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Roman roads

April 23, 2023

For the British television film, see Roman Road (TV film).

Roman roads (Latin: viae Romanae [ˈwiae̯ roːˈmaːnae̯]; singular: via Romana [ˈwia roːˈmaːna]; meaning "Roman way") were physical infrastructure vital to the maintenance and development of the Roman state, and were built from about 300 BC through the expansion and consolidation of the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire.[1] They provided efficient means for the overland movement of armies, officials, civilians, inland carriage of official communications, and trade goods.[2] Roman roads were of several kinds, ranging from small local roads to broad, long-distance highways built to connect cities, major towns and military bases. These major roads were often stone-paved and metaled, cambered for drainage, and were flanked by footpaths, bridleways and drainage ditches. They were laid along accurately surveyed courses, and some were cut through hills, or conducted over rivers and ravines on bridgework. Sections could be supported over marshy ground on rafted or piled foundations.[3][4]

A Roman street in Pompeii
The Roman Empire in the time of Hadrian (r.  117–138), showing the network of main Roman roads.

At the peak of Rome's development, no fewer than 29 great military highways radiated from the capital, and the late Empire's 113 provinces were interconnected by 372 great roads.[3][5] The whole comprised more than 400,000 kilometres (250,000 miles) of roads, of which over 80,500 kilometres (50,000 mi) were stone-paved.[6][7] In Gaul alone, no less than 21,000 kilometres (13,000 mi) of roadways are said to have been improved, and in Britain at least 4,000 kilometres (2,500 mi).[3] The courses (and sometimes the surfaces) of many Roman roads survived for millennia; some are overlaid by modern roads.

Roman systems

"The extraordinary greatness of the Roman Empire manifests itself above all in three things: the aqueducts, the paved roads, and the construction of the drains."

Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Ant. Rom. 3.67.5[8]

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]

Laws and traditions

Roman roads animation in Latin with English subtitles

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[clarification needed], 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.

Types

 
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.[clarification needed] 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[speculation?], 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.

Construction and engineering

See also: History of infrastructure
 
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

Main article: Roman engineering
See also: Roman military engineering

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

Main article: Roman bridge
See also: List of Roman bridges

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).

Military and citizen utilization

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

Main article: Milestone

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.

Examples of Roman milestones

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

Main article: Itinerarium
 
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

See also: Mansio
 
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.

Locations

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

Others

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 article: Roman roads in Africa

Albania / North Macedonia / Greece / Turkey

Austria / Serbia / Bulgaria / Turkey

Bulgaria / Romania

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.

 
Major Roman roads in Germania Inferior

Germania Inferior (Germany, Belgium, Netherlands)

Middle East

Romania

 
Roman roads in Hispania, or Roman Iberia

Spain and Portugal

Syria

Trans-Alpine roads

These roads connected modern Italy and Germany:

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

Trans-Pyrenean roads

Connecting Hispania and Gallia:

Turkey

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]
Main article: Roman roads in Britannia

