The great Gallic league. J Dassié. Page 7.
Our topographic checks confirm a whole range of values ranging between 2400 and 2500 meters, according to the knowledge and of the precision of the layout of the way, of the precision of measurements and the precision of the establishment of the milestones !
Indeed, nothing guarantees that the various Gallic people "had standardized " a uniform value, nor which they had average the techniques to apply rigorously! It would be illusory, in the current state of our knowledge, to want to ensure the value of the last two significant digits, apart from practical measurements on perfectly definite and undeniable segments.
For our applications, we will retain an average value of conversion of the great indigenous league: that of 2450 meters , without attaching an particular importance to the value of the 3 rd and 4 th significant digits. The great Gallic mile does not measure exactly 2450 meters , this figure is a central value of the range of the actual values ( 2450 m + / - 2%). This value, applied to the examples selected, minimizes the errors of conversion, giving extremely coherent and convincing results.
To avoid any confusion, we will invite the league of the texts, that of Ammien Marcellin, 1,5 thousand or 2222 meters, the " romanized league ", expression probably rather near to reality.
Values of the league and authors .
|
Year |
Author |
Title |
League of 2222 m |
League 2400 to 2500 m |
|
1760 |
d'Anville |
Notice de l'ancienne Gaule |
yes (2211m) |
|
|
1770 |
de la Sauvagère |
Recueil d'Antiquités dans les Gaules |
yes (2225m) |
|
|
1844 |
Lacurie |
Notice sur le pays des Santons ... |
yes |
|
|
1852 |
Pistollet de St Ferjeux |
Mémoire sur l'ancienne lieue gauloise |
yes |
yes (2415 m) |
|
1865 |
Aurès |
Mémoire |
yes |
yes (2436 m) |
|
1886 |
Desjardins |
Géographie de la Gaule romaine |
yes |
not |
|
1891 |
Lièvre |
La lieue gauloise |
yes |
yes (2436 m) |
|
1907 |
Hirschfeld |
Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum XIII |
yes |
|
|
1912 |
Julian |
La Gaule dans la Table de Peutinger |
||
|
1928 |
Clouet |
En suivant deux voies préromaines ... |
||
|
1934 |
Attic |
Manuel d'archéologie gallo-romaine |
yes |
|
|
1952 |
Duval |
Vie quotidienne en Gaule |
yes |
|
|
1954 |
Piveteau |
Voies antiques de la Charente |
||
|
1964 |
Closed-Arceduc |
La métrique des voies gallo-romaines |
yes |
yes (2415 m) |
|
1970 |
Jalmain |
Archéologie aérienne en Ile-de-France |
yes |
yes (2450 m) |
|
1972 |
Chevallier |
Les voies romaines (Colin) |
yes |
yes (variable) |
|
1977 |
Dassié |
Découverte de Novioregum |
yes |
yes (2415 m) |
|
1978 |
Maurin |
Saintes antiques |
yes (2222 m) |
|
|
1986
|
Walser
|
Corpus Inscriptio. Latinarum XVII
/ 2
|
yes
|
|
|
1994 |
Denimal |
La voie Aquitanique d'Agrippa |
yes |
not |
|
1994 |
Maurin-Tassaux-Thauré |
Inscriptions Latines d'Aquitaine |
yes |
|
|
1997
|
Chevallier
|
Les voies romaines (Picard)
|
yes
|
allowed alternatives
|
|
1999 |
Dassié |
La grande lieue gauloise (Gallia) |
yes |
yes (2450+/-50 m) |
" not " is a challenge of this value, whereas the absence of answer indicates that the author does not make state of it.
Determination of the module of distance. Terminology.
It is significant to avoid confusions between the metric one of a way , resulting from the topographic, photographic or cartographic analysis, representing the physical reality of the way and the survival of its demarcation, with the modules of distance used in the routes, obtained by calculation. The direct relation between these terms perhaps is not always checked. (Glossary).
The study of the old geographical documents, the such Table of Peutinger (T.d.P.) and the Route of Antonin (I.d' A.), reveals many anomalies. Who could still support that the distance between Burdigala and Blania (T.d.P.) is IX leagues (2222 m), is 20 kilometers, or that the same way on (I.d' A.), represents m.p. XVIIII miles of 1481 m, that is to say 28 kilometers, whereas the distance on map is about 46 kilometers! There are three principal reasons being able to explain the difficulties of correspondence between these old documents and the modern geography :
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