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99-659: Via Agrippa , is any stretch of the network of Roman roads in Gaul that was built in the last century BCE by Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa , to whom Octavian entrusted the reorganization of the Gauls. In all, the Romans built 21,000 kilometres (13,000 mi) of roads in Gaul. Agrippa's network radiated from a hub at the new strategic site of Lugdunum ( Lyon ). Strabo indicated the directions, which were identified by Pierre Gros: Though

198-532: A swamp infested with malaria . A tortuous coastal road wound between Ostia at the mouth of the Tiber and Neapolis . The Via Latina followed its ancient and scarcely more accessible path along the foothills of Monti Laziali and Monti Lepini , which are visible towering over the former marsh. In the First Samnite War (343–341 BC) the Romans found they could not support or resupply troops in

297-416: A transit , a 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

396-885: 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. A road map of the empire reveals that it was generally laced with a dense network of prepared viae . Beyond its borders there were no paved roads; however, it can be supposed that footpaths and dirt roads allowed some transport. There were, for instance, some pre-Roman ancient trackways in Britain, such as

495-559: A colony at Cales in 334 BC and again at Fregellae in 328 BC on the other side of the marshes. The Samnites, now a major power after defeating the Greeks of Tarentum , occupied Neapolis to try to ensure its loyalty. The Neapolitans appealed to Rome, which sent an army and expelled the Samnites from Neapolis. In 312 BC, Appius Claudius Caecus became censor at Rome. He was of the gens Claudia , who were patricians descended from

594-407: 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

693-521: A flat surface. The historian Procopius said that the stones fit together so securely and closely that they appeared to have grown together rather than to have been fitted together. The road was cambered in the middle (for water runoff) and had ditches on either side of the road which were protected by retaining walls. The road began in the Forum Romanum , passed through the Servian Wall at

792-467: A great public service like that of the roads. 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. 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 that

891-529: A 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

990-513: 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. Roman construction took

1089-551: A result. Pyrrhus withdrew to Greece, where he died in a street fight in Argos in 272 BC. Tarentum fell to the Romans that same year, who proceeded to consolidate their rule over all of Italy. The Romans pushed the Via Appia to the port of Brundisium in 264 BC. The itinerary from Beneventum was now Aeculanum , Forum Aemilii  [ it ] , Venusia , Silvium , Tarentum, Uria and Brundisium. The Roman Republic

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1188-426: A road, though privately constructed, became a public road when the memory of its private constructors had perished. 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

1287-592: Is in the second mile of the road. Along or close to the part of the road closest to Rome, there are three catacombs of Roman and early Christian origin and one of Jewish origin . The construction of Rome's ring road, the Grande Raccordo Anulare or GRA, in 1951 caused the Appian Way to be cut in two. More recent improvements to the GRA have rectified this through the construction of a tunnel under

1386-531: Is no surprise that, after his term as censor, Appius Claudius became consul twice, subsequently held other offices, and was a respected consultant to the state even during his later years. The road achieved its purpose. The outcome of the Second Samnite War was at last favorable to Rome. In a series of blows the Romans reversed their fortunes, bringing Etruria to the table in 311 BC, the very year of their revolt, and Samnium in 304 BC. The road

1485-483: The Etruscans . 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. The Viae glareatae were earthen roads with a gravel 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

1584-519: The Sabines taken into the early Roman state. He had been given the name of the founding ancestor of the gens, Appius Claudius (Attus Clausus in Sabine). He was a populist , i.e., an advocate of the common people. A man of discernment and perception, in the years of success he was said to have lost his outer vision and thus acquired the name caecus , "blind". Without waiting to be told what to do by

1683-531: The Second Triumvirate obliged the Senators to repair the public roads at their own expense. 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. Such roads benefited from a right of way in favor either of the public or of the owner of a particular estate. Under

