SUMMARY
		
		“Rome was not built in a day!” This well cited saying could be equally 
		applied to the survey of Rome and its many outskirts of centuriations 
		radiating from the nucleus of the central square. This being so it was 
		clearly to take many years in the field by the four Greek Surveyors 
		charged by Julius Caesar to chart the entire known world. 
		
		Through exhilarating research I can tell you how long this task took as 
		well as the names of the surveyors who carried out the survey plus the 
		coordinator commissioned with the duty by Octavian himself ! The story 
		behind the Survey of the World varies between scholars but one version 
		of the tale is brilliantly retold in text and images in spectacular 
		fashion on the legendary Hereford Mappa Mundi (dated to c. 1290-1300).
		
		
		All references credit Julius Caesar with making the initial decree to 
		make a survey of the whole of the Roman World in conjunction with his 
		closest consort Marc Antony sometime around the year 45-44 BC. Knowing 
		that in March of 44 BC (at the Ides of March to be precise) he was 
		assassinated it is possible that a written order could have been 
		delivered by the adopted son of Julius Caesar, Octavian, to the 
		surveyors to confirm his concurrence with the original action or the 
		representation of this alleged royal order on the medieval map could be 
		merely the whim of its creator. Octavian’s greatest general (later to 
		become his son-in-law !), Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, was appointed as the 
		overall supervisor of the great mapping project which was more than 
		probably not finally completed until some years after his death. There 
		is a growing number of scholars such as my friend Michael Ferrar 
		favouring a date 10 years earlier for the start of the Great Mapping 
		Project but as there are so few sources (two in fact!) which have 
		reported on the years associated with the exercise I will place my 
		reliance on the times nominated by Julius Honorius, the first and oldest 
		extant report on it.
		
		In this paper you will hear about the masterpiece of cartography which 
		highlights most of the men responsible for the Survey of the known 
		World, along with aspects of Roman land surveying which underpinned the 
		program of colonisation and settlement within the Roman Empire. I will 
		also give you with the name of the cartographer responsible for this 
		brilliant piece of late thirteenth century mapping together with the 
		history of the historic repository where it was rediscovered many 
		centuries after its disappearance. It is still housed in the Cathedral 
		from which it derived its name today thanks to some most generous 
		benefactors and enthusiastic heritage fanatics. 
		
		It is a truly incredible revelation that we have the approximate 
		commencement time of the survey of the entire ancient world and just how 
		long the arduous exercise took but to ponder that we even know the names 
		of all of the people involved in the awesome undertaking is staggering 
		to the imagination. Well get ready to be thrilled; get ready to be 
		amazed because I am about to transport you back to a time of majesty and 
		conspiracy closely followed by an extended period of peace during which 
		four Greek Surveyors took on the survey of the world and actually did 
		it!
		 
		1. INTRODUCTION
		
		To be given the commission to survey the world sounds like and certainly 
		is a monumental contemplation but this exact responsibility was bestowed 
		upon four “extremely learned men” by the most powerful man in the world 
		at the time of this momentous instruction – Julius Caesar ! There are 
		some unsubstantiated sources which purport that this great emperor 
		himself first started his career in the ranks of the army as a surveyor 
		of the roads of Rome, legendary for their straightness and right angled 
		intersections but I must leave the verification of this exciting 
		possibility to future investigation while I mesmerise you with this true 
		tale of epic surveying during the era that it is said the streets of 
		Rome were paved with gold !
		
		The entirety of the known world at that time (45/44-13/12 BC) included 
		Asia, Africa and Europe, with many portions of these continents under 
		the occupation of the Roman Empire, a not insubstantial expanse of 
		territory in anyone’s imagination ! The late 4th/early 5th century Roman 
		historian Julius Honorius states that the entire earth (“omnis orbis”) 
		was surveyed by four surveyors of Greek extraction who were selected by 
		Julius Caesar and his co-consul Marc Antony. Contemporary accounts about 
		these surveyors refer to four such “most able men” but later reporters 
		erroneously drop one of the agrimensori in favour of only three men of 
		measurement, which slightly contorted tale has been adopted on the 
		Hereford Map.
		
