Mapping Ancient Rome

"I curse Tretia Maria and her life and mind and memory and liver and lungs ..."

This curse was found in London, written in Latin upon a lead plate. The curse dates from 43-410 A.D., during the Roman invasion of Britain. The curse is just one of many Roman inscriptions which can be viewed at Roman Inscriptions of Britain.

Roman Inscriptions of Britain records 2,401 monumental Roman inscriptions which were published in R.G. Collingwood's and R.P. Wright's text book of the same name. You can search the Roman inscriptions and their translations in a number of different ways, including by the location where each inscription was found, on the site's interactive map.

The locations of thousands of other historical Latin inscriptions which have been found throughout what was once the Roman Empire can be viewed at EDCS - Map Imperium Romanum. This map uses the Epigraphic Database Clauss-Slaby to show where hundreds of thousands of Latin inscriptions were originally found. The map (shown above) is a pretty accurate map of the extent of the Roman Empire at its peak in around 117 A.D..


If you are interested in Roman history you should also check out Vici.org, an interactive map that records the locations of archaeological finds, including buildings and artefacts, from the Roman Empire. Using the Vici.org map it is possible to search for Roman remains near a particular location. As well as showing where archaeological remains have been found the map shows the locations of museums of Roman history and the locations of ancient Roman roads.

If you want help with place-names used in the ancient world then you can refer to the Pleiades website. Pleiades is a great resource for anyone interested in the history and geography of the ancient world. The site is a community based and open-sourced gazette of ancient places. Pleiades has extensive data of place-names used in the Greek and Roman world (it is also expanding into Ancient Near Eastern, Byzantine, Celtic, and Early Medieval geography).