Confidence grades provisional
Confidence grades provisional
Testament
Book
Context
Tap an area or its name for verses and notes.
Map
Testament
Colour shows where scripture names the place.
Modern site identification
Confidence grades are provisional examples.
Journeys
A first-draft map of places named in the Old Testament and the Gospels, for the Bible Group.
Each place shows what scripture states (the name and verses) apart from the modern identification of its site and how sure that is.
Confidence grades are provisional examples, not a scholarly judgement. Coordinates are approximate.
About these layers
Regions and peoples are reconstructions, drawn by hand to show the general picture; scripture names them but does not map their edges. Edges are dashed because they are approximate (a solid edge would mean a well-established boundary). Peoples are soft areas in their homelands, with no borders. Each layer belongs to one period and shows only in it. Verses are listed only where the reference is certain.
Distances and walking times
These are modern estimates, marked “~” and “est.”; scripture does not give them. Distance is measured along the schematic line drawn on the map, not a known ancient road, so real routes were longer. Climb and descent come from the elevation along that line (AWS Terrain Tiles, smoothed over about 1 km).
Walking pace: 15–20 miles a day. Lionel Casson, Travel in the Ancient World (Johns Hopkins, 1994), p. 189: a traveller on foot “did about fifteen to twenty miles a day” in normal terrain “with no toilsome slopes to negotiate”. For slopes, each 2,000 ft of climb adds the time of 3 miles (Naismith’s rule, 1892). Short legs show Naismith walking hours (3 mph).
Basemap: OpenFreeMap, OpenMapTiles, OpenStreetMap contributors. Terrain, contours and profiles: AWS Terrain Tiles (Mapzen; SRTM and others).
Build 2026-11-04 22:50 ET