ROMAN BLOOD:

The Map of Gordianus’s Rome

A background in newspaper and magazine publishing gave Steven Saylor the skills to create the map that appears in the novel Roman Blood. The hands-on photostatic technique he used—physically pasting bits and pieces of the map and text onto a board to be photographed—was standard for publishing in the 1980s, but is quite outmoded today. Steven still creates maps for many of his books, but now does so using software and transmits the results electronically to his publisher.

“Creating a map is an excellent learning tool,” says Steven. “You really have to think about distances, how places relate to one another, and how the city of Rome changes over time. There are such fantastic map resources available online now, including satellite imagery and bird’s eye views of just about any place on earth. But I still think a map adds something special to a book; that’s part of my debt to Tolkien, whose maps for The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings inspired me with literary wanderlust when I was a boy.”

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