Roman Empire in 211 AD, detailed map of cities including kingdoms of Kush and Arabia Felix

[Roma_Victrix]

For the original Imgur link and to expand the image to see the fine details, visit here: http://i.imgur.com/lHoCQtt.jpg

This is a really cool resource, especially since the map legend is translated into several different languages, not just English, and the map itself is all in Latin, basically. The main takeaway here is that most of the urbanization and greatest number of towns and cities still remained in the central and eastern parts of the Mediterranean, even two centuries after the end of the Hellenistic period (the era of our mod). It appears that the bulk of settlements at this time existed in Italy, mainland Greece, western Anatolia (Turkey), the Levant (Syria, Lebanon, Israel), the Nile Delta region of Egypt, the Maghreb in northwest Africa (Algeria & Tunisia), southern Iberia (Spain), southeastern Gaul (France), Dalmatia and Illyria (Slovenia, Croatia, Albania, Bosnia & Herzegovina).

However, once you move into the Libyan interior beyond the coast, as well as the hinterlands of Iberia, Gaul, and especially the British Isles north of Londinium (modern London, England), the number of settlements quickly peters off and it seems population density becomes very sparse. Funnily enough, the parts of Germania west of the Rhine controlled by the Romans seems more populated and settled than southwestern Gaul (region of Aquitaine). Mesopotamia under Parthian control seems about as populated as one would expect. The map also includes the Nubian Kingdom of Kush (Sudan, ancient "Aethiopia", a definition which at times could also include actual Ethiopia & Eritrea) and the Kingdom of Saba in Arabia. The latter seems more populated than the former. Egypt doesn't seem to have a greater number of settlements than, say, the Levant, but it did have Alexandria, the biggest city in the Mediterranean until the population of Rome exploded to a million inhabitants.

It would be fun to compare this map with contemporary ones for the Han Empire of China (which included northern Korea and northern Vietnam) and the late Kushan or early Gupta empires of India, since those were the other regions of the earth with the greatest populations aside from the Parthian Empire. I think EBII does a good job representing the population dispersal as seen on this map. If you thought the game was being biased in favor of southern Europe over North Africa, for instance, well, here's the evidence to counter your idea.

[Jurand of Cracow]

This is a very nice map indeed, enabling you to get your bearings in the various parts of the Ancient oikumene. (besides, the map was posted before in the EBII here :-)
However, I'm quite sceptical about inferring the population densities and the settlement densities on the basis of the settlement names densities in such a map.
If somobedy is interested in the subjects I'd suggest reading books on the subject, eg:

Cities of the Classical World: An Atlas and Gazetteer of 120 Centres of Ancient Civilization

- very minimalistic view on the numbers of the inhabitants.

or the modern discussion on the Peutingerian map (it's rather on specific cartographic issue):
R. Talbert, Rome's World. The Peutinger Map Reconsidered

[Septentrionalis]

Wow, that is really nice! Thanks for sharing with us.

I would like to take the opportunity to refer any map enthusiasts to this resource hosted by Lund University, an old and respected place of learning in Scania, southern Sweden. It is a digital Google Maps-style resource with astounding detail. The only caveat is that it is apparently not entirely finished. I think there are settlements missing on the eastern coast of Spain, for instance. But it is one of the best things around nevertheless.

https://dare.ht.lu.se

[Roma_Victrix]

Thank you very kindly for sharing these links, gentlemen! Also, I should have known the map has already been posted, so +1 rep for that.

I think the number of settlements is indicative of population density and population size per region, but I will admit, as I did in my original post, that this is not always the case when you had some cities that were just gargantuan in comparison to most others, like Alexandria in Egypt.

[Lusitanio]

Jurand already posted the map, but thanks anyway Roma, It is always useful

And Septentrionalis thanks also for that great map, very detailed.

They are especially useful for me due to the forts placement decisions for my campaigns.