Rome+Assignment++O.E.F.

Answer these questions about the maps:

1. What lands existed on the outer edges of the known world in these maps? Provide at least four examples.

2. According to these maps, did the Romans know about these places?

a. the Nile River (yes)

b. the British Isles (yes)

c. India (yes)

d. Japan (no)

e. North America (no)

Questions 3-8 Compare the Orbis Terrarum (the first map) with one of the other maps.

3. Write the name of the second map you've chosen here.

World map according to Pomponius Mela

4. Where are Rome and the Italian peninsula located (center, left, right, top, etc.): on the Orbis Terrarum?

Answer: Center

on the other map?

Answer:

5. Why do you think the Italian Peninsula is located in this position on each map?

6. Which map is more detailed, with more place names?

7. Which map is more accurate in terms of the shape of landforms and bodies of water? (compare the maps to a modern map)

8. Which parts of the maps are the most accurate: the parts closest to Rome or the parts farther from Rome? Why?

9. Our world map today looks very similar to the world map 100 years ago, but the Roman maps you've seen look rather different from each other even though only 104 years passed between the making of the earliest and the latest maps. Why do you think this difference exists? Why would the Romans have created world maps that looked this different from each other within such a relatively short time span?