Imperium Militare
Evidence Method

Methodology

The atlas separates map display from historical proof. Every military disposition is linked to a source item, a date model, confidence, and an explicit location mode.

Evidence Hierarchy

  1. Primary attestations with unit, location, and date signal: inscriptions, diplomas, papyri, archaeology, and sufficiently specific literary testimony.
  2. Major scholarly syntheses and unit/province studies.
  3. Specialized regional corpora.
  4. Clearly labeled inferred or schematic placements for navigation and review.

Location Granularity

Exact-site records require explicit support for a place. Provincial, regional, frontier-zone, campaign, and uncertain records remain visually and textually distinct. Low-confidence marker estimates are aids for map browsing, not claims of exact stationing.

Date Handling

The app stores both evidence date and display date. A military diploma might prove provincial presence on one day; a fortress occupation range may be inferred from archaeology and synthesis. Late Notitia records are confined to late-antique snapshots and are not retrojected into the Principate.

Unit Identity

Canonical unit IDs keep legions, alae, cohortes, numeri, vexillationes, aliases, honorary titles, numbering variants, and spelling variants from being merged by naive string matching.

Current Coverage

The current build combines exact-site seed records, legion redeployment scaffolding, DARE-anchor estimates for broad auxiliary records, and selected late Notitia station records. It is designed for expansion and review, not as a final claim of complete empire-wide coverage.

For technical schemas and curation rules, see DATA_MODEL.md, DATABASE.md, INGESTION.md, and SOURCES.md.