		Initially I am going to give a brief outline of the training and 
		techniques which would have been instilled into the men entrusted with 
		surveying tasks during the Roman Empire along with the calibre and 
		expertise of the highly regarded Guild of Experts from which four were 
		chosen to do the ambitious bidding of their imperious leaders.
		 
		2. THE MASTERY OF ROMAN SURVEYING
		
		Even in the very early days when Romans were predominantly a nation of 
		farmers they had a mythical obsession with the land to which they 
		attributed great antiquity. The Roman Surveyors were known as 
		“agrimensori” (literally “measurers of land”) or “gromatici” (“users of 
		the groma” – which is an ancient Roman surveying device consisting of a 
		cross mounted on a bracket, fitting into a staff, with a plumb bob 
		hanging from each of the four ends to enable the laying out of straight 
		lines at right angles to each other). Thus the Roman subdivision of land 
		known as centuriation carried on the tradition of the Egyptians and 
		Greeks before them of laying out towns and land parcels in orthogonal 
		patterns with parallel streets intersecting at ninety degrees mainly 
		comprising allotments of rectangular shape.
		
		As an illustration of the extent to which the Romans incorporated the 
		establishment of new towns into their folkloric sagas the writer Virgil 
		describes how Aeneas founded a city in Sicily:
		“Meanwhile Aeneas marks the city out
		By ploughing; then he draws the homes by lot”
		All Roman Surveyors were aware through their training of the old 
		custom whereby the limits of a new town were marked out by the consul by 
		ploughing a furrow around it. Another author Ovid, a studier of the law 
		including that pertaining to surveying, said that the dividing up of 
		land with balks (limites) by a “careful measurer” (cautus mensor) 
		emphasised the importance attached to the art of surveying. 
		
		The line drawn around a town was referred to by Virgil as sulcus 
		primigenius (“the original furrow”) and was monumented with boundary 
		stones according to Tacitus and Plutarch. Actual boundary stones have 
		been discovered at Capua placed during the Second Triumvirate bearing 
		inscriptions “By order of Caesar (Octavian), on the line ploughed”. 
		
			
				| The Romans even had a god called Terminus - God 
				of the Boundary Stones closely affiliated with the principal 
				deity Jupiter. Indeed it is the Romans who introduced the Feast 
				of Terminalia during which the Town Consul and his officials 
				would walk around the town bounds beating drums to ward off evil 
				spirits, a ritual which survived down through the centuries into 
				the modern era when statutes required the enactment of “Beating 
				the Bounds” in an identical style to designate the extent of the 
				town limits outside of which legal jurisdictions changed. During 
				the 1830’s in New South Wales the same concept of boundary 
				stones was laid out under The Police Act where the town limits 
				were delineated by imposing boundary monuments. In Sydney and 
				Parramatta it was required by this legislation to conduct an 
				annual beating of the bounds in a reenactment of the Roman 
				event. In Parramatta the whereabouts of eight of the original 
				nine boundary stones are known. |  | 
			
				|  | Figure 1: The bust of Terminus 
				on a boundary stone “Never yield” | 
		
		
			
				| 
				 | The Roman land surveyors did not only measure the land, they 
				laid it out with more careful planning and more precisely than 
				by any other nation at any time until the late eighteenth 
				century ! With methodical and practical purpose the Roman 
				surveyors of Caesar prudently began measuring from the Augur’s 
				starting point then set about the laying out of the streets and 
				allotments of the new town which always had two main roads 
				intersecting at right angles at the heart of the establishment. 
				The first line to be laid down was the principal street called 
				the decumanus maximus which would be the widest thoroughfare 
				running in a north-south direction with the secondary street 
				known as the kardo(cardo) maximus intersecting in the centre of 
				the main road at right angles thus orientated towards the east 
				and west. | 
			
