Roman roads

Livy mentions some of the most familiar roads near Rome, and the milestones on them, at times long before the first paved road—the Appian Way.^[9] Unless these allusions are just simple anachronisms, the roads referred to were probably at the time little more than levelled earthen tracks.^[9] Thus, the Via Gabina (during the time of Porsena) is mentioned in about 500 BC; the Via Latina (during the time of Gaius Marcius Coriolanus) in about 490 BC; the Via Nomentana (also known as "Via Ficulensis"), in 449 BC; the Via Labicana in 421 BC; and the Via Salaria in 361 BC.^[9]

In the Itinerary of Antoninus, the description of the road system is as follows:

With the exception of some outlying portions, such as Britain north of the Wall, Dacia, and certain provinces east of the Euphrates, the whole Empire was penetrated by these itinera (plural of iter). There is hardly a district to which we might expect a Roman official to be sent, on service either civil or military, where we do not find roads. They reach the Wall in Britain; run along the Rhine, the Danube, and the Euphrates; and cover, as with a network, the interior provinces of the Empire.^[9]

A road map of the empire reveals that it was generally laced with a dense network of prepared viae.^[9] Beyond its borders there were no paved roads; however, it can be supposed that footpaths and dirt roads allowed some transport.^[9] There were, for instance, some pre-Roman ancient trackways in Britain, such as the Ridgeway and the Icknield Way.^[10]

Discover more about Roman systems related topics

Dionysius of Halicarnassus

Dionysius of Halicarnassus

Dionysius of Halicarnassus was a Greek historian and teacher of rhetoric, who flourished during the reign of Emperor Augustus. His literary style was atticistic – imitating Classical Attic Greek in its prime.

Livy

Livy

Titus Livius, known in English as Livy, was a Roman historian. He wrote a monumental history of Rome and the Roman people, titled Ab Urbe Condita, ''From the Founding of the City'', covering the period from the earliest legends of Rome before the traditional founding in 753 BC through the reign of Augustus in Livy's own lifetime. He was on familiar terms with members of the Julio-Claudian dynasty and a friend of Augustus, whose young grandnephew, the future emperor Claudius, he exhorted to take up the writing of history.

Appian Way

Appian Way

The Appian Way is one of the earliest and strategically most important Roman roads of the ancient republic. It connected Rome to Brindisi, in southeast Italy. Its importance is indicated by its common name, recorded by Statius, of Appia longarum... regina viarum.

Via Latina

Via Latina

The Via Latina was a Roman road of Italy, running southeast from Rome for about 200 kilometers.

Via Nomentana

Via Nomentana

Via Nomentana is an ancient road of Italy, leading North-East from Rome to Nomentum, a distance of 23 km (14 mi). It originally bore the name "Via Ficulensis", from the old Latin village of Ficulea, about 13 km (8.1 mi) from Rome. It was subsequently extended to Nomentum, but never became an important high road, and merged in the Via Salaria a few kilometers beyond Nomentum. It is followed as far as Nomentum by the modern state road, but some traces of its pavement still exist.

Via Labicana

Via Labicana

The Via Labicana was an ancient road of Italy, leading east-southeast from Rome. It seems possible that the road at first led to Tusculum, that it was then extended to Labici, and later still became a road for through traffic; it may even have superseded the Via Latina as a route to the southeast, for, while the distance from Rome to their main junction at Ad Bivium is practically identical, the summit level of the former is 22 metres (72 ft) lower than that of the latter, a little to the west of the pass of Mount Algidus. After their junction it is probable that the road bore the name Via Latina rather than Via Labicana. The course of the road after the first six miles from Rome is not identical with that of any modern road, but can be clearly traced by remains of pavement and buildings along its course.

Dacia

Dacia

Dacia was the land inhabited by the Dacians, its core in Transylvania, stretching to the Danube in the south, the Black Sea in the east, and the Tisza in the west. The Carpathian Mountains were located in the middle of Dacia. It thus roughly corresponds to the present-day countries of Romania, as well as parts of Moldova, Bulgaria, Serbia, Hungary, Slovakia, and Ukraine.

Rhine

Rhine

The Rhine is one of the major European rivers. The river begins in the Swiss canton of Graubünden in the southeastern Swiss Alps. It forms part of the Swiss-Liechtenstein, Swiss-Austrian, and Swiss-German borders. After that the Rhine defines much of the Franco-German border, after which it flows in a mostly northerly direction through the German Rhineland. Finally in Germany the Rhine turns into a predominantly westerly direction and flows into the Netherlands where it eventually empties into the North Sea. It drains an area of 9,973 sq km and its name derives from the Celtic Rēnos. There are also two German states named after the river, North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate.

Danube

Danube

The Danube is the second-longest river in Europe, after the Volga in Russia. It flows through much of Central and Southeastern Europe, from the Black Forest into the Black Sea. A large and historically important river, it was once a frontier of the Roman Empire and today connects ten European countries, running through their territories or being a border. Originating in Germany, the Danube flows southeast for 2,850 km (1,770 mi), passing through or bordering Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria, Moldova, and Ukraine. Among the many cities on the river are four national capitals: Vienna, Budapest, Belgrade and Bratislava. Its drainage basin amounts to 817 000 km² and extends into nine more countries.

Euphrates

Euphrates

The Euphrates is the longest and one of the most historically important rivers of Western Asia. Together with the Tigris, it is one of the two defining rivers of Mesopotamia. Originating in Turkey, the Euphrates flows through Syria and Iraq to join the Tigris in the Shatt al-Arab, which empties into the Persian Gulf.

The Ridgeway

The Ridgeway

The Ridgeway is a ridgeway or ancient trackway described as Britain's oldest road. The section clearly identified as an ancient trackway extends from Wiltshire along the chalk ridge of the Berkshire Downs to the River Thames at the Goring Gap, part of the Icknield Way which ran, not always on the ridge, from Salisbury Plain to East Anglia. The route was adapted and extended as a National Trail, created in 1972. The Ridgeway National Trail follows the ancient Ridgeway from Overton Hill, near Avebury, to Streatley, then follows footpaths and parts of the ancient Icknield Way through the Chiltern Hills to Ivinghoe Beacon in Buckinghamshire. The National Trail is 87 miles (140 km) long.

Icknield Way

Icknield Way

The Icknield Way is an ancient trackway in southern and eastern England that runs from Norfolk to Wiltshire. It follows the chalk escarpment that includes the Berkshire Downs and Chiltern Hills.

The Laws of the Twelve Tables, dated to about 450 BC, required that any public road (Latin via) be 8 Roman feet (perhaps about 2.37 m) wide where straight and twice that width where curved. These were probably the minimum widths for a via; in the later Republic, widths of around 12 Roman feet were common for public roads in rural regions, permitting the passing of two carts of standard (4 foot) width without interference to pedestrian traffic.^[11] Actual practices varied from this standard. The Tables command Romans to build public roads and give wayfarers the right to pass over private land where the road is in disrepair. Building roads that would not need frequent repair therefore became an ideological objective, as well as building them as straight as practicable to construct the shortest possible roads, and thus save on material.

