European Journal of Science and Theology, October 2020, Vol.16, No.5, 181-193 _______________________________________________________________________ MAPPING ROMAN RELIGION A METHODOLOGICAL APPROACH Csaba Szabó * ‘Lucian Blaga’ University of Sibiu, Department of History, Bd. Victoriei no. 5-7, Sibiu, 550024, Romania (Received 25 March 2020, revised 1 June 2020) Abstract The article presents a short history of research, focusing on the cartographic representations of Roman religion and its material evidence in the 20 th century European scholarship of religious studies, Roman archaeology and digital cartographic studies. By analysing the major works of Roman religious studies where cartographic representations and visualization played a relevant role, the article attempts to establish a methodological approach for a digital cartographic representation of the materiality of Roman religion in the Danubian provinces during the Principate, through the case study of the Digital Map of Sanctuaries of Roman Dacia. Keywords: cartography, religion, sanctuaries, Danubian, provinces 1. Introduction One can fall in a terrible generalization by claiming, that maps are useful tools in classical archaeology [1, 2]. Producing interactive maps and visualizing economic, political, prosopographical networks is a booming area in Humanities and classics [3, 4]. While network studies and digital cartography is almost a compulsory part of classical archaeological projects, the scholarship focusing on Roman religion rarely embraced this field and the advantages of visualizing big data [5, 6]. Mapping Roman religion is a useful and relevant topic: it can highlight several aspects of Roman religious communication, which cannot be read from epigraphic texts, iconographic (visual) narratives or literary accounts on Roman religion. Modern maps - so called, deep maps - asks why, how and whose experiences have created a sense of place. It seeks to „map‟ the unmappable [7, 8]. Deep mapping Roman religion means, introducing spatiality in Roman religious studies and to visualize those tools and facets of Roman religious communication, which were never been represented on maps before [9, 10]. In this article I will present the short history of the topic, focusing on a careful selection of maps and their typology and through the case study of Roman Dacia, the article will present also a methodology of mapping Roman sanctuaries and their materiality in the Danubian provinces. * E-mail: szabo.csaba.pte@gmail.com