184 The Imperial Government
long-established camps on the Danube may suggest a military purpose, as
doestheconnection,proposedbyD.vanBerchem,withtheHistoriaAugusta’s
reportofSeverusAlexander’sprocedureforannouncinginadvancehisroute
fromRome‘‘tothebarbarianfrontiers’’(ad fines barbaricos).^105
Suchtabulations,essentialforanymovementswithintheEmpire,whether
oftroops,theimperialentourage,orboth,couldalsobeextendedoutsidethe
Empireiftherelevantinformationwasavailable.Wecanseeanexamplein
theParthian StationsofIsidorusofCharax,whichdescribesthemajorroutes
through the Parthian Empire as far as Arachosia.^106 In the second century
theGeographiaof Ptolemy, extending as faras India, grouped place-names
byareasandlocatedthembylatitudeandlongitude.Theabsenceofanyse-
quentiallistingbyroutesmustindicatethatitcouldnothavebeenintended
forpracticalpurposes,militaryorotherwise.Norisitcertainwhetheractual
mapsaccompaniedthetext.^107 Foraschematicmapincorporatingpractical
informationwemustofcourselooktotheTabulaPeutingeriana,generallyac-
ceptedasgoingbacktoamapofthelateRomanperiod(andemphasizing
Rome, Constantinople, and Antioch),which may hypotheticallyderive in
partfromearliermodels,evenfromthemapofAgrippa.^108 Theoriginalwas
designedfunctionallyintwosenses:tobeusedinrollform,andtoindicate
landroutes(butnotsearoutes)schematicallyovertheareafromtheAtlantic
toCentralAsia,markingdistances,basicgeographicalfeatures,towns,and
typesofaccommodation.Thereisnothingstrictlytoprovetheofficialchar-
acteroftheoriginal,andnothingeventosuggestamilitaryfunction.But
afragmentofacomparablemap—offeringaschematicrepresentationofa
routeroundtheEuxine—wasfoundonthecoverofasoldier’sshieldfrom
Dura-Europos.Thistoogivesessentiallyasequenceofplacesanddistances;
105.HA,v. Sev. Alex. 45, 2. See D. van Berchem, ‘‘L’annone militaire dans l’Empire
romainduIIIesiècle,’’Mém.Soc.Nat.Ant.Fr.,8eser.,10(1937):117–201;cf.ERW,31–33.For
allquestionsrelatingtoitinerariaandmaps,notetheinvaluablediscussionsinA.L.F.Rivet
andColinSmith,The Place-Names of Roman Britain(1979);fortheItin. Ant.,pp.150–54.
- For the text, seeGeog. Gr. Min., 1, 244–55. See A. S. Nodelman, ‘‘A Preliminary
HistoryofCharacene,’’Berytus13(1960):83,onpp.107–8,arguingagainstapossibleiden-
tificationwithDionysiusofCharax,andsuggestingadateinthelaterfirstcentury. - SeeRESupp.X(1965),cols.680–833,s.v.‘‘KlaudiosPtolemaios’’;RivetandSmith
(n.105),103–31. - See the invaluable facsimile edition, with accompanying volume of discussion
and commentary, by E.Weber,Tabula Peutingeriana: Codex Vindobonensis 324. Vollständige
Faksimile-Ausgabe im OriginalformatI–II(1976).Forthefunctionalcharacterofthemap,see
esp.A.LeviandM.Levi,Itineraria Picta: contributo allo studio dellaTabula Peutingeriana(1967).