The Tabula Peutingeriana, or the Peutinger Map, is understood for each its peculiar dimensions and unsure origins. A parchment scroll a foot tall and 22 ft lengthy, the map depicts the Roman Empire on the top of its energy, spanning from Spain to India. Whereas its emphasis on roads and inhabitants centres appears to suggest it’s a transit map, it options cities that by no means existed concurrently, and it locations little concentrate on waterways, which had been typically the empire’s most effective journey routes. Additional complicating issues, the one model of the map remaining is a Thirteenth-century copy of the possible 4th-century Roman authentic. On this light-hearted video essay, the US graphic designer and video producer Jeremy Shuback explores the numerous historic controversies and uncertainties surrounding the Tabula Peutingeriana. For the duty, he enlists the assistance of Richard J A Talbert, a analysis professor on the College of North Carolina at Chapel Hill who spent a decade finding out the map. Reasoning his approach by means of its many idiosyncrasies, Talbert affords his view that the unique was possible a approach for Romans to reveal, above all, the scope and energy of their empire.