				| 
				Figure  2: A Roman Groma |  | 
		
		
			
				|  
				Figure 3.   | In Augustan 
				colonies for veterans the main street had a width of 40 feet with the cross street set at a lesser width of 20 feet and 
				a centuriation stone cylindrical in shape bearing the engravings 
				“DM” and “KM” with double lines intersecting on the top of it 
				was placed at the centre of the centuriated area. Some of these 
				road intersection monuments were made of set out at right angles 
				using a groma (see figure 2) the distances were measured with 10 
				feet long rods (decampeda) and carefully checked. It has been 
				well shown through the examination of many archaeological sites 
				that even the interconnecting highways between towns were also 
				planned and surveyed before their construction. The supreme 
				precision of the levelling achieved in their thousands of 
				kilometres of aquaducts stand as a proud memoriam to the 
				accuracy and skill of the ancient surveyors. There are many 
				areas typical of the centuriations laid out by the Roman 
				surveyors with a specific fine example existing in the Orange 
				Cadastre of France both over the landscape and shown on engraved 
				stelae.
 | 
		
		Surveying equipment still used in 79 AD was found in the Surveyor’s 
		Workshop of Verus (or Vero) at Pompeii in 1912. Among the artifacts 
		discovered were the metal pieces of a groma, a portable sundial, a 
		folding ruler with one fold, 1 Roman foot long, 2 bronze compasses, the 
		bronze parts of two wooden chests used to store fieldbooks and drawing 
		implements, pincers (9 cm long), a conical ferrule (6.2 cm in length), 
		16 long, thin iron tools, an ink bottle and stylus. At the National 
		Archaeological Museum in Naples there were displayed three plumb bobs 
		said to have their origin in Pompeii along with some of the 
		aforementioned items. The metal end pieces of a measuring rod were also 
		unearthed at this fabulous World Heritage site. Hero also refers twice 
		to the utilisation of tautened ropes or cords for the measurement of 
		longer distances.
		
		In 55 BC Julius Caesar passed agrarian land reform legislation known as 
		the Lex Mamilia part of which has been preserved within the Corpus 
		Agrimensorum, a series of texts copied through the centuries by the 
		hands of the monks attached to the scholastic religious monasteries 
		renowned for their libraries of antiquarian knowledge. This legislation 
		which laid down conditions for the law associated with boundary disputes 
		was still in force 140 years later when Frontinus wrote of its 
		provisions which specified penalties for offences against it as well as 
		for removing or altering the position of boundary stones. There were 
		particular conditions set down for any land disputes within five (5) 
		feet of any subdivision boundaries and the agrimensore (surveyor) had 
		ultimate jurisdiction over internal land boundaries in addition to the 
		landward limits with adjoining colonies which whenever possible were set 
		upon natural features like rivers or mountains. As well as surveying, 
		parcelling and allocating land the mensor (measurer) had to ensure that 
		boundaries were properly established and marked out – the technical 
		terms for this being terminatio or determinatio. 
		
		The outer boundary of the Roman Empire was termed limes while the 
		boundaries within a colony such as Italy were described as limites. 
		Augustus Caesar divided Italy into eleven (11) regions as follows (with 
		some lesser tribes omitted):
		
			1. Latium, Campania
			2. Apulia, Calabria
			3. Lucania, Brutii
			4. Samnites, Marsi, Paeligni, Sabines etc.
			5. Picenum
			6. Umbria, Ager, Gallicus
			7. Etruria
			8. Gallia Cispadana
			9. Liguria
			10. Venetia, Istria
			11. Gallia Transpadana
		
		It is said that these above divisions remained with very little 
		alteration right down to the time of Constantine the Great who was 
		Emperor between 306 and 337 AD who really must have treasured his 
		surveyors because he exempted them from paying tax!
		 
