Itinerarium

To sort out the lists, the Romans drew diagrams of parallel lines showing the branches of the roads.

Zenodoxus, Theodotus, and Polyclitus, three Greek geographers, were hired to survey the system and compile a master itinerary.

The result was a stone engraved master itinerarium set up near the Pantheon, from which travelers and itinerary sellers could make copies.

Believed to be a votive offering by merchants travelling from Gades to Rome, the inscription is a valuable source of information about the road network at the time, and scholars refer to this artefact as the Itinerarium Gaditanum.

In the medieval period, the term was applied to guide-books written by travelers, most of which were accounts of pilgrimages to the Holy Land.