library in Vienna and has been digitized for scholarly access. The Tabula Peutingeriana is a crucial source for understanding Roman roads, provincial administration, and long-distance travel in the empire, complementing textual itineraries with a visual representation of the transport network.