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The Antonine Itinerary (Latin: Antonini Itinerarium) is a register of the stations and distances along the various roads of the Roman empire, containing directions how to get from one Roman settlement to another. According to the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica, the Antonini Itinerarium is seemingly based on official documents, probably of the survey organized by Julius Caesar, and carried out under Augustus. Due to the scarcity of other extant sources of this type of information, it is a very valuable source. Nothing is known with certainty as to the date or author. It is considered probable that the date of the original edition was the beginning of the 3rd century, while that which we possess is to be assigned to the time of Diocletian. Although traditionally ascribed to the patronage of Antoninus Augustus, if the author or promoter of the work is one of the emperors, it is most likely to be Antoninus Caracalla.[1]
The British section is known as the Iter Britanniarum, and can be described as the 'Road Map' of Roman Britain. There are 15 such itineraries in the document.
The itinerary measures distances in Roman miles, where 1,000 Roman paces equals one Roman mile. A Roman pace was two steps, left plus right. Roman paces were not everywhere the same, and conversion to modern units is imprecise, but 1 Roman mile approximately equals 4,690 feet, or 1430 m.
Below is the original Latin for route 13[2] followed by a translation with a possible (but not necessarily authoritative) name for the modern site.[3] A transcriber omitted an entry, so that the total number of paces does not equal the sum of paces between locations.
| Item ab Isca Calleva mpm cviiii sic | A route from Isca Silurum to Calleva Atrebatum 109,000 paces thus |
|---|---|
| Burrio mpm viii | Usk, Monmouthshire, 8,000 paces |
| Blestio mpm xi | Monmouth, Monmouthshire 11,000 paces |
| Ariconio mpm xi | Bury Hill, Weston under Penyard, Herefordshire 11,000 paces |
| Clevo mpm xv | Gloucester, Gloucestershire 15,000 paces |
| (no entry) | perhaps Corinium Dobunnorum at modern Cirencester, Gloucestershire |
| Durocornovio mpm xiiii | perhaps Wanborough, Wiltshire 14,000 paces |
| Spinis mpm xv | Speen, Berkshire 15,000 paces |
| Calleva mpm xv | Silchester, Hampshire 15,000 paces |
Below is the original Latin for route 14[4] followed by a translation with a possible (but not necessarily authoritative) name for the modern site.[3]
| Item alio itinere ab Isca Calleva mpm ciii sic | An alternate route from Isca Silurum to Calleva Atrebatum 103,000 paces thus |
|---|---|
| Venta Silurum mpm viiii | Caerwent, Monmouthshire 9,000 paces |
| Abone mpm xiiii | Sea Mills, Gloucestershire 14,000 paces |
| Traiectus mpm viiii | perhaps Bitton, near Willsbridge, Gloucestershire 9,000 paces |
| Aquis Solis mpm vi | Bath, Somerset 6,000 paces |
| Verlucione mpm xv | Sandy Lane, Wiltshire 15,000 paces |
| Cunetione mpm xx | Mildenhall, Wiltshire 20,000 paces |
| Spinis mpm xv | Speen, Berkshire 15,000 paces |
| Calleva mpm xv | Silchester, Hampshire 15,000 paces |
De Situ Britanniae (made available ca. 1749, published 1757) was a forgery that provided much spurious information on Roman Britain, including "itineraries" that overlapped the legitimate Antonine Itineraries, sometimes with contradicting information. Its authenticity was not seriously challenged until 1845, and it was still an authority up to the late nineteenth century. By then, its false information had infected almost every telling of ancient British history, even working its way into the Ordnance Survey maps,[5] as General Roy and his successors believed it to be a legitimate source of information, on a par with the Antonine Itineraries. While it was no longer cited when its authenticity became indefensible, it was also not systematically rooted out of past and present works.
Some authors such as Thomas Reynolds, without challenging the authenticity of the forgery, took care to note its discrepancies and challenge the quality of its information.[6][7] This was not always so, even after the forgery was debunked.