Decrypting the Peutinger Map

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Half-routes expressed in leagues also appear outside the Tres Galliae: Aquinco – Cornaco

The second article demonstrates that, although most connections on the Tabula Peutingeriana in the Tres Galliae (Gallia Aquitania, Lugdunensis, Belgica and Germanica Inferior and Superior) are expressed in leuga (between 2200 and 2500 m), some individual connections and some half-routes are expressed in mille passuum (mp, 1481 m). The reverse is also possible: outside the Tres Galliae, where connections are generally expressed in mp, there are also half-routes expressed in leuga. This is the case with the half-route Aquinco – Antiana, which together with the half-route from Cornaco forms the route Aquinco – Cornaco.

Halfroute Aquinco – Antiana

The route between Aquinco (site “Aquincum” in Óbuda, part of Budapest HU) and Cornaco (Sotin HR) with nine stops, starts in the province of Pannonia Valeria and ends in the province of Pannonia Secunda. The border between the two provinces ran along the “Aureus Mons”, the “Banska kosa” ridge north of present-day Osijek HR. The TP provides the following data:

TP: Aquinco – 14 – Vetusallo – 22 – Annamatia – 15 – Iusiene – 10 – Altaripa – 22 – Lugione – 12 – Antiana

This same route is described in ItAnt 243.3-245.7. The description includes many places, but for a significant number of them only the general location is indicated, without mentioning distances. Without this additional information, the route description reads as follows:

ItAnt: Acinquo – 23 – Matrica – 26 – Intercisa – 24 – Lussunio – 18 – Ripa alta – 29 – Lugione – 25 – Antianis

Of all the places mentioned, only four appear in both descriptions.¹ When the intermediate names are removed and the distance values are added up, the following descriptions remain:

TP: Aquinco – 51 – Iusiene – 32 – Lugione – 12 – Antiana

ItAnt: Acinquo – 73 – Lussunio – 47 – Lugione – 25 – Antianis

There is agreement about the associations of the first three place names with known archaeological sites:

• Acinquo (Aquincum) = site Aquincum, in Óbuda, part of Budapest HU

• Lussunio (Lussonium) = site castellum Lussonium, Dunakömlőd HU

• Lugione (Lugio) = site castellum Dunaszekcső, Dunaszekcső HU

whereby a comparison of the actual distances with the distance values stated in the ItAnt shows that the distance values of this ItAnt route are expressed in mp. The values on the TP are approximately 2/3 of the values in the ItAnt, which indicates the use of the leuga as a unit of length.

Figure 1: The TP route and two ItAnt routes around the border between the provinces of Pannonia Valeria and Pannonia Secunda, north of Mursa, present-day Osijek HR. The border follows the Aureus Mons ridge (brown). The routes of the TP between Aquinco and Cornaco, ItAnt 243 and ItAnt 267, are marked in distinctive colours. (own graphic)

The situation is slightly more complex in the case of the last location, Antianis (Antiana on the TP). There are two places where the name Antianis could apply: Popovac HR², which lies at the western end of Aureus Mons, and Batina HR³ at the eastern end.

It is assumed that, coming from the north, the road splits after Lugio and there are roads to both ends of the Aureus Mons.⁴ The ItAnt 243 gives a distance between Lugio and Mursa that is so large that the eastern route, via Batina, must be the one described. The Antianis mentioned in this route coincides with the site of Batina.⁵

Another route from this source, ItAnt 267, passes Aureus Mons on the west side, with Antianis coinciding with Popovac.⁶ Finally, for the Antiana of the TP, Batina is too far away from Lugio / Dunaszekcső, regardless of the choice of unit of length, but Popovac is at the right distance, provided that the distance value 12 is indeed expressed in leagues.

The following distances listed on the TP, continuing towards Cornaco, appear to be expressed in mp again. This means that the coupling of half-routes is located at Antiana, which is in line with expectations, given that the provincial border was crossed here. The half-route Aquinco – Antiana is expressed entirely in leuga, even though it is far removed from the “leuga area” of the three Gallic and two Germanic provinces.