Roman law defined the right to use a road as a servitus, or liability. The ius eundi ("right of going") established a claim to use an iter, or footpath, across private land; the ius agendi ("right of driving"), an actus, or carriage track. A via combined both types of servitutes, provided it was of the proper width, which was determined by an arbiter. The default width was the latitudo legitima of 8 feet.

Roman law and tradition forbade the use of vehicles in urban areas, except in certain cases. Married women and government officials on business could ride. The Lex Iulia Municipalis restricted commercial carts to night-time access in the city within the walls and within a mile outside the walls.

Old Roman road, leading from Jerusalem to Beit Gubrin, adjacent to regional highway 375 in Israel

Roman roads varied from simple corduroy roads to paved roads using deep roadbeds of tamped rubble as an underlying layer to ensure that they kept dry, as the water would flow out from between the stones and fragments of rubble, instead of becoming mud in clay soils. According to Ulpian, there were three types of roads:^[9]

1. Viae publicae, consulares, praetoriae or militares
2. Viae privatae, rusticae, glareae or agrariae
3. Viae vicinales

Viae publicae, consulares, praetoriae and militares

The first type of road included public high or main roads, constructed and maintained at the public expense, and with their soil vested in the state. Such roads led either to the sea, or to a town, or to a public river (one with a constant flow), or to another public road. Siculus Flaccus, who lived under Trajan (98–117), calls them viae publicae regalesque,^[9] and describes their characteristics as follows:

1. They are placed under curatores (commissioners), and repaired by redemptores (contractors) at the public expense; a fixed contribution, however, being levied from the neighboring landowners.^[9]
2. These roads bear the names of their constructors (e.g. Via Appia, Cassia, Flaminia).^[9]

The central road of Aeclanum.

Roman roads were named after the censor who had ordered their construction or reconstruction. The same person often served afterwards as consul, but the road name is dated to his term as censor. If the road was older than the office of censor or was of unknown origin, it took the name of its destination or of the region through which it mainly passed. A road was renamed if the censor ordered major work on it, such as paving, repaving, or rerouting. With the term viae regales compare the roads of the Persian kings (who probably organized the first system of public roads) and the King's highway.^[9] With the term viae militariae compare the Icknield Way (e.g., Icen-hilde-weg, or "War-way of the Iceni").^[9]

However, there were many other people, besides special officials, who from time to time, and for a variety of reasons, sought to connect their names with a great public service like that of the roads.^[9] Gaius Gracchus, when Tribune of the People (123–122 BC), paved or gravelled many of the public roads, and provided them with milestones and mounting-blocks for riders. Again, Gaius Scribonius Curio, when Tribune (50 BC), sought popularity by introducing a Lex Viaria, under which he was to be chief inspector or commissioner for five years. Dio Cassius mentions as one of the forcible acts of the triumvirs of 43 BC (Octavianus, Antony, and Lepidus), that they obliged the senators to repair the public roads at their own expense.

Viae privatae, rusticae, glareae and agrariae

The second category included private or country roads, originally constructed by private individuals, in whom their soil was vested, and who had the power to dedicate them to the public use.^[9] Such roads benefited from a right of way, in favor either of the public or of the owner of a particular estate. Under the heading of viae privatae were also included roads leading from the public or high roads to particular estates or settlements. These Ulpian considers to be public roads in themselves.^[9]

Features off the via were connected to the via by viae rusticae, or secondary roads.^[9] Both main or secondary roads might either be paved, or left unpaved, with a gravel surface, as they were in North Africa. These prepared but unpaved roads were viae glareae or sternendae ("to be strewn"). Beyond the secondary roads were the viae terrenae, "dirt roads".

Viae vicinales

The third category comprised roads at or in villages, districts, or crossroads, leading through or towards a vicus or village.^[9] Such roads ran either into a high road, or into other viae vicinales, without any direct communication with a high road. They were considered public or private, according to the fact of their original construction out of public or private funds or materials. Such a road, though privately constructed, became a public road when the memory of its private constructors had perished.^[9]

Siculus Flaccus describes viae vicinales as roads "de publicis quae divertunt in agros et saepe ad alteras publicas perveniunt" (which turn off the public roads into fields, and often reach to other public roads). The repairing authorities, in this case, were the magistri pagorum or magistrates of the cantons. They could require the neighboring landowners either to furnish laborers for the general repair of the viae vicinales, or to keep in repair, at their own expense, a certain length of road passing through their respective properties.^[9]

Governance and financing

With the conquest of Italy, prepared viae were extended from Rome and its vicinity to outlying municipalities, sometimes overlying earlier roads. Building viae was a military responsibility and thus came under the jurisdiction of a consul. The process had a military name, viam munire, as though the via were a fortification. Municipalities, however, were responsible for their own roads, which the Romans called viae vicinales. The beauty and grandeur of the roads might tempt us to believe that any Roman citizen could use them for free, but this was not the case. Tolls abounded, especially at bridges. Often they were collected at the city gate. Freight costs were made heavier still by import and export taxes. These were only the charges for using the roads. Costs of services on the journey went up from there.

Financing road building was a Roman government responsibility. Maintenance, however, was generally left to the province. The officials tasked with fund-raising were the curatores viarum. They had a number of methods available to them. Private citizens with an interest in the road could be asked to contribute to its repair. High officials might distribute largesse to be used for roads. Censors, who were in charge of public morals and public works, were expected to fund repairs suâ pecuniâ (with their own money). Beyond those means, taxes were required.

A via connected two cities. Viae were generally centrally placed in the countryside. The construction and care of the public roads, whether in Rome, in Italy, or in the provinces, was, at all periods of Roman history, considered to be a function of the greatest weight and importance. This is clearly shown by the fact that the censors, in some respects the most venerable of Roman magistrates, had the earliest paramount authority to construct and repair all roads and streets. Indeed, all the various functionaries, not excluding the emperors themselves, who succeeded the censors in this portion of their duties, may be said to have exercised a devolved censorial jurisdiction.^[9]

Costs and civic responsibilities

The devolution to the censorial jurisdictions soon became a practical necessity, resulting from the growth of the Roman dominions and the diverse labors which detained the censors in the capital city. Certain ad hoc official bodies successively acted as constructing and repairing authorities. In Italy, the censorial responsibility passed to the commanders of the Roman armies, and later to special commissioners – and in some cases perhaps to the local magistrates. In the provinces, the consul or praetor and his legates received authority to deal directly with the contractor.^[9]

The care of the streets and roads within the Roman territory was committed in the earliest times to the censors. They eventually made contracts for paving the street inside Rome, including the Clivus Capitolinus, with lava, and for laying down the roads outside the city with gravel. Sidewalks were also provided. The aediles, probably by virtue of their responsibility for the freedom of traffic and policing the streets, co-operated with the censors and the bodies that succeeded them.^[9]

It would seem that in the reign of Claudius (AD 41–54) the quaestors had become responsible for the paving of the streets of Rome, or at least shared that responsibility with the quattuorviri viarum.^[9] It has been suggested that the quaestors were obliged to buy their right to an official career by personal outlay on the streets. There was certainly no lack of precedents for this enforced liberality, and the change made by Claudius may have been a mere change in the nature of the expenditure imposed on the quaestors.

