Itineraries (from ca 100 CE)
Although Greeks listed notable points on coastal voyages (periploi), the compilation of
equivalent documents for land travel (itineraria, from Latin iter = journey) was primarily a
Roman development stemming from construction of roads along which milestones were
placed. Even so, claims that reliance upon itineraries caused Romans’ worldview to be linear
rather than spatial are extreme. The content of a typical itinerarium is minimal, comprising a
start- and end-point, the names of intermediate stopping-points and the distance between
each, and a total figure for the entire distance. Point-to-point distances rarely exceed 20– 25
miles (thus furnishing successive overnight stops after a day’s journey), although the fullest
itineraries may include additional intermediate points. Distances are usually recorded in
Roman miles (sometimes even half-miles), except in Gaul where the local leuga (one Roman
mile and a half ) is often preferred. Itineraries seldom include any reference to the nature and
condition of road surfaces, the character of terrain to be traversed, the relative importance
of stopping-points, or other circumstances of concern to travelers.
Itineraries were produced by both public and private initiative, and recorded by vari-
ous means; there is as yet no indication that they were linked to maps. Inscribed stone
tablets erected at city gates offer onward itineraries to neighboring communities and even to
Rome. Small silver beakers survive listing over 100 intermediate points on the 1,840–mile
journey from Gade ̄s (modern Cadiz) through Spain and across the Alps to Rome. The trip
made by a privileged lawyer from Hermopolis Magna (Egypt) to Antioch (Syria) and back
ca 320 is detailed on papyrus. An unnamed Christian pilgrim writes a notably full record
of travels between Gaul and Jerusalem in 333. No doubt some sets of itineraries were
assembled for reference by provincial administrators and imperial couriers, but how com-
prehensive such collections were, and how widely available, is far from clear. The one
surviving collection, the misnamed Antonine Itinerary of ca 300, is a raw, confusing assemblage
of routes (not all of them direct), seemingly the work of an anonymous individual enthusi-
ast. The maker of the P M too, who is so dependent upon itineraries, evidently
needed to gather and organize them as he seems to have lacked access to a full, collated
collection.
Ed.: B. Löhberg, Das Itinerarium Provinciarum Antonini Augusti: Ein kaiserzeitliches Strassenverzeichnis des
Römischen Reiches – Überlieferung, Strecken, Kommentare, Karten 2 vv. (2006).
Richard Talbert, “Author, audience and the Roman empire in the Antonine Itinerary,” in R. Haensch
and J. Heinrichs, edd., Der Alltag der römischen Administration in der Hohen Kaiserzeit (2007) 256–270.
Richard Talbert
Iuliana (485 – 527/8 CE)
Cited only in the list of philosophers “of the science and of the sacred art,” at the begin-
ning of MS Marcianus gr. 299 (f.7V). Berthelot identifies her with Iuliana Anicia (b. 462,
d. 527/8), daughter of Olybrius (Western emperor 472), for whom the illustrated MS of
D was produced.
CAAG 1.122; Letrouit (1995) 57.
Cristina Viano
Iulianus (Pharm.) (520 – 540 CE)
A A 11.12 ( p. 609 Cornarius), giving remedies employing goat’s blood,
notes that he is a contemporary deacon, and records his antidote, containing saffron,
IULIANUS (PHARM.)