		3. SURVEYORS – THE ULTIMATE LAND EXPERTS!
		
		Alright, we have hundreds of years of Roman adoration of the land 
		administered through strict legislation and established legal precedence 
		which were the sole dominion of the cadastral (land) surveyor, but did 
		this situation last after the Fall of the Roman Empire in 476 AD with 
		the conquest by Odoacer, a German Chieftain ? 
		
		Not long after this imperial collapse a letter was written in 511 AD by 
		the Roman official Magnus Aurelius Cassiodorus Senator (c.490-585 AD), 
		more commonly referred to as Cassiodorus, concerning a bitter and 
		violent land dispute between the estates of two noblemen named Leontinus 
		and Paschasius in which he states:
		
			“Augustus made a complete survey of the whole 
			‘Orbis Romanus’, in order
			that each taxpayer should know exactly his resources and 
			obligations. The
			results of this survey were tabulated by the author Hyrummetricus. 
			The
			Professors of this Science [of land surveying] are honoured with a 
			more earnest
			attention than falls to the lot of any other philosophers. 
			Arithmetic, Theoretical
			Geometry, Astronomy, and Music are discoursed upon to listless 
			audiences,
			sometimes to empty benches. But the agrimensor (land 
			surveyor) is like a
			judge: the deserted fields become his forum, crowded with eager
			spectators. You would fancy him a madman when you see him walking
			along the most devious paths. But in truth he is seeking for the 
			traces of 
			lost facts in rough woods and thickets. He walks not as other men
			
			walk. His path is the book from which he reads; he shows what he 
			is
			saying; he proves what he hath learned; by his steps he divides the 
			rights 
			of the hostile claimants; and like a mighty river he takes away the 
			fields of 
			one side to bestow them on the other.”
		
		4. HEREFORD – THE CATHEDRAL AND THE MAPPAMUNDI
		
			
				|  | With the 
				original stone construction from the 7th century destroyed after 
				200 years by Aethelred of Mercia the subsequent reconstruction 
				by Edward the Confessor lasted for only a handful of years till 
				it was sacked and burnt in 1056 by an army of Welsh and Irish 
				forces led by Gruffydd ap Llywelyn. The current Hereford 
				Cathedral was built within the ruins of the last one in 1079 not 
				too long after the Norman Conquest of William the Conqueror in 
				1066. Situated in the County of Herefordshire the full name of 
				the holy building is the Cathedral Church of Blessed Virgin Mary 
				and St. Ethelbert in the Diocese of Hereford designed in the 
				Gothic style. The final additions were commissioned by Bishop 
				Aquablanca in the mid 1200s being completed later in that 
				century under Bishop Swinfield. | 
			
				| Figure 4. Hereford Cathedral |  | 
		
		Within the Cathedral in the late 1800’s found in a storage room was a 
		medieval Mappa Mundi which had formerly hung on the wall of one of the 
		shrines for hundreds of years. Having been masterfully penned around 
		1290-1300 by Richard of Holdingham, identified as Richard de Bello (of 
		Battle), he is said to have been the prebend of Lafford (modern day 
		Sleaford) in Lincoln Cathedral around 1278-1283. Later he became an 
		official of the Bishop of Hereford, when in 1305 he was appointed 
		prebendary of Norton, and a Canon in Hereford Cathedral. His life after 
		1313 has not been traced but his date of death was c. 1326. Richard even 
		tells us directly that he was the one who created the masterpiece with 
		an inscription in the bottom left hand corner. He is also probably the 
		individual on horseback situated in the bottom right hand corner looking 
		towards his declaration. The horse rider has also been suggested as Paul 
		Orosius, another 5th century historian but proof of the identity has not 
		been verified. 
		