Official bodies

The official bodies which first succeeded the censors in the care of the streets and roads were two in number. They were:^[9]

1. Quattuorviri viis in urbe purgandis, with jurisdiction inside the walls of Rome;
2. Duoviri viis extra urbem purgandis, with jurisdiction outside the walls.

Both these bodies were probably of ancient origin, but the true year of their institution is unknown.^[9] Little reliance can be placed on Pomponius, who states that the quattuorviri were instituted eodem tempore (at the same time) as the praetor peregrinus (i.e. about 242 BC) and the Decemviri litibus iudicandis^[12] (time unknown).^[9] The first mention of either body occurs in the Lex Julia Municipalis of 45 BC. The quattuorviri were afterwards called Quattuorviri viarum curandarum. The extent of jurisdiction of the Duoviri is derived from their full title as Duoviri viis extra propiusve urbem Romam passus mille purgandis.^[9][13] Their authority extended over all roads between their respective gates of issue in the city wall and the first milestone beyond.^[9]

In case of an emergency in the condition of a particular road, men of influence and liberality were appointed, or voluntarily acted, as curatores or temporary commissioners to superintend the work of repair.^[9] The dignity attached to such a curatorship is attested by a passage of Cicero. Among those who performed this duty in connection with particular roads was Julius Caesar, who became curator (67 BC) of the Via Appia, and spent his own money liberally upon it. Certain persons appear also to have acted alone and taken responsibility for certain roads.

In the country districts, as has been stated, the magistri pagorum had authority to maintain the viae vicinales.^[9] In Rome itself each householder was legally responsible for the repairs to that portion of the street which passed his own house.^[9] It was the duty of the aediles to enforce this responsibility. The portion of any street which passed a temple or public building was repaired by the aediles at the public expense. When a street passed between a public building or temple and a private house, the public treasury and the private owner shared the expense equally. No doubt, if only to secure uniformity, the personal liability of householders to execute repairs of the streets was commuted for a paving rate payable to the public authorities who were responsible from time to time.

Changes under Augustus

The governing structure was changed by Augustus, who in the course of his reconstitution of the urban administration, both abolished and created new offices in connection with the maintenance of public works, streets and aqueducts in and around Rome. The task of maintaining the roads had previously been administered by two groups of minor magistrates, the quattuorviri (a board of four magistrates to oversee the roads inside the city) and the duoviri (a board of two to oversee the roads outside the city proper) who were both part of the collegia known as the vigintisexviri (literally meaning "Twenty-Six Men").^[9]

Augustus, finding the collegia ineffective, especially the boards dealing with road maintenance, reduced the number of magistrates from 26 to 20. Completely abolishing the duoviri and later being granted the position as superintendent (according to Dio Cassius) of the road system connecting Rome to the rest of Italy and provinces beyond. In this capacity he had effectively given himself and any following Emperors a paramount authority which had originally belonged to the city censors. The quattuorviri board was kept as it was until at least the reign of Hadrian between 117 and 138 AD.^[9] Furthermore, he appointed praetorians to the offices of "road-maker" and assigning each one with two lictors. Also making the office of curator of each of the great public roads a perpetual magistracy rather than a temporary commission.

The persons appointed under the new system were of senatorial or equestrian rank, depending on the relative importance of the roads assigned to them. It was the duty of each curator to issue contracts for the maintenance of his road and to see that the contractor who undertook said work performed it faithfully, as to both quantity and quality. Augustus also authorized the construction of sewers and removed obstructions to traffic, as the aediles did in Rome.^[9]

It was in the character of an imperial curator (though probably armed with extraordinary powers) that Corbulo denounced the magistratus and mancipes of the Italian roads to Tiberius.^[9] He pursued them and their families with fines and imprisonment for 18 years (21–39 AD) and was later rewarded with a consulship by Caligula, who also shared the habit of condemning well-born citizens to work on the roads. It is worth noting that under the rule of Claudius, Corbulo was brought to justice and forced to repay the money which had been extorted from his victims.

Other curatores

Special curatores for a term seem to have been appointed on occasion, even after the institution of the permanent magistrates bearing that title.^[9] The Emperors who succeeded Augustus exercised a vigilant control over the condition of the public highways. Their names occur frequently in the inscriptions to restorers of roads and bridges. Thus, Vespasian, Titus, Domitian, Trajan, and Septimius Severus were commemorated in this capacity at Emérita.^[9] The Itinerary of Antoninus, which was probably a work of much earlier date, republished in an improved and enlarged form, under one of the Antonine emperors, remains as standing evidence of the minute care which was bestowed on the service of the public roads.

Discover more about Types related topics

Jerusalem

Jerusalem

Jerusalem is a city in Western Asia. Situated on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean and the Dead Sea, it is one of the oldest cities in the world and is considered to be a holy city for the three major Abrahamic religions: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Both Israelis and Palestinians claim Jerusalem as their capital, as Israel maintains its primary governmental institutions there and the State of Palestine ultimately foresees it as its seat of power. Because of this dispute, neither claim is widely recognized internationally.

Bayt Jibrin

Bayt Jibrin

Bayt Jibrin or Beit Jibrin, known between 200-400 CE as Eleutheropolis, was a historical town, located 21 kilometres (13 mi) northwest of the city of Hebron. Depopulated in 1948, the town had a total land area of 56,185 dunams or 56.1 km2, of which 0.28 km2 were built-up while the rest remained farmland.

Corduroy road

Corduroy road

A corduroy road or log road is a type of road or timber trackway made by placing logs, perpendicular to the direction of the road over a low or swampy area. The result is an improvement over impassable mud or dirt roads, yet rough in the best of conditions and a hazard to horses due to shifting loose logs.

Siculus Flaccus

Siculus Flaccus

Siculus Flaccus was an ancient Roman gromaticus, and writer in Latin on land surveying. His work was included in a collection of gromatic treatises in the 6th century AD.

Commissioner

Commissioner

A commissioner is, in principle, a member of a commission or an individual who has been given a commission.

General contractor

General contractor

A general contractor, main contractor or prime contractor is responsible for the day-to-day oversight of a construction site, management of vendors and trades, and the communication of information to all involved parties throughout the course of a building project.

Aeclanum

Aeclanum

Aeclanum was an ancient town of Samnium, Southern Italy, about 25 km east-southeast of Beneventum, on the Via Appia. It lies in Passo di Mirabella, near the modern Mirabella Eclano.

