MEDIEVAL MAP: small WORLD

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Bill Arnold

MEDIEVAL MAP: small WORLD

Legg inn av Bill Arnold » 27 nov 2007 13:56:03

Twelfth-century copy of Roman map displayed

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20071126/od_ ... ustria_map

By Karin Strohecker
Mon Nov 26, 11:10 AM ET

An 800-year-old map, the sole surviving copy of a chart used by the Roman Empire's courier
service, was put on show for just one day on Monday after being accorded "Memory of the World"
status by UNESCO.

The parchment scroll, nearly 7 metres (yards) long, could only be displayed briefly because too
much light would damage it, before it was returned to storage at Austria's National Library, where
it has been since 1738.

Named Tabula Peutingeriana after the German antiquarian who owned it in the 16th century, the map
shows roads linking some 4,000 settlements as well as mountains, rivers and forests from Spain in
the west to China in the east.

From north to south, the map covers the British Isles to north Africa. But because the scroll is
just over 30 cms (12 inches) high, the north-south axis is greatly compressed, depicting the

Mediterranean Sea as a small stretch of blue squeezed between today's Croatia and Italy.

"It's a bit like when you look at a map of the Vienna underground system -- it's not accurate but
it gives you a good idea of how to get around," Andreas Fingernagel of the National Library told
journalists at the showing.

The document, preserved in 11 segments, was written on parchment at the end of the 12th century as
a medieval facsimile imitating the book scroll used in Roman antiquity.

The original would have been used by Roman administrators and couriers, telling them the choice of
roads, how long it would take to go somewhere and, through a series of icons, how comfortable
their next rest stop would be.

The copy was probably made in southern Germany at the end of the 12th century, said Fingernagel.

The missing original -- none are known to have survived -- probably dated from the first half of
the 5th century, and so far only half of the 4,000 settlements have been identified, said
Fingernagel.

Globally, 158 documents have UNESCO Memory of the World status, which aims to preserve and
disseminate valuable archive treasures and library collections. UNESCO also grants World Heritage
status to historic architecture.

(editing by Tim Pearce)

Copyright © 2007 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.


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