All roads lead to Rome: the Cartography of Caesars, the Peutinger Board and the edges of space

Abstract

The Ancient Cartography is a vast source of access to traditional knowledge space, a study that has not received the proper attention it deserves. This paper, centered on a memorable piece cartographic originated in classical antiquity - the Tabula Peutingeriana or Board Peutinger - proposes an evaluation that seeks to explain the reasoning for justifying its elaboration, watching her not only as a technical material, but also in its civilizational and cultural declination. As known, the Tabula Peutingeriana refers to mapping the remarkable network of paths crossing the Roman Empire, a road network unique in the ancient world. Initiative supported by assorted set of motivations, social and economic policies, this communications network, and the reason for the Board Peutinger, is discussed in accordance with the goal of clarifying the motivations that govern its cartographic representation, as well as its geographical meanings, history and culture. Consisting of a world map, the manuscript because it reveals the renderings posted in command of the Roman imaginary space, allows us to draw analogies and differences kept with other cartographic elaborations, both the traditional and the modern world. Therefore, the paper that follows seeks, in discussing a Cartographic remarkable piece of antiquity, discern the meanings likewise govern man's relationship with the contemporary space, its perception and representation.