Roman censor

Roman censor

The censor was a magistrate in ancient Rome who was responsible for maintaining the census, supervising public morality, and overseeing certain aspects of the government's finances.

Royal Road

Royal Road

The Royal Road was an ancient highway reorganized and rebuilt by the Persian king Darius the Great of the first (Achaemenid) Persian Empire in the 5th century BC. Darius built the road to facilitate rapid communication on the western part of his large empire from Susa to Sardis. Mounted couriers of the Angarium were supposed to travel 1,677 miles (2,699 km) from Susa to Sardis in nine days; the journey took ninety days on foot.

King's Highway (ancient)

King's Highway (ancient)

The King's Highway was a trade route of vital importance in the ancient Near East, connecting Africa with Mesopotamia. It ran from Egypt across the Sinai Peninsula to Aqaba, then turned northward across Transjordan, to Damascus and the Euphrates River.

Icknield Way

Icknield Way

The Icknield Way is an ancient trackway in southern and eastern England that runs from Norfolk to Wiltshire. It follows the chalk escarpment that includes the Berkshire Downs and Chiltern Hills.

Gaius Gracchus

Gaius Gracchus

Gaius Sempronius Gracchus was a reformist Roman politician in the 2nd century BC. He is most famous for his tribunate for the years 123 and 122 BC, in which he proposed a wide set of laws, including laws to establish colonies outside of Italy, engage in further land reform, reform the judicial system, and create a subsidised grain supply for Rome.

Road construction shown on Trajan's Column in Rome

Ancient Rome boasted impressive technological feats, using many advances that would be lost in the Middle Ages. Some of these accomplishments would not be rivaled in Europe until the Modern Age. Many practical Roman innovations were adopted from earlier designs. Some of the common, earlier designs incorporated arches.

Practices and terminology

Roman road builders aimed at a regulation width (see Laws and traditions above), but actual widths have been measured at between 3.6 feet (1.1 metres) and more than 23 feet (7.0 metres). Today, the concrete has worn from the spaces around the stones, giving the impression of a very bumpy road, but the original practice was to produce a surface that was no doubt much closer to being flat. Many roads were built to resist rain, freezing and flooding. They were constructed to need as little repair as possible.

Section of the Via delle Gallie (Valle d'Aosta), built by digging the steep rock slope

Roman construction took a directional straightness. Many long sections are ruler-straight, but it should not be thought that all of them were. Some links in the network were as long as 55 miles (89 km). Gradients of 10%–12% are known in ordinary terrain, 15%–20% in mountainous country. The Roman emphasis on constructing straight roads often resulted in steep slopes relatively impractical for most commercial traffic; over the years the Romans themselves realized this and built longer, but more manageable, alternatives to existing roads. Roman roads generally went straight up and down hills, rather than in a serpentine pattern of switchbacks.

As to the standard Imperial terminology that was used, the words were localized for different elements used in construction and varied from region to region. Also, in the course of time, the terms via munita and vía publica became identical.^[9]

Materials and methods

Viae were distinguished not only according to their public or private character, but according to the materials employed and the methods followed in their construction. Ulpian divided them up in the following fashion:^[9]

1. Via terrena: A plain road of leveled earth.
2. Via glareata:^[14] An earthed road with a graveled surface.
3. Via munita:^[15] A regular built road, paved with rectangular blocks of the stone of the country, or with polygonal blocks of lava.

The Romans, though certainly inheriting some of the art of road construction from the Etruscans, borrowed the knowledge of construction of viae munitae from the Carthaginians according to Isidore of Sevilla.^[9]

Via terrena

The Viae terrenae were plain roads of leveled earth. These were mere tracks worn down by the feet of humans and animals, and possibly by wheeled carriages.^[16]

Via glareata

The Viae glareatae were earthed roads with a graveled surface or a gravel subsurface and paving on top. Livy speaks of the censors of his time as being the first to contract for paving the streets of Rome with flint stones, for laying gravel on the roads outside the city, and for forming raised footpaths at the sides.^[17] In these roads, the surface was hardened with gravel, and although pavements were introduced shortly afterwards, the blocks were allowed to rest merely on a bed of small stones.^[16][18] An example of this type is found on the Praenestine Way. Another example is found near the Via Latina.^[18]

Via munita

The best sources of information as regards the construction of a regulation via munita are:^[9]

1. The many existing remains of viae publicae. These are often sufficiently well preserved to show that the rules of construction were, as far as local material allowed, minutely adhered to in practice.
2. The directions for making pavements given by Vitruvius. The pavement and the via munita were identical in construction, except as regards the top layer, or surface. This consisted, in the former case, of marble or mosaic, and, in the latter, of blocks of stone or lava.
3. A passage in Statius describing the repairs of the Via Domitiana, a branch road of the Via Appia, leading to Neapolis.

After the civil engineer looked over the site of the proposed road and determined roughly where it should go, the agrimensores went to work surveying the road bed. They used two main devices, the rod and a device called a groma, which helped them obtain right angles. The gromatici, the Roman equivalent of rod men, placed rods and put down a line called the rigor. As they did not possess anything like a transit, a civil engineering surveyor tried to achieve straightness by looking along the rods and commanding the gromatici to move them as required. Using the gromae they then laid out a grid on the plan of the road. If the surveyor could not see his desired endpoint, a signal fire would often be lit at the endpoint in order to guide the surveyor.

The libratores then began their work using ploughs and, sometimes with the help of legionaries, with spades excavated the road bed down to bedrock or at least to the firmest ground they could find. The excavation was called the fossa, the Latin word for ditch. The depth varied according to terrain.

The general appearance of such a metalled road and footway is shown in an existing street of Pompeii.

1. Native earth, leveled and, if necessary, rammed tight.
2. Statumen: stones of a size to fit in the hand.
3. Audits: rubble or concrete of broken stones and lime.
4. Nucleus: kernel or bedding of fine cement made of pounded potshards and lime.
5. Dorsum or agger viae: the elliptical surface or crown of the road (media stratae eminentia) made of polygonal blocks of silex (basaltic lava) or rectangular blocks of saxum quadratum (travertine, peperino, or other stone of the country). The upper surface was designed to cast off rain or water like the shell of a tortoise. The lower surfaces of the separate stones, here shown as flat, were sometimes cut to a point or edge in order to grasp the nucleus, or next layer, more firmly.
6. Crepido, margo or semita: raised footway, or sidewalk, on each side of the via.
7. Umbones or edge-stones.

The method varied according to geographic locality, materials available and terrain, but the plan, or ideal at which the engineer aimed was always the same. The roadbed was layered. The road was constructed by filling the ditch. This was done by layering rock over other stones. Into the ditch was dumped large amounts of rubble, gravel and stone, whatever fill was available. Sometimes a layer of sand was put down, if it could be found. When it came to within 1 yd (1 m) or so of the surface it was covered with gravel and tamped down, a process called pavire, or pavimentare.

