Building the map

The numerous data layers of the map are drawn from a variety of sources, and we would like to thank those who generously provided their data for open access use:

Base map

Road data

The empire-wide road data layer is taken from Pelagios and the detailed road map of the Iberian Peninsula was generously provided by Pau de Soto and the Digital Atlas of the Roman Empire (DARE).

Provincial boundaries

The provincial boundaries are taken from Pelagios and reflect the Augustan reorganisation of the Iberian Peninsula into three provinces: Tarraconensis (also known as Hispania Citerior), Baetica, and Lusitania. These are as accurate as possible but are only intended to be indicative.

Conventus boundaries

The conventus boundaries were traced from Alföldy 1960: 16. The exact boundary lines are unknown and these are intended to be indicative only. Conventus were administrative and judicial units in the provinces.

Locations

Ancient locations are mapped using Pleiades, a community-built gazetteer of ancient places; the co-ordinates of locations given are in themselves drawn, for the most part, from the Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World and have been updated in the intervening years, where necessary, by scholars working on the Pleiades resource.

Modern locations are mapped using co-ordinates from the GeoNames gazetteer.

Mines

The map of mines active in Iberia in the first two centuries CE was created by Claire Holleran drawing on the mines database from the Oxford Roman Economy Project (Wilson, A. and Friedman, H. (2010). Mining Database. Version 1.0. Accessed (01/03/2017): http://oxrep.classics.ox.ac.uk/databases/mines_database), the Harvard Digital Atlas of Roman and Medieval Civilizations, and the work of Claude Domergue (Domergue, C. 1987. Catalogues des mines et des fonderies antiques de la péninsule ibérique, Rome I-II. Madrid ; Domergue. C. 1990. Les mines de la péninsule ibérique dans l’antiquité romaine. Rome).

Quarries

Russell, B. J. (2013). Gazetteer of Stone Quarries in the Roman World. Version 1.0. Accessed (01/03/2017): http://oxrep.classics.ox.ac.uk/databases/stone_quarries_database

Mapping origins and findspots

All points of origin are mapped using co-ordinates drawn from Pleiades. For inscriptions with findspots that correspond to known ancient places, these were also mapped using Pleiades; those without a known corresponding ancient place were mapped using co-ordinates drawn from GeoNames.

Points of origin that are given as within a particular people or province, or from a town whose location is only known approximately, are mapped using a representative point taken from Pleiades and are to be taken only as a rough approximation of origin. (see Limitations of Mapping for more detail).

There are several inscriptions that state the place of death of the individual commemorated. In each of these cases, the place of death – rather than the findspot of the inscription – is used as the end point of the journey. For these examples, an origin is not always explicitly provided but it is probable that they came from the places in which they were commemorated, especially as some inscriptions note that the ashes, bones, or remains of the individual were repatriated to that location after their death.

When using the map, please consult the commentary on the inscription for an explanation of decisions made regarding mapping.

How to cite

Mapping Roman Migration (2021), by C. Holleran, available at https://mappingromanmigration.exeter.ac.uk