PEUTINGERIAN TABLE, the name given to a most document, which exhibits the military roads of•the Roman empire, and indeed of the world known to the Romans. It is not, properly speaking, a map; no regard being paid to geographic position, or the extent of countries. The great lines of road are laid down in a narrow strip, as if nearly parallel, all proceeding from Rome as a center; and as to rivers, it only whether they cross the road from left to right or from right to left of the traveler proceeding from Rome. The Mediterranean and other seas are represented by mere narrow channels. A small house is the mark for a town; important towns and military stations are distinguished by wails and towers. Rome, Constantinople, and Antioch are each represented by a circle, within which is a human figure seated; in the case of Home the figure is crowned. Until very recently a portion of the only copy of this valuable relic of antiquity known to exist was evidently wanting, as it terminated abruptly on the west at the confines of Spain, and included only the eastern parts of Britain. In the e. it traces roads through India to a number of places of trade as far as the mouths of the Gauges. It is on parchment, and as described in all the publications devoted to it, 21 ft. in length, and about 1 foot wide. It was found in the library of the Benedictine monastery at Tegernsee, in upper Bavaria, in the 15th c., by Conrad Celtes, who bequeathed it to Conrad Peuting.er of Augsburg, a zealous antiquary, and one of the earliest authors on the Roman and other antiquities of Germany. Pcutinger began to prepare a copy of it for publication, but died before be could accomplish his purpose, which, however, was partially executed by Mark Welser, in his Fragmenta Tabulce Antiques ex Peutingero•iam Biteliotheca (Venice, 1591). The ancient document itself
remained in the hands of the Peutinger family, and attracted no further notice till it was offered for sale in 1714, and purchased by prince Eugene, who presented it to the impe rial library of Vienna, in which it still remains. An exact copy of it was published at Vienna in 1753, with an introduction and index by F. C. von Scheyb. It was again published as an appendix to Katanesich's Obis Antiguus (Ofen. 1825); and at the request of the academy of Munich, a revised edition, with an introduction, was published by Conrad Mannert (Leip. 1824). Since that time a leaf detached from the rest has been found in the imperial library at Vienna, but we are not aware that any particular account of it or its contents has yet been given to the public.
The Pentingerian table does not always agree with the Antonine itinerary (see lux EnAny); some stations' and towns being marked in the one which are not in the other, the distances marked being also sometimes different. But the two together throw great light on ancient geography. It appears almost certain from internal evidence that the Peutingerian table belongs to the 3d c. of the Christian or the beginning of the 4th, although the existing copy seems to belong to a later date. The general character of the work seems to show that its authorship is to be referred to times of prevalent paganism; whilst a few things appear, probably alterations or a copyist, which refer to Christianity.