Certain types of anomaly recur in the Tabula Peutingeriana so often that we are prompted to assess if they have some common cause. These can conveniently be divided into two groups.
Firstly there are anomalies which occur at cell edges, and should be investigated as possibly of authorial origin. Secondly there are those anomalies which occur at mid-cell and where the responsibility may more likely be laid at the foot of the copyist.
Of the first group, the most common is the impasse, by which I mean those instances where a long line which appears to be a route abruptly stops in a remote place without arriving at any further station. Traditionally the view was that these gaps were the fault of the copyist, but I would argue that often they may be deliberate breaks indicating a discontinuity in the source material, usually because the source map did not disclose at its edge what the route's ultimate destination was to be.
The reverse case is the cul-de-sac, where the temptation to the modern scholar to quietly close up a gap in a longer line must be resisted, since there is there is compelling graphical or geographical evidence that the itinerary might have simply come to an end. Examples include:
In several mountain chains, an abrupt color change is inked on the roll, perhaps indicating the transition from one source to another. These mountains are detailed on a separate page.
A lacuna, in which an entire landscape (or an island, such as Malta) is omitted, may be seen too as part of this group.
The lob, a text which states distances between places that may well belong to separate cells, also belongs to this first class of anomaly and is treated in detail on its own page.
Of the second class of anomaly, we see numerous instances of ectopia, where places with a distinctive junction seem to have been transferred wholesale by the copyist to a false location on the chart, perhaps by simple confusion.
One other common alteration is the strike-slip, so named because it resembles tectonic movement in the earth's surface which brings into proximity features which were previously far apart. Examples include the shift of the highways at Agendincum and at Maniliano.
A reversal in order of place-names occurs in several places on the chart, possibly because the information available to the original designer was offered in textual form only and was misleading.
Firstly there are anomalies which occur at cell edges, and should be investigated as possibly of authorial origin. Secondly there are those anomalies which occur at mid-cell and where the responsibility may more likely be laid at the foot of the copyist.
Of the first group, the most common is the impasse, by which I mean those instances where a long line which appears to be a route abruptly stops in a remote place without arriving at any further station. Traditionally the view was that these gaps were the fault of the copyist, but I would argue that often they may be deliberate breaks indicating a discontinuity in the source material, usually because the source map did not disclose at its edge what the route's ultimate destination was to be.
The reverse case is the cul-de-sac, where the temptation to the modern scholar to quietly close up a gap in a longer line must be resisted, since there is there is compelling graphical or geographical evidence that the itinerary might have simply come to an end. Examples include:
- Reis Apollinaris
- Baratha
In several mountain chains, an abrupt color change is inked on the roll, perhaps indicating the transition from one source to another. These mountains are detailed on a separate page.
A lacuna, in which an entire landscape (or an island, such as Malta) is omitted, may be seen too as part of this group.
The lob, a text which states distances between places that may well belong to separate cells, also belongs to this first class of anomaly and is treated in detail on its own page.
Of the second class of anomaly, we see numerous instances of ectopia, where places with a distinctive junction seem to have been transferred wholesale by the copyist to a false location on the chart, perhaps by simple confusion.
One other common alteration is the strike-slip, so named because it resembles tectonic movement in the earth's surface which brings into proximity features which were previously far apart. Examples include the shift of the highways at Agendincum and at Maniliano.
A reversal in order of place-names occurs in several places on the chart, possibly because the information available to the original designer was offered in textual form only and was misleading.
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