See also

References

Footnotes

  1. ^ Forbes, Robert James (1993). Studies in ancient technology, Volume 2. Brill. p. 146. ISBN 978-90-04-00622-5.
  2. ^ Kaszynski, William. The American Highway: The History and Culture of Roads in the United States. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland, 2000. Page 9
  3. ^ a b c Bailey, L. H., and Wilhelm Miller. Cyclopedia of American Horticulture, Comprising Suggestions for Cultivation of Horticultural Plants, Descriptions of the Species of Fruits, Vegetables, Flowers, and Ornamental Plants Sold in the United States and Canada, Together with Geographical and Biographical Sketches. New York [etc.]: The Macmillan Co, 1900. Page 320.
  4. ^ Corbishley, Mike: "The Roman World", page 50. Warwick Press, 1986.
  5. ^ Duducu, Jem (2015). The Romans in 100 Facts. GL5 4EP UK: Amberley Publishing. ISBN 9781445649702.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
  6. ^ Gabriel, Richard A. The Great Armies of Antiquity. Westport, Conn: Praeger, 2002. Page 9.
  7. ^ Michael Grant, History of Rome (New York: Charles Scribner, 1978), 264.
  8. ^ Quilici, Lorenzo (2008): "Land Transport, Part 1: Roads and Bridges", in: Oleson, John Peter (ed.): The Oxford Handbook of Engineering and Technology in the Classical World, Oxford University Press, New York, ISBN 978-0-19-518731-1, pp. 551–579 (552)
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai aj ak al am an ao ap Smith (1890).
  10. ^ Timothy Darvill, Oxford Archaeological Guides: England (2002) pp. 297–298
  11. ^ Laurence, Ray (1999). The roads of Roman Italy: mobility and cultural change. Routledge. pp. 58–59. ISBN 978-0-415-16616-4.
  12. ^ The ten men who judge lawsuits.
  13. ^ Subordinate officers under the aediles, whose duty it was to look after those streets of Rome which were outside the city walls.
  14. ^ also, glarea strata
  15. ^ also lapide quadrato strata or sílice strata
  16. ^ a b Great Britain, and Royal Engineers' Institute (Great Britain). Professional Papers of the Corps of Royal Engineers: Royal Engineer Institute, Occasional Papers. Chatham: Royal Engineer Institute, 1877. Page 57–92.
  17. ^ Graham, Alexander. Roman Africa; An Outline of the History of the Roman Occupation of North Africa, Based Chiefly Upon Inscriptions and Monumental Remains in That Country. London: Longmans, Green, and co, 1902. Page 66.
  18. ^ a b Ancient Roman Street re-emerges close to Colleferro. thinkarchaeology.net. October 10, 2007.
  19. ^ de Camp, L. Sprague (1974) [First published 1960]. The Ancient Engineers. Toronto, Canada: Random House. pp. 182–183. ISBN 978-0-345-32029-2.
  20. ^ Middleton, J. H. The Remains of Ancient Rome. London: A. and C. Black, 1892. Page 251.
  21. ^ "De Ferranti - Glossary - Roman bridge". deferranti.com. Retrieved 2022-09-23.
  22. ^ Jaś Elsner, "The Itinerarium Burdigalense: politics and salvation in the geography of Constantine's Empire", Journal of Roman Studies, (2000), pp. 181–195, p. 184.
  23. ^ Travel in the Ancient World, Lionel Casson, p. 189
  24. ^ Naturalis Historia by Gaius Plinius Secundus, Liber VII, 84.
  25. ^ The General History of the Highways by Nicolas Bergier, page 156.
  26. ^ C.W.J.Eliot, New Evidence for the Speed of the Roman Imperial Post. Phoenix 9, 2, 1955, 76ff.
  27. ^ The Archaeological Site of Histria, archweb.cimec.ro.
  28. ^ "RRRA Home". Romanroads.org. Retrieved 2022-03-18.

General information

  • Laurence, Ray (1999). The roads of Roman Italy: mobility and cultural change. Routledge.
  • Von Hagen, Victor W. (1967). The Roads That Led to Rome. The World Publishing Company, Cleveland and New York.
  • Codrington, Thomas (1905). Roman Roads in Britain. London [etc.]: Society for promoting Christian knowledge.
  • Forbes, Urquhart A., and Arnold C. Burmester (1904). Our Roman Highways. London: F.E. Robinson & co.
  • Roby, Henry John (1902). Roman Private Law in the Times of Cicero and of the Antonines. Cambridge: C.U.P.
  • Smith, William, William Wayte, and G. E. Marindin (1890). A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities. London: J. Murray. pp. 946–954.
  • Smith, William (1858). A School Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities; Abridged from the Larger Dictionary by William Smith, with Corrections and Improvements by Charles Anthon. N.Y.: [s.n.]. pp. 354–355.
  • Cresy, Edward (1847). An Encyclopædia of Civil Engineering, Historical, Theoretical, and Practical. London: Printed for Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, Paternoster-Row.

