Detail of the Tabula Peutingeriana, an illustrated itinerarium (road map) showing the cursus publicus, the road network in the Roman Empire. The original map upon which it is based probably dates to the 4th or 5th century and was itself based on a map prepared by Agrippa during the reign of the emperor Augustus (27 BC - 14 AD) prepared under the direction of Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, a friend of Augustus. After Agrippa's death, the map was engraved on marble and placed in the Porticus Vipsaniae, not far from the Ara Pacis. NOTE: with the distortion the course of the Nile is shown as parallel to the Mediterranean coast.