A road in Pompeii, paved with polygonal paving stones

The flat surface was then the pavimentum. It could be used as the road, or additional layers could be constructed. A statumen or "foundation" of flat stones set in cement might support the additional layers. The final steps utilized lime-based concrete, which the Romans had discovered.^[19] They seem to have mixed the mortar and the stones in the ditch. First a small layer of coarse concrete, the rudus, then a little layer of fine concrete, the nucleus, went onto the pavement or statumen. Into or onto the nucleus went a course of polygonal or square paving stones, called the summa crusta. The crusta was crowned for drainage.

An example is found in an early basalt road by the Temple of Saturn on the Clivus Capitolinus. It had travertine paving, polygonal basalt blocks, concrete bedding (substituted for the gravel), and a rain-water gutter.^[20]

The remains of Emperor Trajan's route along the Danube (see Roman Serbia)

Roman auxiliary infantry crossing a river, probably the Danube, on a pontoon bridge during the emperor Trajan's Dacian Wars (101–106)

Obstacle crossings

Romans preferred to engineer solutions to obstacles rather than circumvent them. Outcroppings of stone, ravines, or hilly or mountainous terrain called for cuttings and tunnels. An example of this is found on the Roman road from Căzănești near the Iron Gates. This road was half carved into the rock, about 5 ft to 5 ft 9 in (1.5 to 1.75 m), the rest of the road, above the Danube, was made from wooden structure, projecting out of the cliff. The road functioned as a towpath, making the Danube navigable. Tabula Traiana memorial plaque in Serbia is all that remains of the now-submerged road.

Bridges and causeways

Roman bridges, built by ancient Romans, were some of the first large and lasting bridges created.^[21] River crossings were achieved by bridges, or pontes. Single slabs went over rills. A bridge could be of wood, stone, or both. Wooden bridges were constructed on pilings sunk into the river, or on stone piers. Larger or more permanent bridges required arches. These larger bridges were built with stone and had the arch as its basic structure (see arch bridge). Most also used concrete, which the Romans were the first to use for bridges. Roman bridges were so well constructed that a number remain in use today.

Causeways were built over marshy ground. The road was first marked out with pilings. Between them were sunk large quantities of stone so as to raise the causeway to more than 5 feet (1.5 metres) above the marsh. In the provinces, the Romans often did not bother with a stone causeway, but used log roads (pontes longi).

Discover more about Construction and engineering related topics

History of infrastructure

History of infrastructure

Infrastructure before 1700 consisted mainly of roads and canals. Canals were used for transportation or for irrigation. Sea navigation was aided by ports and lighthouses. A few advanced cities had aqueducts that serviced public fountains and baths, while fewer had sewers.

Trajan's Column

Trajan's Column

Trajan's Column is a Roman triumphal column in Rome, Italy, that commemorates Roman emperor Trajan's victory in the Dacian Wars. It was probably constructed under the supervision of the architect Apollodorus of Damascus at the order of the Roman Senate. It is located in Trajan's Forum, north of the Roman Forum. Completed in AD 113, the freestanding column is most famous for its spiral bas relief, which depicts the wars between the Romans and Dacians. Its design has inspired numerous victory columns, both ancient and modern.

Ancient Rome

Ancient Rome

In modern historiography, Ancient Rome refers to Roman civilisation from the founding of the Italian city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingdom, Roman Republic and Roman Empire until the fall of the western empire.

Middle Ages

Middle Ages

In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and transitioned into the Renaissance and the Age of Discovery. The Middle Ages is the middle period of the three traditional divisions of Western history: classical antiquity, the medieval period, and the modern period. The medieval period is itself subdivided into the Early, High, and Late Middle Ages.

Roman military engineering

Roman military engineering

The military engineering of Ancient Rome's armed forces was of a scale and frequency far beyond that of any of its contemporaries. Indeed, military engineering was in many ways institutionally endemic in Roman military culture, as demonstrated by each Roman legionary having as part of his equipment a shovel, alongside his gladius (sword) and pila (spears).

Etruscan civilization

Etruscan civilization

The Etruscan civilization was developed by a people of Etruria in ancient Italy with a common language and culture who formed a federation of city-states. After conquering adjacent lands, its territory covered, at its greatest extent, roughly what is now Tuscany, western Umbria, and northern Lazio, as well as what are now the Po Valley, Emilia-Romagna, south-eastern Lombardy, southern Veneto, and western Campania.

Ancient Carthage

Ancient Carthage

Carthage was a settlement in what is now known as modern Tunisia that later became a city-state and then an empire. Founded by the Phoenicians in the ninth century BC, Carthage reached its height in the fourth century BC as one of the largest metropolises in the world and the centre of the Carthaginian Empire, a major power in the ancient world that dominated the western Mediterranean. Following the Punic Wars, Carthage was destroyed by the Romans in 146 BC, who later rebuilt the city lavishly.

Via Latina

Via Latina

The Via Latina was a Roman road of Italy, running southeast from Rome for about 200 kilometers.

Vitruvius

Vitruvius

Vitruvius was a Roman architect and engineer during the 1st century BC, known for his multi-volume work entitled De architectura. He originated the idea that all buildings should have three attributes: firmitas, utilitas, and venustas. These principles were later widely adopted in Roman architecture. His discussion of perfect proportion in architecture and the human body led to the famous Renaissance drawing of the Vitruvian Man by Leonardo da Vinci.

Statius

Statius

Publius Papinius Statius was a Greco-Roman poet of the 1st century CE. His surviving Latin poetry includes an epic in twelve books, the Thebaid; a collection of occasional poetry, the Silvae; and an unfinished epic, the Achilleid. He is also known for his appearance as a guide in the Purgatory section of Dante's epic poem, the Divine Comedy.

Via Domiziana

Via Domiziana

Via Domiziana is the modern name for the Via Domitiana in the Campania region of Italy, a major Roman road built in 95 AD under the emperor, Domitian, to facilitate access to and from the important ports of Puteoli and Portus Julius in the Gulf of Naples.

Civil engineer

Civil engineer

A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering – the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructure while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing infrastructure that may have been neglected.

The public road system of the Romans was thoroughly military in its aims and spirit.^[9] It was designed to unite and consolidate the conquests of the Roman people, whether within or without the limits of Italy proper. A legion on the march brought its own baggage train (impedimenta) and constructed its own camp (castra) every evening at the side of the road.

Milestones and markers

Milestones divided the via Appia even before 250 BC into numbered miles, and most viae after 124 BC. The modern word "mile" derives from the Latin milia passuum, "one thousand paces", each of which was five Roman feet, or in total 1,476 m (4,843 ft). A milestone, or miliarium, was a circular column on a solid rectangular base, set for more than 2 feet (0.61 metres) into the ground, standing 5 feet (1.5 metres) tall, 20 inches (51 centimetres) in diameter, and weighing more than 2 tons. At the base was inscribed the number of the mile relative to the road it was on. In a panel at eye-height was the distance to the Roman Forum and various other information about the officials who made or repaired the road and when. These miliaria are valuable historical documents now. Their inscriptions are collected in the volume XVII of the Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum.