Primary sources

Further reading

  • Adams, Colin. 2007. Land transport in Roman Egypt 30 BC–AD 300: A study in administration and economic history. Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press.
  • Coarelli, Filippo. 2007. Rome and environs: An archaeological guide. Berkeley: Univ. of California Press.
  • Davies, Hugh, E. H. 1998. "Designing Roman roads." Britannia: Journal of Romano-British and Kindred Studies 29: 1–16.
  • Erdkamp, Peter. Hunger and the Sword: Warfare and Food Supply in Roman Republican Wars (264–30 B.C.). Amsterdam: Gieben, 1998.
  • Isaac, Benjamin. 1988. "The meaning of 'Limes' and 'Limitanei' in ancient sources." Journal of Roman Studies 78: 125–47.
  • MacDonald, William L. 1982–1986. The architecture of the Roman Empire. 2 vols. Yale Publications in the History of Art 17, 35. New Haven, CT: Yale Univ. Press.
  • Meijer, Fik J., and O. Van Nijf. 1992. Trade, transport and society in the ancient world: A sourcebook. London: Routledge.
  • O’Connor, Colin. 1993. Roman bridges. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Univ. Press.
  • Laurence, Ray. 1999. The roads of Roman Italy. Mobility and cultural change. London: Routledge.
  • Lewis, Michael J. T. 2001. Surveying instruments of Greece and Rome. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Univ. Press.
  • Quilici, Lorenzo. 2008. "Land transport, Part 1: Roads and bridges." In The Oxford handbook of engineering and technology in the classical world. Edited by John P. Oleson, 551–79. New York: Oxford Univ. Press.
  • Talbert, Richard J. A., et al. 2000. Barrington atlas of the Greek and Roman world. Princeton, NJ: Princeton Univ. Press.
  • Wiseman, T. P. 1970. "Roman Republican road-building." Papers of the British School at Rome 38: 122–52.

External links

Maps
  • Orbis/Stanford Geospatial Network Model of the Roman World
  • The Antiquity À-la-carte interactive digital atlas of the Ancient Mediterranean World
General articles
  • Roman Roads
  • Omnes Viae: Roman route planner based on Tabula Peutingeriana
  • Viae Romanae
  • Road Map
  • "Viae"—article by William Ramsay
Road descriptions
  • Vias Romanas em Portugal (in Portuguese)
  • Itineraires Romains en France (in French)
  • Pictures of Roman roads in the province of Raetia (German captions)
Roman law regarding public and private domain
  • Servitutes
Road construction
  • Construction of Roman Roads
  • Design and Construction of Roman Roads
  • Roman Road Construction

