I created an interactive map overlaying Apostle Paul’s 20,000km of journeys on a 1st century Roman Roads network, with modern vs. ancient cities and site photos. The base map utilizes the Digital Atlas of the Roman Empire (DARE), which was embedded into ArcGIS, with all four of Paul’s journeys with every stop added. The Roman Roads map can also be switched to a modern map to compare the ancient vs. modern locations.
This is part of a personal project I am embarking on called Kingdoms Collide, where I plan to retrace every step of Paul’s journeys across the ancient Roman Roads.
I'd love to know the distance traveled by boat vs by.. foot? donkey? camel? Just boat vs non-boat would be interesting. But foot vs animal, if that data is even possible to figure out, would also be interesting.
I’ve always thought it would be cool to build a side project like OpenStreetMap, where people can mark the places traveled by famous historical figures — kind of like what you did with Paul’s journey, but open to any historical figure. Do you know if there’s anything like that out there?
I'd recommend looking into adding a speculative final journey he might have taken to Spain. He mentions plans to go there in Romans, and other sources like 1 Clement and Jerome suggest he actually went there. The city of Tarragona has a tradition that he visited, as a speculative destination to map.
Other - a bit more crunchy and modern board games that feature a little bit of Paul are Commissioned (2016) and The Acts (2018) & expansions - both games can be solo'd - good for personal immersion in the topic of church history, community building or friction.
Very interesting project! The Roman world really comes alive this this.
A pet peeve of mine though (and a bit OT):
I know it is not your fault, since this is inbuilt behavior, but I cannot for the life of me understand why almost all map widgets now have this behavior when as you are scrolling the whole page and happen to go over the map, suddenly the scrolling motion is used to zoom out the map, which thus quickly collapses into a thumbnail or a dot. It always drives me nuts when it occurs, a total fail of a UI/UX design. What was wrong with pinching to zoom out??
Not sure, but I think Google Map started this trend. I wonder if these map widget designers actually test the interaction with actual users.
What motivated you to make this? It’s not entirely clear to me from looking over more of your site. Seems like a lot of effort unless you and your family are believers.
you dont need to be a "believer" to have interest in your culture and history. what we are in the west, our philosophy our way to see the world has been shaped directly from the ideas of people like Plato, Socrates and Paul.
One UI comment. I notice there is a legend under the map and callouts on the map to each of the four journeys. I wanted to see one of these switch the display to only show one journey at a time. Maybe the site does this and clearly on desktop, but I couldn’t intuit it on mobile.
I really love the way this is put together. This is a great way to illustrate someone's journey through life.
I am doing a similar project with family genealogy so it covers a longer span of time but the family connections to places become tangible. You really see how some people live out their entire lives in one small area while others hit the trails and find a way to prosper in some far-off locality. It especially stands out when you look at children and inheritances since the first-born son typically ended up with the father's best assets and other sons needed to find their own way with smaller parcels of land or almost nothing. Perhaps the most interesting part is discovering all the loops and intersections where a descendant ends up living or working in a town where an ancestor lived generations earlier without knowing anything about that ancestor. Feels like the circle is completed when someone later cycles back through and finds that they also like the place well enough to stay a while.
St. Paul (and his translators) are responsible for some of the most evocative turns of phrase I have ever encountered in literature. From 1 Corinthians 13:
"For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known."
Only in recent years have I appreciated how familiarity with such material so enriches my experience of other, later literature. To use this example, the title of C.S. Lewis’s Till We Have Faces and its eponymous sentence (paraphrased):
How can we know the gods face to face, till we have faces?
I eventually figured it out I think.. A brief summary about Paul and his journey at the top would greatly improve the first impression of people adjacent to and outside of the target audience.
I don't think intent matters here, even if you are a true believer in AGI or GOD you are still a scammer. Work for your own money, don't take from others.
Really cool project, bit hard to use on a mobile. Would love to have some background info about the whole things, never really got into Bible so being clueless probably adds to the confusion :D
Great job. Was the the ESRI JS SDK used to make this, or some low code tool like StoryMaps? The ancient basemap alone is really cool, especially with the ability to toggle to present day.
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[ 2.7 ms ] story [ 54.2 ms ] threadThis is part of a personal project I am embarking on called Kingdoms Collide, where I plan to retrace every step of Paul’s journeys across the ancient Roman Roads.
I’ve always thought it would be cool to build a side project like OpenStreetMap, where people can mark the places traveled by famous historical figures — kind of like what you did with Paul’s journey, but open to any historical figure. Do you know if there’s anything like that out there?
There's a 1990 board game about Paul's travels with a similar map, but with less narrative detail, it's more about immersion and play. Tom Vasel wrote a review: https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/100649/review-journeys-of-p...
Campaign variant: https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/127941/missionary-campaigns...
Other - a bit more crunchy and modern board games that feature a little bit of Paul are Commissioned (2016) and The Acts (2018) & expansions - both games can be solo'd - good for personal immersion in the topic of church history, community building or friction.
# Bart Ehrman on the Pauline timeline:
https://www.bartehrman.com/story-of-paul-in-the-bible/
https://www.bartehrman.com/apostle-paul-timeline/
https://www.bartehrman.com/historical-paul/
# Academic research bridging archeology and the letters of Paul
https://rbecs.org/2020/07/03/nasrallah/
>This first trip laid the framework for hsi other trips further afield.
should be 'his'
A pet peeve of mine though (and a bit OT):
I know it is not your fault, since this is inbuilt behavior, but I cannot for the life of me understand why almost all map widgets now have this behavior when as you are scrolling the whole page and happen to go over the map, suddenly the scrolling motion is used to zoom out the map, which thus quickly collapses into a thumbnail or a dot. It always drives me nuts when it occurs, a total fail of a UI/UX design. What was wrong with pinching to zoom out??
Not sure, but I think Google Map started this trend. I wonder if these map widget designers actually test the interaction with actual users.
Jesus would have cast him out along with the rest of the pharisees if he had the chance.
One UI comment. I notice there is a legend under the map and callouts on the map to each of the four journeys. I wanted to see one of these switch the display to only show one journey at a time. Maybe the site does this and clearly on desktop, but I couldn’t intuit it on mobile.
I am doing a similar project with family genealogy so it covers a longer span of time but the family connections to places become tangible. You really see how some people live out their entire lives in one small area while others hit the trails and find a way to prosper in some far-off locality. It especially stands out when you look at children and inheritances since the first-born son typically ended up with the father's best assets and other sons needed to find their own way with smaller parcels of land or almost nothing. Perhaps the most interesting part is discovering all the loops and intersections where a descendant ends up living or working in a town where an ancestor lived generations earlier without knowing anything about that ancestor. Feels like the circle is completed when someone later cycles back through and finds that they also like the place well enough to stay a while.
"For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known."
How can we know the gods face to face, till we have faces?
Love, love is going to lead you by the hand
Into a white and soundless place
Now we see things as in a mirror, dimly
Then we shall see each other face to face
I eventually figured it out I think.. A brief summary about Paul and his journey at the top would greatly improve the first impression of people adjacent to and outside of the target audience.
Nice work!
Was it common to go walking across the Roman Empire or was it a rare feat?