1782-665: The Senate , Appius Claudius began bold public works to address the supply problem. An aqueduct (the Aqua Appia ) secured the water supply of the city of Rome. By far the best known project was the road, which ran across the Pontine Marshes to the coast northwest of Naples , where it turned north to Capua. On it, any number of fresh troops could be sped to the theatre of operations, and supplies could be moved en masse to Roman bases without hindrance by either enemy or terrain. It

1881-746: The Via Aemilia  [ it ] , then the Via Minucia  [ it ] , finally the emperor Trajan built the Via Traiana , a branch of the Via Appia from Beneventum, reaching Brundisium via Canusium and Barium rather than via Tarentum. This was commemorated by an arch at Beneventum. Travellers could cross the Adriatic Sea through the Otranto Strait towards Albania either by landing at present day Durrës through

1980-671: The Via Egnatia or near the ancient town of Apollonia and continue towards present day Rrogozhinë in central Albania. In 73 BC, a slave revolt (known as the Third Servile War ) under the ex-gladiator of Capua, Spartacus , began against the Romans. Slaves accounted for roughly every third person in Italy. Spartacus defeated many Roman armies in a conflict that lasted for over two years. While trying to escape from Italy at Brundisium he unwittingly moved his forces into

2079-692: The Via Labicana in 421 BC; and the Via Salaria in 361 BC. 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

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2178-538: The Via Latina . By 290 BC, the sovereignty of the Samnites had ended. The heel of Italy lay open to the Romans. The dates are somewhat uncertain and there is considerable variation in the sources, but during the Third Samnite War the Romans seem to have extended the road to Venusia , where they placed a colony of 20,000 men. After that they were at Tarentum. Roman expansion alarmed Tarentum,

2277-415: 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. With the conquest of Italy, prepared viae were extended from Rome and its vicinity to outlying municipalities, sometimes overlying earlier roads. Building viae

2376-424: 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 was named for its destination or 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

2475-463: 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

2574-686: The porta Capena , went through a cutting in the clivus Martis , and left the city. For this stretch of the road, the builders used the Via Latina. The building of the Aurelian Wall centuries later required the placing of another gate, the Porta Appia . Outside of Rome the new Via Appia went through well-to-do suburbs along the Via Norba, the ancient track to the Alban hills , where Norba

2673-516: The Appia, so that it is now possible to follow the Appia on foot for about 16 km (10 mi) from its beginning near the Baths of Caracalla . Many parts of the original road beyond Rome's environs have been preserved, and some are now used by cars (for example, in the area of Velletri ). The road inspires the last movement of Ottorino Respighi 's Pini di Roma . To this day the Via Appia contains

2772-503: The Appian Way in that region. In the first half of the 20th century, the professor of ancient Roman topography Giuseppe Lugli managed to discover, with the then-innovative technique of photogrammetry , what probably was the route of the Appian Way from Gravina in Puglia ( Silvium ) up to Taranto . When analysing aerophotogrammetric shots of the area, Lugli noticed a path ( Italian : tratturo ) named la Tarantina , whose direction

2871-513: The Appian Way station. More recently Luciano Piepoli, based on the distances given in the Antonine Itinerary and on newer archeological findings, has suggested that Silvium should be Santo Staso , an area very close to Gravina in Puglia , Blera should be masseria Castello , and Sublupatia should be masseria Caione . Since the latter stretch of the Appian Way turned out to be very impervious, some branches were created: first

2970-583: The Ridgeway and the Icknield Way . 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

3069-479: The Roman state. They were responsible for changing Rome from a primarily Etruscan to a primarily Italic state. Dense populations of sovereign Samnites remained in the mountains north of Capua, which is just north of the Greek city of Neapolis . Around 343 BC, Rome and Capua attempted to form an alliance. The Samnites reacted with military force. Between Capua and Rome lay the Pontine Marshes ( Pomptinae paludes ),

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3168-538: The Romans, he won a second costly victory at the Battle of Asculum . Withdrawing from Apulia for a Sicilian interlude, he returned to Apulia in 275 BC and started for Campania up the Roman road. Supplied by that same road, the Romans successfully defended the region against Pyrrhus, crushing his army in a two-day fight at the Battle of Beneventum in 275 BC. The Romans renamed the town from "Maleventum" ("site of bad events") to Beneventum ("site of good events") as

