Loupfourdon

Lupfurdum in Ptolemy's map

Loupfourdon , also Lupfurdum in Latin (Λούπφουρδον), is a place name that is mentioned in the Atlas Geographia compiled by Ptolemy around 150 AD . So far, the place, whose part of the name "furd" refers to a ford , could not be located.

Map of the Germania magna from the 19th century, which connects Stragona with the Dresden area and is assigned to Leipzig on the “Lupphurdum”

Around 150 AD, Claudius Ptolemy, as part of his Geographike Hyphegesis, was probably the first to map some places in Central Europe in a system of coordinates. To do this, he relied on information from travelers who had crossed the area known at the time as Germania magna . Today only medieval copies of the map series exist. The resulting inaccuracies meant that the localization of individual places was controversial in the 19th and 20th centuries.

Loupfourdon is located near the left bank of the Elbe in the map preserved in post-antique copies , but the archaeologist Carl Peter Lepsius assigned it to the city of Dornburg / Saale at the time. In other interpretations, Lupfurdum was located in the east Bohemian Königgrätz (Hradec Králové) or in Meißen, a little further down the Elbe from Dresden . Ernst Förstemann deduced from the place name that it was located at a ford of the Luppe and thus relocated the place to the Leipzig area .

In the 2000s, the Institute for Geodesy at the Technical University of Berlin carried out a geodetic deformation analysis. A team led by Dieter Lelgemann assigned many historical place names to present-day locations over around 20 kilometers and came to the conclusion that Loupfourdon was roughly on the site of Dresden .

Remarks

1. ^ Carl Peter Lepsius: Small writings: Contributions to Thuringian-Saxon history and German art and antiquity. Volume 2, Verlag Creutz, 1834 , accessed February 8, 2013.
2. ↑ Conrad Mannert: Geography of the Greeks and Romans illustrated from their writings . Volume 3, Hahn Verlag, 1820 , accessed February 8, 2013.
3. ^ Johann David Gschwend: Eisenberg City and Country Chronicle . Eisenberg 1758, p. 93 , accessed February 8, 2013.
4. ^ Ernst Förstemann : Old German Name Book , Volume 2, Place Names, 1859.

literature

• Hermann Reichert :  Loupfourdon. In: Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde (RGA). 2nd Edition. Volume 16, Walter de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 2000, ISBN 3-11-016782-4 , pp. 170–171, ( chargeable via GAO , De Gruyter Online).
• Hermann Reichert :  Ptolemaeus. In: Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde (RGA). 2nd Edition. Volume 23, Walter de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 2003, ISBN 3-11-017535-5 , pp. 567–597, ( paid for via GAO , De Gruyter Online).
• Alfred Stückelberger, Gerd Graßhoff (ed.): Ptolemaios, Handbook of Geography (Greek-German) . Schwabe Verlag, Basel 2006, ISBN 3-7965-2148-7 (work in 2 half-volumes, with CD-ROM).
• Corinna Scheungraber, Friedrich E. Grünzweig: The old Germanic toponyms as well as non-Germanic toponyms of Germania. A handbook on its etymology using a bibliography by Robert Nedoma. Published by Hermann Reichert (=  Philologica Germanica 34). Fassbaender, Vienna 2014, ISBN 978-3-902575-62-3 , pp. 117–118.
• Maximilian Ihm : Galaegia. In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume VII, Stuttgart 1893ff., Col. 513.

Web links

• Edition of Geographike Hyphegesis with translation and map of Germania magna , accessed on November 16, 2016
• Google Earth in ancient times. In: Der Spiegel. 39/2010, accessed on November 16, 2016, with map display