International congress of byzantine studies belgrade, 22 27 august 2016

Oriol Olesti Vila
Sabadell, Spain;
[e-mail]
The Byzantines and Spania. New Data Coming from an Unpublished 
Manuscript: 
The Ars Gromatica siue Geometria Gisemundi
(ACA, Ripoll 106)
The recent edition of an early medieval manuscript, the Ars Gromatica siue Geometria 
Gisemundi, based on two manuscripts dated in the ninth century (mostly ACA Ripoll 106), 
has offered new information about the activities of the Roman and Byzantine land surveyors in 
Hispania. The manuscript has preserved a description of Spain’s provinces division in Late Roman 
times (Discriptio Hispaniae), focused specially in the Carthaginensis region. The author based this 
text on several unpublished ancient sources, from the early empire to the byzantine period. The text 

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mentions several land surveying activities, like the construction of a network of roman roads during 
Constantinean times, the modification of the provincial boundaries during th 6
th
c. A.D., or the main 
role of Cartagonova as the capital of the Byzantines. The text explicitly mentions also the territorial 
activities in the Iberian Peninsula of a byzantine emperor, likely Maurice, and brings new light to 
this obscure period, which is usually characterized by the tensions between the Visigothic monarchy 
and its oriental occupants, the milites Romani. Curiously, during the Maurice government we know 
the presence of the Dux Comitiolus - Comenciolus in Cartagonova (CIL II, 3420), the existence 
of some boundary disputes with the Visigotic King Reccared (settled by the intervention of Pope 
Gregory I), and likely this land surveying activities mentioned in this unpublished manuscript. 
Finally, our paper will discuss the historical context of these activities, and their relation with the 
complex political situation of the Byzantine Spania, including the possible existence of several 
boundary agreements between the Visigothic Kingdom and Maurice, the Byzantine emperor.