Dura-Europos Route map

The route map of Dura Europos, also stage map of Dura Europos, is the fragment of a late antique special card that was found in 1923 in Dura Europos. The map was drawn 230-235 by a Roman soldier of Cohors XX Palmyrenorum on the leather covering of a shield. It is considered the oldest surviving original map of Europe.

Fund history

The Belgian archaeologist Franz Cumont discovered the map fragment in 1923 during excavations at Dura Europos in the shed " Tower of the archers ." It is a colored painted leather or parchment fragment was found between residues wooden oval shields and was identified by Cumont as a laminate of a Roman shield. At the back still adhered to wood remnants of the shield. The card has been Done probably from a Roman infantry and archers Cohors XX Palmyrenorum. This soldier recorded in the years 230-235 probably due to the milestones of his unit during march on the Crimean peninsula on the leather covering of his shield. Evidence such as geographic discrepancies can also be interpreted to the effect that the owner of the sign had been given the painting in order.

Description

The maps obtained fragment is 45 × 18 cm in size. Cumont reconstructed the original card to a total width of 65 cm. The image frame is divided by a semi-circular white line in half. These raw drawn line represents the profile of the western and the northern coast of the Black sea as links the coast is the open sea in blue color, on the resulting cut are still three ships to detect. Law of the mainland coastline is shown in reddish color. Here are twelve places in the Black Sea region listed, with the Latin names of places transcribed in Greek script, were used. Law that the distances above are in addition to the place name, similar to the Antonine Itinerary, noted in Roman miles. The places themselves are represented symbolically. The artist used for each place the same symbol, a building with a gable roof. Two blue lines under the place names Ἰστρος, ποτ ( αμός ) and Δάνουβις ποτ ( αμός ) indicate rivers which were crossed on the roadmap.

Stage reconstruction

The stage list of the obtained card text reads according to Cumont as follows:

• Παν [ υσος ποτ ( αμός )? μί ( λια ). . ]
• Οδεσ [ σός μί ( λια ). . ] ( Odessus, today Varna, Bulgaria)
• Βυβόνα [ μί ( λια ). . ] (Now Kavarna, Bulgaria)
• Καλ [ λ ] ατις μί ( λια ). . ( Kallatis, today Mangalia, Romania)
• Τομέα μί ( λια ) λγ ' ( Tomoi, now Constanta, Romania)
• Ἰστρος ποτ ( αμός ) μί ( λια ) μ ' ( Istros, today Histria, Romania)
• Δάνουβις ποτ ( αμός ) [ μί ( λια ). . ]
• Τύρα μί ( λια ) πδ ' ( Tyras, today Bilhorod - Dnistrovskyi, Ukraine)
• Βορ [ υ ] σ [ θέν ] ης [ μί ( λια ). . ]
• Χερ [ σ ] όν [ ησος. . . . ] ( Chersonesos, today Chersonese, Ukraine)
• Τραπ [ εζοῦς. . . . . ]
• Aρτα [ ξάτα μί ( λια ). . ] (Now Feodosia, Ukraine)

The first part of the route stages corresponding to the routing between Byzantium and the Danube estuary, as it is also known from the Itinerarium Antonini and the Tabula Peutingeriana. Also, some of the stations in the Cosmographia of Ravenna are listed. After the route map of the soldiers of Dura Europos the Danube is crossed behind the present Histria, then venture into an area in which the Antonine Itinerary and the Tabula Peutingeriana no Roman roads recorded.

Cartographic features

The fragment suggests that the card was oriented to the west. Evidence of this is the office management and the arrangement of the decorative elements. Also, is the westernmost point specified, the river Panysus, at the top of the map, while the easternmost point of the place Ardabda, located at the bottom of the map. A Westung would previously unprecedented for a Roman map, as the Roman Cartography was always oriented in the direction of sunrise. Roman maps were therefore always faces east.

Dating

The dating of the map fragment can be narrowed down from general considerations to the first half of the 3rd century. The Cohors XX Palmyrenorum is from 230 for Dura Europos occupied by a dedicatory inscription to the Roman Emperor Alexander Severus, thus a lower date is specified. After the Roman defeat at the Battle of Edessa in 260, the Romans were largely displaced from the Black Sea regions. The city mentioned in the route map Histria fell but already 238 the Goths, after it had come upon the death of Alexander Severus in March 235 in this region already serious unrest. A troop movement through this area by 235, at the latest after 238 appears unlikely. This results in a time frame of five years 230-235 for the first Hung the route map of Dura Europos.

Perception, meaning and Fund whereabouts

After their discovery by Cumont the map soon fell into oblivion. James mentioned it in 2004, but questioned the membership of the fragment to a Roman shield. Only Nabbefeld took the stage map of 2008 again.

Apart from its importance for the ancient cartography, the map is also in military history of interest because it provides evidence that Roman troops were present in southern Russia to the big Goteninvasion (after 260). The city Ardabda must still have been Roman occupied at that time (now Theodosia).

The card is the only surviving original map of the ancient world. It is now in the manuscript collection of the French National Library.