3267-532: The Samnite Wars. The distance was 212 kilometers (132 mi). The original road had no milestones, as they were not yet in use. A few survive from later times, including a first milestone near the Porta Appia. The Third Samnite War (298–290 BC) is perhaps misnamed. It was an all-out attempt by all the neighbors of Rome: Italics, Etruscans and Gauls , to check the power of Rome. The Samnites were

3366-548: The best of it, the Roman army turned on Greek Rhegium and effected a massacre of Pyrrhian partisans there. Rather than pursue them, Pyrrhus went straight for Rome along the Via Appia and then the Via Latina. He knew that if he continued on the Via Appia he could be trapped in the marsh. Wary of such entrapment on the Via Latina also, he withdrew without fighting after encountering opposition at Anagni . Wintering in Campania , he withdrew to Apulia in 279 BC, where, pursued by

3465-405: 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 ). The public road system of the Romans was thoroughly military in its aims and spirit. 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

3564-432: 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. 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

3663-725: 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

3762-423: The city proper) who were both part of the collegia known as the vigintisexviri (literally meaning "Twenty-Six Men"). Augustus, finding the collegia ineffective, especially the boards dealing with road maintenance, reduced the number of magistrates from 26 to 20. Augustus abolished the duoviri and later granted the position as superintendent (according to Dio Cassius) of the road system connecting Rome to

3861-412: The city wall and the first milestone beyond. 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. 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

3960-477: The coastal road at Tarracina (Terracina). However, the Romans straightened it somewhat with cuttings, which form cliffs today. From there the road swerved north to Capua, where, for the time being, it ended. The Caudine Forks were not far to the north. The itinerary was Aricia (Ariccia), Tres Tabernae , Forum Appii , Tarracina, Fundi (Fondi), Formiae (Formia), Minturnae (Minturno), Suessa , Casilinum and Capua, but some of these were colonies added after

4059-434: The communes of Beaumont-Monteux and Pont-de-l'Isère. Nearby, the toponym Vie Magne records the passage of the via magna , the "great road". Inscribed standing milestones placed along the route indicated the miles from the starting point ( capita viae ) with Vienne, Valence or Avignon, as well as the magistrate or emperor who had them erected or maintained. In addition to twenty-two surviving milestones recovered along

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4158-492: 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. The Itinerary of Antoninus (which was probably a work of much earlier date and republished in an improved and enlarged form under one of the Antonine emperors ) remains as standing evidence of

4257-533: The construction of sewers and removed obstructions to traffic, as the aediles did in Rome. 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 . He pursued them and their families with fines and imprisonment and was later rewarded with a consulship by Caligula , who also shared

4356-421: The countryside. The construction and care of the public roads, whether in Rome, in Italy, or in the provinces, was, at all periods of Roman history, considered to be a function of the greatest weight and importance. This is clearly shown by the fact that the censors, in some respects the most venerable of Roman magistrates, had the earliest paramount authority to construct and repair all roads and streets. Indeed all

4455-560: The detailed routes taken by the various stretches of the Via Agrippa are well settled on the ground, the dates of construction are still debated: in 39-38 BCE, according to the authors of the Guide romain antique ; 22-21 BCE, according to Pierre Gros; or between 16 and 13 BCE, according to Paul Petit. An ancient salt road passed to the mouths of the Rhône , keeping to the lower slopes of

4554-469: The distances given in the Antonine Itinerary , Lugli also assigned the Appian Way stations Blera and Sublupatia (which also occurs on the Tabula Peutingeriana ) respectively to the areas Murgia Catena and Taverna (between masseria (estate farmhouse) S. Filippo and masseria S. Pietro). However, the toponym Murgia Catena defined too large an area, not allowing a clear localization of

