map
The Tabula Peutingeriana (Miller facsimile, 1887/88)
The Tabula Peutingeriana, or Peutinger Table, is the only surviving map of the road network of the Roman Empire. It is a long, narrow scroll — the whole known world compressed into a strip — designed not to preserve true shapes but to lay out the *cursus publicus*, the imperial system of roads, way-stations and distances by which a traveller actually moved. (Scholarship)
What it is
The map is known today from a single medieval parchment copy, generally dated to the 12th-13th century and now in the Austrian National Library, which reproduces a late-Roman original. Scholars debate the date of that original, placing it variously between the 1st and 4th centuries CE. (Scholarship) The image reproduced here is the facsimile drawn by Konrad Miller in 1887/88, the version through which the Table became widely accessible; it is in the public domain by age.
The roads of Cilicia and the Cilician Gates
The eastern sheets of the Table set out the road network of Asia Minor, including Cilicia and the passage through the Taurus Mountains known as the Cilician Gates — the narrow defile that carried the main road between the Anatolian plateau and the Cilician plain. (Scholarship) This is the corridor by which travel between Tarsus and the interior of Asia Minor was funnelled, and it lay directly on the routes the Apostle Paul used on his missionary journeys, when he passed "through Syria and Cilicia" and on into the highland cities (cf. Acts 15:41). (Scripture) The Table does not depict Paul; it depicts the physical network that made his overland travel possible.
Relevance to Paul and Tarsus
Where a subject-map such as the Ortelius chart of Paul's travels shows the *story* of the journeys, the Peutinger Table shows the *infrastructure*: the same roads, stations and distances a first-century traveller from Tarsus would have reckoned with. It is a rare window onto the practical geography of the world of Roman Tarsus.
That world is the setting St Paul Global Week honours. On 28-30 June 2027, around the 29 June Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, a faith-tourism gathering organised by Funny Tourism will bring pilgrims to Tarsus and Mersin. Learn more in the programme and in why Tarsus.
Provenance
The Tabula Peutingeriana survives only in a single medieval parchment copy (12th-13th century) of a late-Roman itinerary map, held in the Austrian National Library. The image here is the widely reproduced facsimile prepared by the geographer Konrad Miller in 1887/88, in the public domain by age and carrying the Public Domain Mark 1.0 on Wikimedia Commons. The dating of the underlying Roman original is debated among scholars.
Credit and source
- Source:
- Konrad Miller 1887/88 facsimile of the medieval copy (via Wikimedia Commons)
- Licence:
- Public Domain (age) — Public Domain Mark 1.0
- Original:
- View the source
Frequently asked questions
What is the Tabula Peutingeriana?
It is the only surviving map of the Roman Empire's road network, laid out as a long narrow scroll that shows roads, way-stations and distances rather than accurate shapes. It is known from a single medieval copy of a late-Roman original.
How does it relate to St Paul?
Its eastern sheets show the roads of Cilicia and the Cilician Gates, the mountain passage linking the Cilician plain around Tarsus with the interior of Asia Minor. These were the corridors of Paul's overland travel, though the map itself does not depict him.
Is this image public domain?
Yes. The image is Konrad Miller's 1887/88 facsimile, which is in the public domain by age and carries the Public Domain Mark 1.0 on Wikimedia Commons. The dating of the underlying Roman original is debated by scholars.
St Paul Global Week · 28–30 June 2027
Experience it in person
Gather in the birthplace of the Apostle Paul. An international gathering in Tarsus and Mersin, held around the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, with the Feast Day prayer programme broadcast live worldwide.
Travel and pilgrimage are arranged by Funny Tourism.