		5. APPOINTING THE 
		SURVEYORS OF THE WORLD
		It is reported by various sources as well as being supported by a 
		prominent inclusion within the Pentagonal Frame of the Hereford 
		Mappamundi at the left right hand side that the measurement of the whole 
		world was ordered by Julius Caesar “to be made by four very wise and 
		chosen men,” and that “this measurement was begun in the consulship of 
		Julius Caesar and M. Antonius.” It is also said that “three Greeks were 
		appointed for this purpose, Nichodoxus, Theodocus, and Polyclitus” which 
		is the version that is represented on the Hereford Map with the names of 
		the three surveyors also shown as Nicodoxo, Teodoco and Policlito in red 
		ink around the perimeter of the map. Indeed there a number of variations 
		of each of the names of the measurers of the world of differing origins 
		including Nicodemo/Nicodoxo/Nichodoxus/Nichodomo and Nicodoso for one, 
		then for the second individual Theudoto/Teodoco/Theodocus and Teodoto 
		with only minor alternatives for the third member of the group as 
		Polyclito or Policlito. The fourth surveyor mentioned in earlier 
		manuscripts such as the Vatican MS from 1209 is said to be Didymus or 
		Didymo who is alleged to have been entrusted with the survey of the 
		western regions which were known as “Occidentalis.” It is unsure just 
		what occurred to exclude this fourth man from the team but his duties 
		are said to have been relegated to Teodoco who is depicted on the 
		Hereford Chart to have measured the north (“Septentrionalis”) and the 
		west (“Occidentalis”). Installed to oversee this phenomenal project was 
		the brilliant young general Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa who was only aged 
		19 at its commencement having been born in 63 BC, the same year of birth 
		as Octavian (later to become Caesar Augustus). At the time of the 
		assassination of Julius Caesar in 44 BC he was studying with the future 
		Roman Emperor at Apollonia. He was later to marry the sister of his 
		Emperor as well as gaining victory in many notable battles against the 
		fleet of Pompeius followed up by the critical overthrow of Antony at 
		Actium in 31 BC which provided the mastery of Rome and the empire of the 
		world (which was still being surveyed!) to Octavian. In 26 BC the Senate 
		bestowed the imperial title of Augustus upon Octavian.
		
		With as much of the information available to him at the time Agrippa is 
		said to have started a contemporaneous Map of the World for his Emperor. 
		His appreciative leader is said to have completed the map himself and 
		had it engraved on marble for later placement in the colonnade built by 
		Agrippa’s sister Vipsania Polla. Along with this world map Agrippa is 
		said to have written a lengthy treatise on the cosmography of the known 
		world containing a comprehensive compilation of the places surveyed on 
		the known earth by his trusted team of Surveyors. The final World Map 
		referred to by Pliny the Elder early in the first century AD is likely 
		to have been this map. The existence of such a map has been attested by 
		various sources including Strabo. 
		
		I am sure that by now you will want to know the answer to one question: 
		“Just how long does it take to survey the world ?” Well it is scarcely 
		believable, but we do know EXACTLY just how long it took to “measure the 
		world.” From Julius Honorius the four Surveyors of the Roman World 
		completed their allocated duties in the following periods: Nicodemus 
		measured all of the east (“Oriens”) which took him 21 years 5 months and 
		9 days while the southern colonies (“Meridiana Pars”) were the sole 
		obligation of Polyclitus occupying his time for the longest period of 
		the four at 32 years 1 month and 20 days. It is stated that Didymus 
		measured the west (“Occidens”) over a time of 26 years 3 months 17 days 
		and the north (“Septentrionalis”) was determined by Theodotus over a 
		period of 29 years 8 months. Thus the full task was completed between 
		45/44 BC and 13/12 BC, possibly in the year of Agrippa’s death at the 
		young age of only 51 !!! Perhaps the receipt (if these dates are 
		possible!) of the final survey information was too much excitement for 
		him!
		