April 23, 2023
roman, roads, british, television, film, roman, road, film, latin, viae, romanae, ˈwiae, roːˈmaːnae, singular, romana, ˈwia, roːˈmaːna, meaning, roman, were, physical, infrastructure, vital, maintenance, development, roman, state, were, built, from, about, thr. For the British television film see Roman Road TV film Roman roads Latin viae Romanae ˈwiae roːˈmaːnae singular via Romana ˈwia roːˈmaːna meaning Roman way were physical infrastructure vital to the maintenance and development of the Roman state and were built from about 300 BC through the expansion and consolidation of the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire 1 They provided efficient means for the overland movement of armies officials civilians inland carriage of official communications and trade goods 2 Roman roads were of several kinds ranging from small local roads to broad long distance highways built to connect cities major towns and military bases These major roads were often stone paved and metaled cambered for drainage and were flanked by footpaths bridleways and drainage ditches They were laid along accurately surveyed courses and some were cut through hills or conducted over rivers and ravines on bridgework Sections could be supported over marshy ground on rafted or piled foundations 3 4 A Roman street in Pompeii The Roman Empire in the time of Hadrian r 117 138 showing the network of main Roman roads At the peak of Rome s development no fewer than 29 great military highways radiated from the capital and the late Empire s 113 provinces were interconnected by 372 great roads 3 5 The whole comprised more than 400 000 kilometres 250 000 miles of roads of which over 80 500 kilometres 50 000 mi were stone paved 6 7 In Gaul alone no less than 21 000 kilometres 13 000 mi of roadways are said to have been improved and in Britain at least 4 000 kilometres 2 500 mi 3 The courses and sometimes the surfaces of many Roman roads survived for millennia some are overlaid by modern roads Contents 1 Roman systems 2 Laws and traditions 3 Types 3 1 Viae publicae consulares praetoriae and militares 3 2 Viae privatae rusticae glareae and agrariae 3 3 Viae vicinales 3 4 Governance and financing 3 5 Costs and civic responsibilities 3 6 Official bodies 3 7 Changes under Augustus 3 8 Other curatores 4 Construction and engineering 4 1 Practices and terminology 4 2 Materials and methods 4 2 1 Via terrena 4 2 2 Via glareata 4 2 3 Via munita 4 3 Obstacle crossings 4 4 Bridges and causeways 5 Military and citizen utilization 5 1 Milestones and markers 5 2 Itinerary maps and charts 5 3 Vehicles and transportation 5 4 Way stations and traveler inns 5 5 Post offices and services 6 Locations 6 1 Italian areas 6 2 Other areas 7 See also 8 References 8 1 Footnotes 8 2 General information 8 3 Primary sources 9 Further reading 10 External linksRoman systems Edit The extraordinary greatness of the Roman Empire manifests itself above all in three things the aqueducts the paved roads and the construction of the drains Dionysius of Halicarnassus Ant Rom 3 67 5 8 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 Laws and traditions Edit source source source source source source source source source source source source track track Roman roads animation in Latin with English subtitlesThe 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 clarification needed 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 Types Edit 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 Viae publicae consulares praetoriae or militares Viae privatae rusticae glareae or agrariae Viae vicinalesViae publicae consulares praetoriae and militares Edit 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 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 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 Edit 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 Edit 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 Edit 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 sua pecunia with their own money Beyond those means taxes were required A via connected two cities Viae were generally centrally placed in the countryside clarification needed 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 Edit 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 Edit The official bodies which first succeeded the censors in the care of the streets and roads were two in number They were 9 Quattuorviri viis in urbe purgandis with jurisdiction inside the walls of Rome 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 speculation 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 Edit 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 Edit 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 Emerita 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 Construction and engineering EditSee also History of infrastructure 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 Edit Main article Roman engineering See also Roman military engineering 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 via publica became identical 9 Materials and methods Edit 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 Via terrena A plain road of leveled earth Via glareata 14 An earthed road with a graveled surface 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 Edit 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 Edit 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 Edit The best sources of information