The Romans had a preference for standardization wherever possible, so Augustus, after becoming permanent commissioner of roads in 20 BC, set up the miliarium aureum ("golden milestone") near the Temple of Saturn. All roads were considered to begin from this gilded bronze monument. On it were listed all the major cities in the empire and distances to them. Constantine called it the umbilicus Romae ("navel of Rome"), and built a similar—although more complex—monument in Constantinople, the Milion.

Milestones permitted distances and locations to be known and recorded exactly. It was not long before historians began to refer to the milestone at which an event occurred.

Itinerary maps and charts

Tabula Peutingeriana (Southern Italy centered).

Combined topographical and road-maps may have existed as specialty items in some Roman libraries, but they were expensive, hard to copy and not in general use. Travelers wishing to plan a journey could consult an itinerarium, which in its most basic form was a simple list of cities and towns along a given road, and the distances between them.^[22] It was only a short step from lists to a master list, or a schematic route-planner in which roads and their branches were represented more or less in parallel, as in the Tabula Peutingeriana. From this master list, parts could be copied and sold on the streets. The most thorough used different symbols for cities, way stations, water courses, and so on. The Roman government from time to time would produce a master road-itinerary. The first known were commissioned in 44 BC by Julius Caesar and Mark Antony. Three Greek geographers, Zenodoxus, Theodotus and Polyclitus, were hired to survey the system and compile a master itinerary; the task required over 25 years and the resulting stone-engraved master itinerary was set up near the Pantheon. Travelers and itinerary sellers could make copies from it.

Vehicles and transportation

Roman carriage (reconstruction)

Outside the cities, Romans were avid riders and rode on or drove quite a number of vehicle types, some of which are mentioned here. Carts driven by oxen were used. Horse-drawn carts could travel up to 40 to 50 kilometres (25 to 31 mi) per day,^[23] pedestrians 20 to 25 kilometres (12 to 16 mi). For purposes of description, Roman vehicles can be divided into the car, the coach, and the cart. Cars were used to transport one or two individuals, coaches were used to transport parties, and carts to transport cargo.

Of the cars, the most popular was the carrus, a standard chariot form descending to the Romans from a greater antiquity. The top was open, the front closed. One survives in the Vatican. It carried a driver and a passenger. A carrus with two horses was a biga; three horses, a triga; and four horses a quadriga. The tyres were of iron. When not in use, its wheels were removed for easier storage.

A more luxurious version, the carpentum, transported women and officials. It had an arched overhead covering of cloth and was drawn by mules. A lighter version, the cisium, equivalent to a gig, was open above and in front and had a seat. Drawn by one or two mules or horses, it was used for cab work, the cab drivers being called cisiani. The builder was a cisarius.

Of the coaches, the mainstay was the raeda or reda, which had four wheels. The high sides formed a sort of box in which seats were placed, with a notch on each side for entry. It carried several people with baggage up to the legal limit of 1000 Roman librae (pounds), modern equivalent 328 kilograms (723 pounds). It was drawn by teams of oxen, horses or mules. A cloth top could be put on for weather, in which case it resembled a covered wagon.

The raeda was probably the main vehicle for travel on the roads. Raedae meritoriae were hired coaches. The fiscalis raeda was a government coach. The driver and the builder were both referred to as a raedarius.

Of the carts, the main one was the plaustrum or plostrum. This was simply a platform of boards attached to wheels and a cross-tree. The wheels, or tympana, were solid and were several centimetres (inches) thick. The sides could be built up with boards or rails. A large wicker basket was sometimes placed on it. A two-wheel version existed along with the normal four-wheel type called the plaustrum maius.

The military used a standard wagon. Their transportation service was the cursus clabularis, after the standard wagon, called a carrus clabularius, clabularis, clavularis, or clabulare. It transported the impedimenta (baggage) of a military column.

Way stations and traveler inns

Remains of the mansio at Letocetum, Wall, Staffordshire, England

For non-military officials and people on official business who had no legion at their service, the government maintained way stations, or mansiones ("staying places"), for their use. Passports were required for identification. Mansiones were located about 25 to 30 kilometres (16 to 19 mi) apart. There the official traveller found a complete villa dedicated to his use. Often a permanent military camp or a town grew up around the mansio. For non-official travelers in need of refreshment, a private system of "inns" or cauponae were placed near the mansiones. They performed the same functions but were somewhat disreputable, as they were frequented by thieves and prostitutes. Graffiti decorate the walls of the few whose ruins have been found.

Genteel travelers needed something better than cauponae. In the early days of the viae, when little unofficial provision existed, houses placed near the road were required by law to offer hospitality on demand. Frequented houses no doubt became the first tabernae, which were hostels, rather than the "taverns" we know today. As Rome grew, so did its tabernae, becoming more luxurious and acquiring good or bad reputations as the case may be. One of the best hotels was the Tabernae Caediciae at Sinuessa on the Via Appia. It had a large storage room containing barrels of wine, cheese and ham. Many cities of today grew up around a taberna complex, such as Rheinzabern in the Rhineland, and Saverne in Alsace.

A third system of way stations serviced vehicles and animals: the mutationes ("changing stations"). They were located every 20 to 30 kilometres (12 to 19 mi). In these complexes, the driver could purchase the services of wheelwrights, cartwrights, and equarii medici, or veterinarians. Using these stations in chariot relays, the emperor Tiberius hastened 296 kilometres (184 mi) in 24 hours to join his brother, Drusus Germanicus,^[24][25] who was dying of gangrene as a result of a fall from a horse.

Post offices and services

Two postal services were available under the empire, one public and one private. The cursus publicus, founded by Augustus, carried the mail of officials by relay throughout the Roman road system. The vehicle for carrying mail was a cisium with a box, but for special delivery, a horse and rider was faster. On average, a relay of horses could carry a letter 80 kilometres (50 mi)^[26] in a day. The postman wore a characteristic leather hat, the petanus. The postal service was a somewhat dangerous occupation, as postmen were a target for bandits and enemies of Rome. Private mail of the well-to-do was carried by tabellarii, an organization of slaves available for a price.

Discover more about Military and citizen utilization related topics

Roman legion

Roman legion

The Roman legion, the largest military unit of the Roman army, comprised 5,200 infantry and 300 equites (cavalry) in the period of the Roman Republic and 5,600 infantry and 200 auxilia in the period of the Roman Empire.

Castra

Castra

In the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire, the Latin word castrum, plural castra, was a military-related term.

Milestone

Milestone

A milestone is a numbered marker placed on a route such as a road, railway line, canal or boundary. They can indicate the distance to towns, cities, and other places or landmarks; or they can give their position on the route relative to some datum location. On roads they are typically located at the side or in a median or central reservation. They are alternatively known as mile markers, mileposts or mile posts. A "kilometric point" is a term used in metricated areas, where distances are commonly measured in kilometres instead of miles. "Distance marker" is a generic unit-agnostic term.

