Print Email Facebook Twitter GIS as a heuristic tool to interpret ancient historiography Title GIS as a heuristic tool to interpret ancient historiography: A case study to reconstruct what could plausibly have happened according to the accounts in New Testament texts Author van Altena, V.P. (TU Delft Urban Data Science; Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam) Krans, Jan (Protestantse Theologische Universiteit) Bakker, Henk (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam) Stoter, J.E. (TU Delft Urban Data Science) Date 2021 Abstract This article examines how GIS can be used as a heuristic tool to reconstruct spatial–temporal events from narratives in order to examine whether a scenario is conceivable within the narrative world. The narrative about Paul's escape from Berea (Acts 17:14–15) is used as a case study. Several interpretive issues related to spatial and temporal questions surround these texts. In the case study, three methods are applied: (a) least-cost path analysis on elevation data to construct journeys and travel times for Roman roads; (b) network analysis to find seafaring routes valid for ancient times; and (c) the integration of spatial and temporal data in a space-time cube. Our main finding is that the method yields insights into the spatial–temporal dynamics of the narrative. This helps a modern reader to better understand the narrative conceivability of a story in the mind of a first-century reader. To reference this document use: http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:92d7a5e0-6bf0-40b4-8d07-f1c15b3c37e9 DOI https://doi.org/10.1111/tgis.12762 ISSN 1361-1682 Source Transactions in GIS, 25 (3), 1193-1212 Part of collection Institutional Repository Document type journal article Rights © 2021 V.P. van Altena, Jan Krans, Henk Bakker, J.E. Stoter Files PDF tgis.12762.pdf 2.38 MB Close viewer /islandora/object/uuid:92d7a5e0-6bf0-40b4-8d07-f1c15b3c37e9/datastream/OBJ/view