The Ultimate Map of the Roman Empire

[Jan Gronvik]

I have seen lots and lots of maps of the Roman Empire both in books and on the Internet.
As you can see, these example maps below differ on the subject (Egypt, North Africa, Britannia, the Danube border etc.).
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-FRqvE-mP9cA/T5MNM38mE5I/AAAAAAAADII/yHU-bLhnPA4/s1600/imperio_romano.gif
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/45/Mapa_del_Conf%C3%ADn_del_Imperio_Romano.gif
http://www.bible.ca/maps/maps-roman-empire-peak-150AD.jpg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/81/Roman_Empire.JPG
http://www.humanjourney.us/detail/RomanEmpire31.html
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dickinsonlibrary/4561409088/sizes/o/in/photostream/
http://ukrmap.su/program2010/wh6/5_files/image028.jpg
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-1LlilMmJ_Y8/T2nMHE2Kt8I/AAAAAAAAAZ4/MTIX9szTgDY/s1600/imperio+romano.jpg
I wonder if anyone on this board has a map or has made one themselves which shows not only all the areas that the Roman Empire ever conquered but also its client kingdoms ?

 

[Mikestone8]

I think the King of Parthia would have had something to say about that last one!!

 

[Jan Gronvik]

And what would the Africans say about the first map?

 

[Alex Richards]

Honestly, the first one's just utterly wrong in so many places (Africa, Caledonia, Cappadocia...), as is the last one.

The others are more accurate, but all of them have something that is either incorrect, misleading or highly debatable.

I'm pretty sure we've got some decent maps on the wiki though if you have a look.

 

[Jan Gronvik]

Honestly, the first one's just utterly wrong in so many places (Africa, Caledonia, Cappadocia...), as is the last one.

The others are more accurate, but all of them have something that is either incorrect, misleading or highly debatable.

I'm pretty sure we've got some decent maps on the wiki though if you have a look.

But I guess those who made those maps thaught they had good reasons to draw them like they did.

 

[Basileus Giorgios]

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-1LlilMmJ_Y8/T2nMHE2Kt8I/AAAAAAAAAZ4/MTIX9szTgDY/s1600/imperio+romano.jp

I wonder if anyone on this board has a map or has made one themselves which shows not only all the areas that the Roman Empire ever conquered but also its client kingdoms ?[/FONT][/SIZE]

This is the least bad map, I think.

 

[Alex Richards]

But I guess those who made those maps thaught they had good reasons to draw them like they did.

You'd think so wouldn't you?

But no, there's a lot of 'authoritive' maps floating around on the web which show astounding levels of critical research failure, the sort that it takes absolutely minimal levels of research to correct.

For example, the first one shows Scotland as part of the province of Brittania, but while there was indeed an invasion in the 80sAD (that of Tacitus' famous 'the make a desert and call it peace' line), it retreated pretty much immediately afterwards. The absolute limit of any form of actual control was the brief period of the Antonnine wall in the mid 2nd century.

At the very most, there's growing evidence to suggest a very slightly romanised Pictish culture emerged in areas such as Fife, Sterling, Argyll and the like, but having Roman Britain extending past Aberdeen is ludicrously wrong.

EDIT: I don't really agree BG, Brittania's pretty wrong in that one as well, not to mention Roman Parthia. If I had to pick a single map, it'd be the one in what looks like Russian second from the bottom. Dacia looks a bit off, but the errors are less egrerious than in others.

 

[Jan Gronvik]

Is there any map you guys know of that comes close to being accurate both in terms of conquered territories and client kingdomes/tribes?

 

[Basileus Giorgios]

EDIT: I don't really agree BG, Brittania's pretty wrong in that one as well, not to mention Roman Parthia. If I had to pick a single map, it'd be the one in what looks like Russian second from the bottom. Dacia looks a bit off, but the errors are less egrerious than in others.

You're right: that's the one I meant to highlight, honest!