La "carte d'Agrippa" : nouvelle proposition de lecture

When we try to depict what sort of a world "map", conceived by Agrippa, was to be seen in the "porticus Vipsania", several models have been proposed by scholars, according to different types of "orbes terranum" laid out by ancient cartography : either a sort of road system, of which the Peutinger Table was a good example, or an oblong map as the model was given in the Age of Augustus by greek scientific cartography, or a circular scheme of oikumene, known as T-O and very common in late Roman period. An other way for this reconstruction could be supported on Pliny's annotations about Agrippa : the "map" would be a sort of triptyque, whith the three parts of the world, painted or carved on each wall of the portico and oriented respectively towards the North, the South and the East. Such a representation would be conform to Roman vision of oikumene and useful as a tool for the Augustean imperial propaganda.Trousset Pol. La "carte d'Agrippa" : nouvelle proposition de lecture. In: Dialogues d'histoire ancienne, vol. 19, n°2, 1993. pp. 137-157