The Ravenna Cosmography was compiled by an anonymous cleric in Ravenna around AD 700. It consists of a list of place-names covering the world from India to Ireland. Textual evidence indicates that the author frequently used maps as his source. The surviving texts are quite challenging. The three manuscript copies are distanced from the autograph (original manuscript) by three or four generations. As a result, the copies are plagued by errors of spelling, word division, omission, and errors of hearing (The text was apparently dictated at one point.). The text-to-text variations are not limited to the place-names, but are also significant in the intervening commentary. Thus, the bulk of the blame cannot be placed on the original author. The most recent critical edition of the three manuscripts is that of Joseph Schnetz, Itineraria Romana, vol. II: Ravennatis Anonymi Cosmographia et Guidonis Geographica , 1942 (reprinted 1990), B G Teubner, Stuttgart.
External links
Sites dealing with the British section
- The British section, its text and identifications of names
- The Ravenna Cosmography, Introduction and British section.
- The Roman Map of Britain The British section of the Ravenna Cosmography and its sources.
