Question 1

Can I listen to the places on the Tabula Peutingeriana?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Hundreds of places on the map tell their own story in a short spoken episode, in English and German: what the name means, where the place lies today, how the Tabula draws it and one detail worth remembering, drawn from the scholarly TP-Online record of the KU Eichstätt-Ingolstadt. Click such a place and press play in its info panel, or switch on Auto-read and every place you open is read aloud. All stories are listed at tabula-peutingeriana.com/places/ (German: /de/orte/).

Question 2

Is there a Tabula Peutingeriana podcast?

Accepted Answer

Yes. The spoken place stories are published as two podcast feeds, one English (tabula-peutingeriana.com/podcast-en.xml) and one German (tabula-peutingeriana.com/podcast-de.xml). Each episode is one place on the Roman road map, usually under a minute long, and links to its page and to the place on the interactive map.

Question 3

Who writes and reads the place stories?

Accepted Answer

The texts are written with AI (Claude) from the scholarly records of TP-Online, checked automatically against the record and reviewed by hand, and read by Google Chirp 3 HD voices: Vindemiatrix in English and Laomedeia in German.

Question 4

What is the Tabula Peutingeriana?

Accepted Answer

The Tabula Peutingeriana (Peutinger Map) is a medieval copy of a late-antique Roman road map dating to the 4th–5th century AD. It is 6.75 metres long and depicts roads, distances in Roman miles, and over 3,500 named settlements across the known world — from Britain to India. The surviving copy (c. 1200 AD) is held at the Österreichische Nationalbibliothek in Vienna and is a UNESCO Memory of the World document (2007).

Question 5

Where is the Tabula Peutingeriana kept?

Accepted Answer

The Tabula Peutingeriana has been held at the Österreichische Nationalbibliothek (Austrian National Library) in Vienna, Austria since 1738. It was declared a UNESCO Memory of the World document in 2007.

Question 6

How many places are on the Tabula Peutingeriana?

Accepted Answer

The Tabula Peutingeriana shows approximately 3,500–4,400 named places: road stations, cities, rivers, mountains, islands, Roman provinces, and peoples. This interactive viewer annotates 4,393 places, of which 3,784 (86%) have been geographically located with modern coordinates.

Question 7

Can I find my own location on the ancient Roman map?

Accepted Answer

Yes — this is the viewer's signature feature. Press the crosshair (locate) button to drop a persistent red "You are here" marker on the Tabula Peutingeriana at your real GPS position, and fly straight to the nearest ancient Roman road station, city, or province. You can then tap anywhere else on the interactive modern map to drop a second, independent blue "Picked Location" marker — so you can compare your home to any other point on Earth on the same ancient map at once. Works for any location on Earth, including places outside the Roman Empire. No sign-up or account needed.

Question 8

Do I need to know Latin or history to use this viewer?

Accepted Answer

No expertise is needed at all. The viewer is designed to be accessible to everyone. Every ancient place shows its modern equivalent name alongside the Latin original. Over 1,100 multi-word Latin inscriptions have been translated into English and German by AI. Click any place to see a Wikipedia summary and thumbnail. The location feature does all the navigation for you — just tap the compass and see where you are in the ancient world.

Question 9

What happened to Segment I of the Tabula Peutingeriana?

Accepted Answer

Segment I — covering Britain (except the southeast), the Iberian Peninsula, and the Atlantic coast of Morocco — was already lost by the 16th century. The remaining eleven segments (II–XII) survive intact and are fully available in this viewer.

Question 10

What language is the Tabula Peutingeriana written in?

Accepted Answer

The Tabula Peutingeriana is written in Latin. Place names appear in their classical Latin forms (e.g. 'Roma', 'Constantinopolis', 'Londinium'). This viewer shows both the original Latin names and their modern equivalents for each of the 4,393 annotated places.

Question 11

What is the difference between the Peutinger Map and a modern map?

Accepted Answer

Unlike modern maps, the Tabula Peutingeriana is not geographically accurate — it is schematic, stretched horizontally to fit a long scroll, and distorts coastlines and distances. Its purpose was practical navigation along Roman roads, not geographic accuracy. Distances between stations are given in Roman miles (milia passuum), and roads are shown as connecting lines with named waypoints.

Question 12

Where can I see the Tabula Peutingeriana online?

Accepted Answer

The full Tabula Peutingeriana can be explored interactively at tabula-peutingeriana.com — this viewer. High-resolution scans are also available via the Österreichische Nationalbibliothek (ÖNB) digital library and Wikimedia Commons. The original parchment is on permanent display at the ÖNB in Vienna.

Question 13

How do I search for a place on the Tabula Peutingeriana?

Accepted Answer

Use the search bar at the top of the viewer. You can type either the ancient Latin name (e.g. 'Londinium', 'Aquae', 'Colonia') or a modern place name (e.g. 'London', 'Bath', 'Cologne'). The viewer will navigate to the matching place on the map and show its details, Wikipedia link, and nearest road connections.

Question 14

Who was Konrad Peutinger and why is the map named after him?

Accepted Answer

Konrad Peutinger (1465–1547) was a German humanist, lawyer, and antiquarian from Augsburg. He received a copy of the medieval road map from the scholar Conrad Celtis around 1508, worked on it for decades, and was the first to plan its publication. Although he died before it was printed, the map has been known as the 'Tabula Peutingeriana' in his honour since its first edition in 1598.

Question 15

How does the country mode work on the Tabula Peutingeriana viewer?

Accepted Answer

Tap the crosshair (locate) button, then tap 'Countries' in the location map panel. Coloured polygons for 64 modern countries appear on the interactive map. Tap or click any country — or select it from the dropdown — and the Tabula Peutingeriana immediately highlights all ancient places in that country's territory and zooms to fit them. Tap 'My Country' to auto-select using your GPS location. This lets you instantly see what YOUR country looked like in the Roman world around 300 AD.

Question 16

Can the location map follow the ancient map as I explore it, or the other way round?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Switch on "Follow" (top-right button on the location map panel) and the two views stay linked in both directions: pan or zoom the Tabula Peutingeriana and the real-world OpenStreetMap location map automatically reframes to the matching modern geography, and panning or zooming the location map moves the ancient map to match in return. Explore either the ancient or the modern world and the other side stays lined up with it. Switch on "Match" (just below Follow) to let the Tabula lead instead: the location map then always shows exactly what is visible on the Tabula, with a bright green ring on every place, and moving the location map sends the Tabula there first before the location map settles on the Tabula's view.

Question 17

Does the Tabula Peutingeriana viewer work on mobile phones?

Accepted Answer

Yes, it is fully optimised for mobile. In portrait mode the info panel slides up from the bottom; in landscape it appears as a side panel. Pinch to zoom and drag to pan on the deep-zoom Tabula image. The GPS location finder, country selector, label toggles, and category filters all work on touch screens. The experience is smooth on any modern smartphone or tablet — no app download required.

Question 18

What is the fastest way to experience the Tabula Peutingeriana?

Accepted Answer

Open tabula-peutingeriana.com on any device — phone, tablet, or computer. It locates you automatically on load, instantly flying to the nearest ancient Roman place to where you are right now and marking your real position with a persistent red "You are here" marker — no tap needed. Click any place to see its Latin name, modern equivalent, and Wikipedia entry. No account, no download, no prior knowledge needed. Click the small 'Demo' button beneath the About icon any time for a full guided walkthrough of the main features.

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