Roman Forum

Roman Forum

The Roman Forum, also known by its Latin name Forum Romanum, is a rectangular forum (plaza) surrounded by the ruins of several important ancient government buildings at the center of the city of Rome. Citizens of the ancient city referred to this space, originally a marketplace, as the Forum Magnum, or simply the Forum.

Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum

Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum

The Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum (CIL) is a comprehensive collection of ancient Latin inscriptions. It forms an authoritative source for documenting the surviving epigraphy of classical antiquity. Public and personal inscriptions throw light on all aspects of Roman life and history. The Corpus continues to be updated in new editions and supplements.

Capitoline Wolf

Capitoline Wolf

The Capitoline Wolf is a bronze sculpture depicting a scene from the legend of the founding of Rome. The sculpture shows a she-wolf suckling the mythical twin founders of Rome, Romulus and Remus. According to the legend, when King Numitor, grandfather of the twins, was overthrown by his brother Amulius in Alba Longa, the usurper ordered them to be cast into the Tiber River. They were rescued by a she-wolf that cared for them until a herdsman, Faustulus, found and raised them.

Turda

Turda

Turda is a city in Cluj County, Transylvania, Romania. It is located in the southeastern part of the county, 34.2 km (21.3 mi) from the county seat, Cluj-Napoca, to which it is connected by the European route E81, and 6.7 km (4.2 mi) from nearby Câmpia Turzii.

Romania

Romania

Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and the Black Sea to the southeast. It has a predominantly temperate-continental climate, and an area of 238,397 km2 (92,046 sq mi), with a population of approximately 19 million inhabitants. Romania is the twelfth-largest country in Europe and the sixth-most populous member state of the European Union. Its capital and largest city is Bucharest, followed by Iași, Cluj-Napoca, Timișoara, Constanța, Craiova, Brașov, and Galați.

Milliarium of Aiton

Milliarium of Aiton

Milliarium of Aiton is an ancient Roman milestone (milliarium) discovered in the 1758 in Aiton commune, near Cluj-Napoca, Romania. Dating from 108 AD, shortly after the Roman conquest of Dacia, the milestone shows the construction of the road from Potaissa to Napoca, by demand of the Emperor Trajan. It indicates the distance of ten thousand feet (P.M.X.) to Potaissa. This is the first epigraphical attestation of the settlements of Potaissa and Napoca in Roman Dacia.

Roman Dacia

Roman Dacia

Roman Dacia was a province of the Roman Empire from 106 to 271–275 AD. Its territory consisted of what are now the regions of Oltenia, Transylvania and Banat. During Roman rule, it was organized as an imperial province on the borders of the empire. It is estimated that the population of Roman Dacia ranged from 650,000 to 1,200,000. It was conquered by Trajan (98–117) after two campaigns that devastated the Dacian Kingdom of Decebalus. However, the Romans did not occupy its entirety; Crișana, Maramureș, and most of Moldavia remained under the Free Dacians.

Trajan

Trajan

Trajan was Roman emperor from 98 to 117. Officially declared optimus princeps by the senate, Trajan is remembered as a successful soldier-emperor who presided over one of the greatest military expansions in Roman history and led the empire to attain its greatest territorial extent by the time of his death. He is also known for his philanthropic rule, overseeing extensive public building programs and implementing social welfare policies, which earned him his enduring reputation as the second of the Five Good Emperors who presided over an era of peace within the Empire and prosperity in the Mediterranean world.

Augustus

Augustus

Caesar Augustus, also known as Octavian, was the first Roman emperor; he reigned from 27 BC until his death in AD 14. He is known for being the founder of the Roman Principate, which is the first phase of the Roman Empire, and is considered one of the greatest leaders in human history. The reign of Augustus initiated an imperial cult as well as an era associated with imperial peace, the Pax Romana or Pax Augusta. The Roman world was largely free from large-scale conflict for more than two centuries despite continuous wars of imperial expansion on the empire's frontiers and the year-long civil war known as the "Year of the Four Emperors" over the imperial succession.

There are many examples of roads that still follow the route of Roman roads.

Italian areas

Italian and Sicilian roads in the time of ancient Rome.

Major roads

• Via Aemilia, from Rimini (Ariminum) to Placentia
• Via Appia, the Appian way (312 BC), from Rome to Apulia
• Via Aurelia (241 BC), from Rome to France
• Via Cassia, from Rome to Tuscany
• Via Flaminia (220 BC), from Rome to Rimini (Ariminum)
• Via Raetia, from Verona north across the Brenner Pass
• Via Salaria, from Rome to the Adriatic Sea (in the Marches)

Others

• Via Aemilia Scauri (109 BC)
• Via Aquillia, branches off the Appia at Capua to the sea at Hipponium (Vibo Valentia)
• Via Amerina, from Rome to Amelia and Perusia
• Via Canalis, from Udine, Gemona and Val Canale to Villach in Carinthia and then over Alps to Salzburg or Vienna
• Via Claudia Julia Augusta (13 BC)
• Via Claudia Nova (47 AD)
• Via Clodia, from Rome to Tuscany forming a system with the Cassia
• Via Domitiana, coast road from Naples to Formia
• Via Flacca
• Via Flavia, from Trieste (Tergeste) to Dalmatia
• Via Gemina, from Aquileia and Trieste through the Karst to Materija, Obrov, Lipa and Klana, from where, near Rijeka, descending towards Trsat (Tersatica) to continue along the Dalmatian coast
• Via Julia Augusta (8 BC), exits Aquileia
• Via Labicana, southeast from Rome, forming a system with the Praenestina
• Via Latina, southeast from Rome to Casilinum where it joined the Via Appia.
• Via Ostiensis, from Rome to Ostia
• Via Postumia (148 BC), from Aquileia through Verona across the Apennines to Genoa
• Via Popilia (132 BC), two distinct roads, one from Capua to Rhegium and the other from Ariminum through the later Veneto region
• Via Praenestina, from Rome to Praeneste
• Via Schlavonia, from Aquileia across northern Istria to Senj and into Dalmatia
• Via Severiana, Terracina to Ostia
• Via Tiberina, from Rome to Ocriculum
• Via Tiburtina, from Rome to Tibur
• Via Traiana, a branch of Via Appia, from Benevento to Brindisi
• Via Traiana Nova (Italy), from Lake Bolsena to the Via Cassia. Known by archaeology only
• Via Valeria from Tibur to Aternum
• Via Valeria (Sicily) from Messina to Syracuse

Other areas

A road in Histria (Sinoe) presumed to be of Roman origin (the rectangular blocks are not true Roman construction)^[27]

Roman roads along the Danube

Africa

• Main road: from Sala Colonia to Carthage to Alexandria.
• In Egypt: Via Hadriana
• In Mauretania Tingitana from Tingis southward (see: Roman roads in Morocco)

Albania / North Macedonia / Greece / Turkey

• Via Egnatia (146 BC) connecting Dyrrhachium (on Adriatic Sea) to Byzantium via Thessaloniki

Austria / Serbia / Bulgaria / Turkey

• Via Militaris (Via Diagonalis, Via Singidunum), connecting Middle Europe and Byzantium

Bulgaria / Romania

• Via Pontica

Cyprus

• Via Kolossus. Connecting Paphos, the island Roman capital, with Salamis, the second bigger city and port.