		With regard to this precise timing of the completion of the Survey of 
		the World it has been suggested to me that this would not be accurate as 
		they used a different calendar at that epoch of history. Well these 
		timings are compatible with our modern collations of time as the modern 
		calendar which we use today was adopted by Julius Caesar on 1 January in 
		45 B.C. with twelve months consisting of 365 days and an extra day every 
		four (4) years being the leap year to catch up the one quarter of a day 
		overlap caused by the earth’s orbit around the sun. It would not be 
		coincidental that only two of the months are named after Roman Emperors, 
		July and August, reflecting the most significant contributions made by 
		these two giants of the Roman Colossus to its preeminence in the ancient 
		World, not the least of which was the incredible exercise of surveying 
		it!
		 
		
		6. REPRESENTATIONS ON THE HEREFORD MAP
		The medieval cartographic masterpiece known as the Hereford 
		Mappamundi was estimated to have been completed in about 1290 to 1300 AD 
		and is currently housed in the magnificent Norman era cathedral which 
		gave the work its name in the west of England.
		
		The map is of the genre T-O typical of the religious style of mappamundi 
		of this period such as the contemporaneous St. Beatus Map (c.1050), 
		Psalter World Map (c.1265), and Ebstorfer Map (mid-late 13th century). 
		Shown as a flat circle surrounded by ocean the known world comprised 
		Europe, North Africa and the explored section of Asia with the 
		horizontal bar of the “T” dividing Europe from Asia and the vertical 
		line being the Mediterranean Sea. Such maps were religious concoctions 
		with the Holy City of Jerusalem occupying a disproportionate area of the 
		chart at the centre while the Earthly Paradise was placed at the top of 
		the map which was actually the Far East. Thus we have north on the left 
		and south on the right. The base for the masterpiece was the traditional 
		vellum which was treated calf skin even used during the early period of 
		Land Titling in Australia. Even though the mappamundi has exaggerations 
		and some misrepresentations driven by religious preoccupations it 
		nevertheless pays an extensive level of detail to the depiction of 
		geographically and historically authentic information illustrated in a 
		most artistic and masterful way. 
		
		The material portrayed on the Hereford Map is declared as being based 
		upon Orosius’ History of the World itself heavily reliant on the earlier 
		writings of The Bible and Pliny the Elder who was killed at the Vesuvian 
		eruption which buried Pompeii in 79 AD as witnessed by his nephew Pliny 
		the Younger. According to Meryl Jancey in the “Mappa Mundi – a brief 
		guide” the purpose for crafting the great map was as a medium of 
		religious awe to encapsulate in a spectacular visual way to a vastly 
		illiterate congregation the wonders of man and the natural world which 
		were attributable to the Almighty God. The figure of Christ, the Virgin 
		Mary and a few angels near the top of the map at the Day of Judgement 
		gave the bemused civilians a path to salvation through which they could 
		extract some solace for their existence. 
		
		The majority of the writing on the map is in black ink with red and gold 
		leaf for emphasis while blue or green was used for rivers and seas. One 
		exception is the depiction of the Red Sea in red colouring. Scalloped 
		patterns showed mountain ranges with towns identified through the walls 
		and towers of the local structures found within those places. In 
		addition to the man-made features unique to an area which had been 
		described by the visiting surveyors and world travellers the known 
		regions of the map are situated by their geographical elements and 
		natural features. However when the lands are unknown for authentic 
		detail mythical creatures and beings are drawn to make the plan a 
		mixture of fact and fiction. Most locations bear icons representative of 
		their identity such as the Pyramids and Sphinx for Egypt, and, of 
		course, Hereford indicated alongside the River Wye by the drawing of the 
		Cathedral which bears its name.
		 
