The Medieval and Early Humanist Reception of the <i>Antonine Itinerary</i>

The Antonine Itinerary, a late antique compilation of 256 land routes and seven maritime itineraries through the Roman Empire, is among the most important geographical texts to survive the ancient world. This article presents the first sustained account of its reception history to the end of the fifteenth century. After an introduction to the text itself, I consider evidence for the Itinerary’s manuscript transmission from the seventh to the fifteenth century, alongside cases of its usage by medieval and humanist authors. Three main periods are discerned in this span. The first, from the eighth to the tenth century, is notable for the Itinerary’s coupling with a redaction of the fourth- or fifth-century CE Cosmographia of Julius Honorius and its presence in compilations expressing Carolingian notions of renovatio imperii. The second period, from the eleventh to the fourteenth century, is marked by relative neglect, apart from the Itinerary’s use as a source of local history. The third period sees a revival of copying under humanist auspices, with limited usage until the Itinerary’s appearance in the apparatus to Ermolao Barbaro’s Castigationes at the end of the fifteenth century. This discussion thus contributes a re-evaluation of the Itinerary’s significance in medieval letters, as well as a case study of the shifting fortuna of a late imperial text.