France

In France, a Roman road is called voie romaine in vernacular language.

• Via Agrippa
• Via Aquitania, from Narbonne, where it connected to the Via Domitia, to the Atlantic Ocean across Toulouse and Bordeaux
• Via Domitia (118 BC), from Nîmes to the Pyrenees, where it joins to the Via Augusta at the Col de Panissars
• Roman road (Nord), extending from Dunkirk to Cassel in Nord Département

Major Roman roads in Germania Inferior

Germania Inferior (Germany, Belgium, Netherlands)

• Roman road from Trier to Cologne
• Via Belgica (Boulogne-Cologne)
• Lower Limes Germanicus
• Interconnections between Lower Limes Germanicus and Via Belgica

Middle East

• Via Maris
• Via Traiana Nova
• Petra Roman Road 1st-century Petra, Jordan

Romania

• Trajan's bridge and Iron Gates road.
• Via Traiana: Porolissum Napoca Potaissa Apulum road.
• Via Pontica: Troesmis Piroboridava Caput Stenarum Apulum Partiscum Lugio

Roman roads in Hispania, or Roman Iberia

Spain and Portugal

• Iter ab Emerita Asturicam, from Sevilla to Gijón. Later known as Vía de la Plata (plata means "silver" in Spanish, but in this case it is a false cognate of an Arabic word balata), part of the fan of the Way of Saint James. Now it is the A-66 freeway.
• Via Augusta, from Cádiz to the Pyrénées, where it joins to the Via Domitia at the Coll de Panissars, near La Jonquera. It passes through Valencia, Tarragona (anciently Tarraco), and Barcelona.
• Camiño de Oro, ending in Ourense, capital of the Province of Ourense, passing near the village of Reboledo.
• Via Nova (or Via XVIII), from Bracara Augusta to Asturica Augusta

Syria

• Road connecting Antioch and Chalcis.
• Strata Diocletiana, along the Limes Arabicus, going through Palmyra and Damascus, and south to Arabia.

Trans-Alpine roads

These roads connected modern Italy and Germany:

• Via Claudia Augusta (47) from Altinum (now Quarto d'Altino) to Augsburg via the Reschen Pass

Roman road in the urban fabric of Tarsus, Mersin Province in Turkey

Trans-Pyrenean roads

Connecting Hispania and Gallia:

• Ab Asturica Burdigalam

Turkey

• Roman road in Cilicia in south Turkey
• Roman Road of Ankara

United Kingdom

High Street, a fell in the English Lake District, named after the apparent Roman road which runs over the summit, which is claimed to be the highest Roman road in Britain. Its status as a Roman road is problematic, as it appears to be a holloway or sunken lane, whereas the Romans built their roads on an agger or embankment.^[28]

• Akeman Street
• Camlet Way
• Dere Street
• Ermine Street
• Fen Causeway
• Fosse Way
• King Street
• London-West of England Roman Roads
• Peddars Way
• Pye Road
• Roman road from Silchester to Bath
• Stane Street (Chichester)
• Stane Street (Colchester)
• Stanegate
• Via Devana
• Watling Street

Discover more about Locations related topics

Via Aemilia

Via Aemilia

The Via Aemilia was a trunk Roman road in the north Italian plain, running from Ariminum (Rimini), on the Adriatic coast, to Placentia (Piacenza) on the river Padus (Po). It was completed in 187 BC. The Via Aemilia connected at Rimini with the Via Flaminia, which had been completed 33 years earlier, to Rome.

Rimini

Rimini

Rimini is a city in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy and capital city of the Province of Rimini. It sprawls along the Adriatic Sea, on the coast between the rivers Marecchia and Ausa. It is one of the most notable seaside resorts in Europe with revenue from both internal and international tourism forming a significant portion of the city's economy. It is also near San Marino, a small nation within Italy. The first bathing establishment opened in 1843. Rimini is an art city with ancient Roman and Renaissance monuments, and is also the birthplace of the film director Federico Fellini.

Piacenza

Piacenza

Piacenza is a city and comune in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy, and the capital of the eponymous province. As of 2022, Piacenza is the ninth largest city in the region by population, with over 102,000 inhabitants.

Apulia

Apulia

Apulia, also known by its Italian name Puglia, is a region of Italy, located in the southern peninsular section of the country, bordering the Adriatic Sea to the east, the Ionian Sea to the southeast and the Strait of Otranto and Gulf of Taranto to the south. The region comprises 19,345 square kilometers (7,469 sq mi), and its population is about four million people.

Via Aurelia

Via Aurelia

The Via Aurelia is a Roman road in Italy constructed in approximately 241 BC. The project was undertaken by Gaius Aurelius Cotta, who at that time was censor. Cotta had a history of building roads for Rome, as he had overseen the construction of a military road in Sicily connecting Agrigentum and Panormus.

Tuscany

Tuscany

Tuscany is a region in central Italy with an area of about 23,000 square kilometres and a population of about 3.8 million inhabitants. The regional capital is Florence (Firenze).

Verona

Verona

Verona is a city on the Adige River in Veneto, Italy, with 258,031 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region, and is the largest city municipality in the region and the second largest in northeastern Italy. The metropolitan area of Verona covers an area of 1,426 km2 (550.58 sq mi) and has a population of 714,310 inhabitants. It is one of the main tourist destinations in northern Italy because of its artistic heritage and several annual fairs and shows as well as the opera season in the Arena, an ancient Roman amphitheater.

Brenner Pass

Brenner Pass

The Brenner Pass is a mountain pass through the Alps which forms the border between Italy and Austria. It is one of the principal passes of the Eastern Alpine range and has the lowest altitude among Alpine passes of the area.

Adriatic Sea

Adriatic Sea

The Adriatic Sea is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkan Peninsula. The Adriatic is the northernmost arm of the Mediterranean Sea, extending from the Strait of Otranto to the northwest and the Po Valley. The countries with coasts on the Adriatic are Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Italy, Montenegro, and Slovenia.

Via Aemilia Scauri

Via Aemilia Scauri

The Via Aemilia Scauri was an ancient Roman road built by the consul Marcus Aemilius Scaurus during his term as censor in 109 BC.

Capua

Capua

Capua is a city and comune in the province of Caserta, in the region of Campania, southern Italy, situated 25 km (16 mi) north of Naples, on the northeastern edge of the Campanian plain.

Amelia, Umbria

Amelia, Umbria

Amelia is a town and comune of the province of Terni, in the Umbria region of central Italy. It grew up around an ancient hill fort, known to the Romans as Ameria.