		7. THE SURVEY OF THE WORLD AS SHOWN ON THE MAP
		Engravings and illustrations displayed on the historical map provide 
		a most exciting chronicle of the Surveying of the World Project first 
		proposed by Julius Caesar in about 45-44 BC with decorative inscriptions 
		and even sketches of three of the four Surveyors of Caesar including 
		their names beside them. This antiquarian world map portrays the later 
		version relating to the formation and execution of the scheme assembling 
		its citations and images based on the account of the Survey of the World 
		by Paul Orosius from the 5th century which omits the surveyor of the 
		West, Didymus. 
		
		Between the outside circular delineation of the major oceans and the 
		perimeter of the map edge is said to be The Pentagonal Frame. Within 
		what appears to be a vertical text box which then slopes upwards at 
		about 45 degrees at the top left of the map inscribed in red capital 
		letters is the declaration that: “The terrestrial landmass began to be 
		measured under Julius Caesar.” The next similar pronouncement on the top 
		right hand side of the chart and sloping at a similar angle downwards 
		says: “Nicodoxo measured all the east.” The next vertical and horizontal 
		writing at the bottom right hand corner proclaims: “The southern area 
		was measured by Policlito”, while just across on the bottom left hand 
		side within a mirror image right angled box is broadcast: “The north and 
		west were measured by Teodoco.” How incredible is this that depicted on 
		this map we actually have the names of three of the four men being the 
		chosen surveyors that produced Caesars’ Survey of the World by 13/12 
		BC!!!
		
		Even more invigorating is that the cartographer has penned a scene at 
		the bottom left hand corner of the map which depicts three of the four 
		men receiving their written instructions under seal from Caesar Augustus 
		himself (see Figure 5). We know this because the names of three of our 
		four Surveyors are written in black text alongside their figures - 
		Nichodoxus, Theodocus and Policlitus. Upon the sealed document the 
		instruction reads: “Go into the world and make a report to the Senate on 
		all its continents: and to confirm this [order] I have affixed my seal 
		to this document.” The seal of the emperor, Augustus Caesar, hangs from 
		the paperwork while the outstretched hand of what may be Nichodoxus 
		touches the end of it in preparation for its receipt. Such theatre is 
		the province only of the map’s creator since it was not until 26 BC that 
		Octavian was installed as Caesar Augustus by the Senate making such an 
		event at odds with that depicted as a showpiece on the ecclesiastical 
		map.
		
		The further inscription above the figure of Caesar Augustus is an 
		unlikely reinforcement of this action from the Gospel of St. Luke which 
		relates the following: “Luke in his Gospel: There went out a decree from 
		Caesar Augustus that all the world should be described” which is an 
		obvious attempt to offer Biblical recapitulation for this significant 
		historical event, but once again this reference is to a second taxation 
		census and not the subject of the original Survey of the World.
		
		Regardless of inaccuracies of some aspects of the Hereford Map it is 
		still an invaluable record of how cartographers viewed and depicted the 
		world during medieval times as well as being an enduring artifact which 
		has survived the test of time to be available for all those fortunate 
		enough to know about its existence. Despite the flaws in some dating of 
		events as well as the patent omission of one of the four Greek surveyors 
		involved in the massive project to Survey the World there is no 
		reasonable dispute about the veracity of the exercise. Further elevating 
		the status with 
		
		
		Figure 5: Three of the four surveyors 
		of Caesar’s World Nichodoxus, Theodocus and
		Policlitus are personally handed their official order to: “Survey The 
		World”
		by Caesar Augustus. (part image reproduced by courtesy Brepols 
		Publishing)
		which the land surveyors of ancient Rome had attained during the 
		might of this imperial civilisation it is not surprising that erudite 
		and astute Roman officials such as Cassiodorus when referring to the 
		agrimensore (land surveyor) could proclaim: 
		
		
		                  
		“He walks not as other men walk!”                        
		
		8. CONCLUSION
		Whatever reasons motivated the two great Roman Emperors to order a 
		Survey of the World have been postulated by eminent cartographic 
		researchers possessed of much more ancient knowledge than myself but the 
		fact that it WAS done is not disputed. Through this ancient action the 
		Survey of the World has been immortalized along with “the four very wise 
		and chosen men” who completed the assignment.
		
