24 MAPS AND THEIR MAKERS 



the Teutinger Table', so called after the sixteenth-century 

 humanist who once owned it. The Table is essentially a road 

 map of the Roman Empire, constructed to fit a long, narrow 

 roll, no doubt so that it might be carried conveniently. The 

 roads are indicated by straight lines, and distances are marked 

 between each stage. Changes in direction are shown by 'kinks', 

 and branch roads diverge similarly. Thus true directions are 

 neglected, with the result that the shape of countries and the 

 relative positions of features are considerably distorted. It 

 was simply, as it was no doubt intended to be, an efficient 

 guide to road users. 



From references in literature, describing the use of maps 

 in campaigns, and their value to commanders, it is clear that 

 all Roman maps cannot have closely resembled the Table. 

 Some idea of their general character may be formed from the 

 references to the most famous Roman map, the Orhis terrariim, 

 or 'survey of the world', executed by M. Vipsanius Agrippa, 

 son-in-law of the Emperor Augustus who authorized the 

 undertaking, and supervised its completion after the death of 

 Agrippa in 12 B.C. Pliny bears testimony to Agrippa's 'extra- 

 ordinary diligence', and the care he bestowed upon the work, 

 which was placed in the Porticus Vipsania at Rome for the 

 information of the citizens. In his topographical descriptions of 

 countries contained in his 'Natural History', Pliny, who had 

 seen the map displayed, several times quotes Agrippa on the 

 dimensions and boundaries of countries, presumably obtained 

 from the map. Since these quotations refer to seas, rivers, 

 mountains, islands, provinces, and towns, it was drawn in 

 great detail. The basis of the map was no doubt the distances 

 along the Roman road system and official returns supplied by 

 the provincial administrators. Varied opinions have been 

 expressed on the probable shape of the map, but the majority 

 hold that it was circular. The popularity in late Roman times of 

 the small T-0 maps mentioned later is indirect evidence of 

 this. In view of the official character of the Agrippa map, it 

 was doubtless circulated in copies on a reduced scale, such for 

 example as the map which Eumenius relates was studied by 

 schoolboys at Autun in the fourth century. A case can be made 

 out for the persistence through the Middle Ages of maps 



