The early imperial dating for the archetype of the map is supported by American historian Glen Bowersock, and is based on numerous details of Roman Arabia that look entirely anachronistic for a 4th-century map. Bowersock concluded that the original source is likely the map made by Vipsanius Agrippa. This dating is also consistent with the map's inclusion of the Roman town of Pompeii near modern-day Naples, which was never rebuilt after it had been destroyed in an eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79.