		With such a religious atmosphere surrounding this medieval mappamundi it 
		is not hard to comprehend just how sacred the land has been and still is 
		to tribal peoples who still occupy properties owned by their ancestors 
		for thousands of years. Indeed the distribution of land is said in The 
		Bible of the Christians to have been made by God Himself. Upon this 
		reflection I shall leave you with a wonderful image from a 13th century 
		illuminated manuscript to accompany the Biblical citation: “When he 
		prepared the heavens, I was there when he set a compass upon the face of 
		the depth.” 
		 
		
		
		Figure 6: God measures his newly 
		created World as shown in a sketch
		from a 13th century illuminated manuscript. It appears to be 
		flat AND round just like our Hereford Mappa Mundi?!?
		 
		DEDICATION AND APPRECIATION
		
		May I take this opportunity to dedicate this paper and presentation to 
		the four legendary surveyors personally chosen by Julius Caesar to 
		“Survey the World”:
		
			- Nicodemus
- Didymus
- Theodotus
- Polyclitus
I would also like to express my sincere appreciation to our Italian 
		colleagues who are staging this FIG Working Week and History Workshop 
		during a time of serious economic and social uncertainty. Grazia!
		 
		BIBLIOGRAPHY
		
			- Dilke, O.A.W., The Roman Land Surveyors. (David & Charles: 
			Newton Abbot, 
 1971).
- Harvey, P.D.A., Mappa Mundi. The Hereford World Map, (London: 
			British
 Library: Toronto: University of Toronto, 1996).
- Hodgkin, Thomas, The Letters of Cassiodorus, (Oxford University 
			Press, 1886).
- Honorius, Julius, Cosmographia Julii Caesaris: A. Riese, ed., 
			Geographis Latini
 minores.
- Jancey, Meryl, Mappa Mundi – a brief guide, The Dean & Chapter 
			of
 Hereford, (1994).
- Westrem, Scott D., The Hereford Map, (Brepols Publishers, 
			Turnhout, Belgium,
 2001).
 
BIOGRAPHY
		
		Private land surveyor since 1973, Bachelor of Surveying (UNSW 1978), MA 
		(Egyptology) from Macquarie Uni., Sydney (2000). Now Director of Brock 
		Surveys at Parramatta (near Sydney). Papers presented worldwide inc. 
		Egypt, Germany, France, Hong Kong, Canada, Brunei, New Zealand, Greece, 
		UK, USA, Israel, Sweden and Morocco. Since 2002 regular column Downunder 
		Currents, in RICS magazine (London) Geomatics World. Dedicated 
		contributor to FIG Institution for the History of Surveying and 
		Measurement awarded FIG Article of the Month March 2005 for paper “Four 
		Surveyors of the Gods: XVIII Dynasty of New Kingdom Egypt (c. 1400 BC)” 
		Institution of Surveyors NSW Awards – Halloran Award 1996 for 
		Contributions to Surveying History and 2002 Professional Surveyor of the 
		Year. First international Life Member of the Surveyors Historical 
		Society (USA), Life Member Rundle Foundation for Egyptian Archaeology, 
		Foundation Member Australian National Maritime Museum and Friends of the 
		National Museum of Australia. Member of International Map Collectors 
		Society, Royal Australian Historical Society, National Trust of 
		Australia, Historic Houses Trust of NSW, Parramatta and District 
		Historical Society, Hills District Historical Society, Prospect Heritage 
		Trust and Friends of Fossils (Canowindra).
		
		
		CONTACTS
		
		John Francis Brock
		P.O. Box 883,
		PARRAMATTA NSW 2124, AUSTRALIA
		Tel 0414 910 898 Fax +61 (0)2 9633 9562
		Email: 
		brocksurveys@bigpond.com 
		 
		
		