as regards the construction of a regulation via munita are 9 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 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 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 Native earth leveled and if necessary rammed tight Statumen stones of a size to fit in the hand Audits rubble or concrete of broken stones and lime Nucleus kernel or bedding of fine cement made of pounded potshards and lime 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 Crepido margo or semita raised footway or sidewalk on each side of the via 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 Edit 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 Edit Main article Roman bridge See also List of Roman bridges 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 Military and citizen utilization EditThe 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 Edit Main article Milestone 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 Examples of Roman milestones Rome Campidoglio the Miliarium milestone point of departure of the consular roads by the Capitoline Wolf Turda Romania 1993 copy of the Milliarium of Aiton dating from 108 and showing the construction of the road from Potaissa to Napoca built by Cohors I Hispanorum miliaria in Roman Dacia by demand of the Emperor Trajan Remains of the miliarium aureum in the Roman Forum A provincial Roman milestone at Alto Rabagao Portugal road from Bracara Augusta to Asturias 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 Edit Main article Itinerarium 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 Edit 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 Edit See also Mansio 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 Edit 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 Locations EditThere are many examples of roads that still follow the route of Roman roads Italian areas Edit 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 SyracuseOther areas Edit 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 article Roman roads in 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 ThessalonikiAustria Serbia Bulgaria Turkey Via Militaris Via Diagonalis Via Singidunum connecting Middle Europe and ByzantiumBulgaria Romania Via PonticaCyprus Via Kolossus Connecting Paphos the island Roman capital with Salamis the second bigger city and port FranceIn 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 Nimes 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 Departement 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 BelgicaMiddle East Via Maris Via Traiana Nova Petra Roman Road 1st century Petra JordanRomania 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 Gijon Later known as Via 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 Cadiz to the Pyrenees where it joins to the Via Domitia at the Coll de Panissars near La Jonquera It passes through Valencia Tarragona anciently Tarraco and Barcelona Camino 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 AugustaSyria Road connecting Antioch and Chalcis Strata Diocletiana along the Limes Arabicus going through Palmyra and Damascus and south to Arabia Trans Alpine roadsThese 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 roadsConnecting Hispania and Gallia Ab Asturica BurdigalamTurkey Roman road in Cilicia in south Turkey Roman Road of AnkaraUnited 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 Main article Roman roads in Britannia 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 StreetSee also Edit Ancient Rome portalHistoric roads and trails Legacy of the Roman Empire Roman military engineering Ancient Roman technologyReferences EditFootnotes Edit Forbes Robert James 1993 Studies in ancient technology Volume 2 Brill p 146 ISBN 978 90 04 00622 5 Kaszynski William The American Highway The History and Culture of Roads in the United States Jefferson N C McFarland 2000 Page 9 a b c Bailey L H and Wilhelm Miller Cyclopedia of American Horticulture Comprising Suggestions for Cultivation of Horticultural Plants Descriptions of the Species of Fruits Vegetables Flowers and Ornamental Plants Sold in the United States and Canada Together with Geographical and Biographical Sketches New York etc The Macmillan Co 1900 Page 320 Corbishley Mike The Roman World page 50 Warwick Press 1986 Duducu Jem 2015 The Romans in 100 Facts GL5 4EP UK Amberley Publishing ISBN 9781445649702 a href Template Cite book html title Template Cite book cite book a CS1 maint location link Gabriel Richard A The Great Armies of Antiquity Westport Conn Praeger 2002 Page 9 Michael Grant History of Rome New York Charles Scribner 1978 264 Quilici Lorenzo 2008 Land Transport Part 1 Roads and Bridges in Oleson John Peter ed The Oxford Handbook of Engineering and Technology in the Classical World Oxford University Press New York ISBN 978 0 19 518731 1 pp 551 579 552 a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai aj ak al am an ao ap Smith 1890 Timothy Darvill Oxford Archaeological Guides England 2002 pp 297 298 Laurence Ray 1999 The roads of Roman Italy mobility and cultural change Routledge pp 58 59 ISBN 978 0 415 16616 4 The ten men who judge lawsuits Subordinate officers under the aediles whose duty it was to look after those streets of Rome which were outside the city walls also glarea strata also lapide quadrato strata or silice strata a b Great Britain and Royal Engineers Institute Great Britain