This study models malaria risks for travelers on ancient Roman roads with the goal of providing a tool for historical assessment of travel accounts from antiquity. The project includes: identification of malaria risk factors and associated spatial datasets, malaria risk model construction, verification and validation against available pre-eradication data, overlay of ancient Roman road data, and an initial case-study application to the journeys of the Apostle Paul, as narrated in the New Testament book, Acts of the Apostles (Acts). The project is intentionally cross-disciplinary in bringing the technical capabilities of GIS to the task of evaluating nuanced textual sources for historical reconstruction.
","abstract_html":"<p>This study models malaria risks for travelers on ancient Roman roads with the goal of providing a tool for historical assessment of travel accounts from antiquity. The project includes: identification of malaria risk factors and associated spatial datasets, malaria risk model construction, verification and validation against available pre-eradication data, overlay of ancient Roman road data, and an initial case-study application to the journeys of the Apostle Paul, as narrated in the New Testament book, Acts of the Apostles (Acts). The project is intentionally cross-disciplinary in bringing the technical capabilities of GIS to the task of evaluating nuanced textual sources for historical reconstruction.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Browning Jr, Daniel C"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Master of Science (MS)","degree_level":"Masters Thesis","degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["George T Raber","David M. Cochran, Jr.","David H. Holt"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2020,"date_issued":"2020-05-01T07:00:00Z","date_published":"2020-05-01T07:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T05:45:19Z","subjects":["Malaria","Roman Roads","Asia Minor","Paul","malaria risk","ancient disease","Ancient History, Greek and Roman through Late Antiquity","Biblical Studies","Digital Humanities","Disease Modeling","Geographic Information Sciences","Parasitic Diseases"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://aquila.usm.edu/masters_theses/728","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["George T Raber","David M. Cochran, Jr.","David H. Holt"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Browning Jr, Daniel C"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2020-05-14T07:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Masters Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Science (MS)"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Malaria","Roman Roads","Asia Minor","Paul","malaria risk","ancient disease","Ancient History, Greek and Roman through Late Antiquity","Biblical Studies","Digital Humanities","Disease Modeling","Geographic Information Sciences","Parasitic Diseases"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://aquila.usm.edu/masters_theses/728"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["This study models malaria risks for travelers on ancient Roman roads with the goal of providing a tool for historical assessment of travel accounts from antiquity. The project includes: identification of malaria risk factors and associated spatial datasets, malaria risk model construction, verification and validation against available pre-eradication data, overlay of ancient Roman road data, and an initial case-study application to the journeys of the Apostle Paul, as narrated in the New Testament book, Acts of the Apostles (Acts). The project is intentionally cross-disciplinary in bringing the technical capabilities of GIS to the task of evaluating nuanced textual sources for historical reconstruction.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Malaria Risk on Ancient Roman Roads: A Study and Application to Assessing Travel Decisions in Asia Minor by the Apostle Paul"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["George T Raber","David M. Cochran, Jr.","David H. Holt"],"dc:creator":["Browning Jr, Daniel C"],"dc:date.available":["2020-05-14T07:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["This study models malaria risks for travelers on ancient Roman roads with the goal of providing a tool for historical assessment of travel accounts from antiquity. The project includes: identification of malaria risk factors and associated spatial datasets, malaria risk model construction, verification and validation against available pre-eradication data, overlay of ancient Roman road data, and an initial case-study application to the journeys of the Apostle Paul, as narrated in the New Testament book, Acts of the Apostles (Acts). The project is intentionally cross-disciplinary in bringing the technical capabilities of GIS to the task of evaluating nuanced textual sources for historical reconstruction.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://aquila.usm.edu/masters_theses/728"],"dc:subject":["Malaria","Roman Roads","Asia Minor","Paul","malaria risk","ancient disease","Ancient History, Greek and Roman through Late Antiquity","Biblical Studies","Digital Humanities","Disease Modeling","Geographic Information Sciences","Parasitic Diseases"],"dc:title":["Malaria Risk on Ancient Roman Roads: A Study and Application to Assessing Travel Decisions in Asia Minor by the Apostle Paul"],"thesis:degree_level":["Masters Thesis"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Science (MS)"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T05:45:19Z"}