Professional Papers of the Corps of Royal Engineers Royal Engineer Institute Occasional Papers Chatham Royal Engineer Institute 1877 Page 57 92 Graham Alexander Roman Africa An Outline of the History of the Roman Occupation of North Africa Based Chiefly Upon Inscriptions and Monumental Remains in That Country London Longmans Green and co 1902 Page 66 a b Ancient Roman Street re emerges close to Colleferro thinkarchaeology net October 10 2007 de Camp L Sprague 1974 First published 1960 The Ancient Engineers Toronto Canada Random House pp 182 183 ISBN 978 0 345 32029 2 Middleton J H The Remains of Ancient Rome London A and C Black 1892 Page 251 De Ferranti Glossary Roman bridge deferranti com Retrieved 2022 09 23 Jas Elsner The Itinerarium Burdigalense politics and salvation in the geography of Constantine s Empire Journal of Roman Studies 2000 pp 181 195 p 184 Travel in the Ancient World Lionel Casson p 189 Naturalis Historia by Gaius Plinius Secundus Liber VII 84 The General History of the Highways by Nicolas Bergier page 156 C W J Eliot New Evidence for the Speed of the Roman Imperial Post Phoenix 9 2 1955 76ff The Archaeological Site of Histria archweb cimec ro RRRA Home Romanroads org Retrieved 2022 03 18 General information Edit Laurence Ray 1999 The roads of Roman Italy mobility and cultural change Routledge Von Hagen Victor W 1967 The Roads That Led to Rome The World Publishing Company Cleveland and New York Codrington Thomas 1905 Roman Roads in Britain London etc Society for promoting Christian knowledge Forbes Urquhart A and Arnold C Burmester 1904 Our Roman Highways London F E Robinson amp co Roby Henry John 1902 Roman Private Law in the Times of Cicero and of the Antonines Cambridge C U P Smith William William Wayte and G E Marindin 1890 A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities London J Murray pp 946 954 Smith William 1858 A School Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities Abridged from the Larger Dictionary by William Smith with Corrections and Improvements by Charles Anthon N Y s n pp 354 355 Cresy Edward 1847 An Encyclopaedia of Civil Engineering Historical Theoretical and Practical London Printed for Longman Brown Green and Longmans Paternoster Row Primary sources Edit Siculus Flaccus De condicionibus agrorum cap XIX Isidori Hispalensis Episcopi Etymologiarum sive Originum Liber XV 15 16 Codex Theodosianus 8 5 De cursu publico angariis et parangariis 15 3 De itinere muniendo Corpus Iuris Civilis C 12 50 De cursu publico angariis et parangariis D 8 3 0 De servitutibus praediorum rusticorum D 8 6 2 D 43 7 De locis et itineribus publicis D 43 8 Ne quid in loco publico vel itinere fiat D 43 10 De via publica et si quid in ea factum esse dicatur D 43 11 De via publica et itinere publico reficiendo D 43 19 De itinere actuque privato Further reading EditAdams Colin 2007 Land transport in Roman Egypt 30 BC AD 300 A study in administration and economic history Oxford Oxford Univ Press Coarelli Filippo 2007 Rome and environs An archaeological guide Berkeley Univ of California Press Davies Hugh E H 1998 Designing Roman roads Britannia Journal of Romano British and Kindred Studies 29 1 16 Erdkamp Peter Hunger and the Sword Warfare and Food Supply in Roman Republican Wars 264 30 B C Amsterdam Gieben 1998 Isaac Benjamin 1988 The meaning of Limes and Limitanei in ancient sources Journal of Roman Studies 78 125 47 MacDonald William L 1982 1986 The architecture of the Roman Empire 2 vols Yale Publications in the History of Art 17 35 New Haven CT Yale Univ Press Meijer Fik J and O Van Nijf 1992 Trade transport and society in the ancient world A sourcebook London Routledge O Connor Colin 1993 Roman bridges Cambridge UK Cambridge Univ Press Laurence Ray 1999 The roads of Roman Italy Mobility and cultural change London Routledge Lewis Michael J T 2001 Surveying instruments of Greece and Rome Cambridge UK Cambridge Univ Press Quilici Lorenzo 2008 Land transport Part 1 Roads and bridges In The Oxford handbook of engineering and technology in the classical world Edited by John P Oleson 551 79 New York Oxford Univ Press Talbert Richard J A et al 2000 Barrington atlas of the Greek and Roman world Princeton NJ Princeton Univ Press Wiseman T P 1970 Roman Republican road building Papers of the British School at Rome 38 122 52 External links EditRoman roads at Wikipedia s sister projects Definitions from Wiktionary Media from Commons News from Wikinews Quotations from Wikiquote Texts from Wikisource Textbooks from Wikibooks Resources from Wikiversity MapsOrbis Stanford Geospatial Network Model of the Roman World The Antiquity A la carte interactive digital atlas of the Ancient Mediterranean World General articlesRoman Roads Omnes Viae Roman route planner based on Tabula Peutingeriana Viae Romanae Road Map Viae article by William Ramsay Traianus Technical investigation of Roman public works Road descriptionsVias Romanas em Portugal in Portuguese Itineraires Romains en France in French Augustine s Africa Pictures of Roman roads in the province of Raetia German captions Roman law regarding public and private domainServitutes Road constructionRoman Road Construction Construction of Roman Roads Design and Construction of Roman Roads Roman Road Construction Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Roman roads amp oldid 1148624481, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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