4653-517: The field against the Samnites across the marsh. A revolt of the Latin League drained their resources further. They gave up the attempted alliance and settled with Samnium . The Romans were only biding their time while they looked for a solution. The first answer was the colonia , a "cultivation" of settlers from Rome, who would maintain a permanent base of operations. The Second Samnite War (327–304 BC) erupted when Rome attempted to place

4752-617: The fields were infested with malarial mosquitos until the advent of DDT in the 1950s). Hoping to break a stalemate at Monte Cassino , the Allies landed on the coast of Italy at the Anzio - Nettuno area – ancient Antium – which was midway between Ostia and Terracina . They found that the place was undefended. They intended to move along the line of the Via Appia to take Rome, outflanking Monte Cassino, but they did not do so quickly enough. The Germans occupied Mounts Laziali and Lepini along

4851-594: The first paved road—the Appian Way . Unless these allusions are just simple anachronisms, the roads referred to were probably at the time little more than levelled earthen tracks. Thus, the Via Gabiana (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;

4950-469: The gravel), and a rain-water gutter. Romans preferred to engineer solutions to obstacles rather than circumvent them. Outcrops of stone, ravines, or hilly or mountainous terrain called for cuts 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);

5049-416: The habit of condemning well-born citizens to work on the roads. Under the rule of Claudius, Corbulo was brought to justice and forced to repay the money which had been extorted from his victims. Special curatores for a term seem to have been appointed on occasion, even after the institution of the permanent magistrates bearing that title. The emperors who succeeded Augustus exercised a vigilant control over

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5148-544: The heading of viae privatae were also included roads leading from the public or high roads to particular estates or settlements; Ulpian considers these to be public roads. Features off the via were connected to the via by viae rusticae , or secondary roads. 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

5247-454: 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 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 road

5346-481: The hills to avoid the river's sometimes swampy flood plain . Under the impetus of Augustus, Agrippa paved a route that lay closer to the river, passing through the important Roman cities of Arles , Avignon , Orange , Montélimar , Valence , Vienne , interspersed with relay stations ( mutationes ) where a change of horses was maintained for official couriers. This route was augmented by the Via Antonina along

5445-527: The historic trap at Apulia in Calabria . The Romans were well acquainted with the region. Legions were brought home from abroad and Spartacus was pinned between armies. The ex-slave army was defeated at the Siler River by Marcus Licinius Crassus . Pompey 's armies captured and killed several thousand rebels that escaped from the battle and Crassus captured several thousand more. The Romans judged that

5544-477: The leading city of the Greek presence (Magna Graecia) in southern Italy. They hired the mercenary King Pyrrhus of Epirus in neighboring Greece to fight the Romans on their behalf. In 280 BC the Romans suffered a defeat at the hands of Pyrrhus at the Battle of Heraclea on the coast west of Tarentum . The battle was costly for both sides, prompting Pyrrhus to remark "One more such victory and I am lost." Making

5643-660: The leading people of the conspiracy. Rome dealt the northerners a crushing blow at the Battle of Sentinum in Umbria in 295. The Samnites fought on alone. Rome now placed 13 colonies in Campania and Samnium. It must have been during this time that they extended the Via Appia 35 miles beyond Capua past the Caudine Forks to a place the Samnites called Maloenton, "passage of the flocks". The itinerary added Calatia , Caudium and Beneventum (not yet called that). Here also ended

5742-502: The march brought its own baggage train ( impedimenta ) and constructed its own camp ( castra ) every evening at the side of the road. Appian Way The Appian Way ( Latin and Italian : Via Appia ) is one of the earliest and strategically most important Roman roads of the ancient republic . It connected Rome to Brindisi , in southeast Italy . Its importance is indicated by its common name, recorded by Statius , of Appia longarum... regina viarum ("the Appian Way,

5841-601: The minute care which was bestowed on the service of the public roads. Ancient Rome boasted impressive technological feats, using many advances that were lost during 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 . Roman road builders aimed at

5940-632: The north of Florence . For the 1960 Summer Olympics , it served as part of the men's marathon course that was won by Abebe Bikila of Ethiopia . After the fall of the Western Roman Empire , the road fell out of use; Pope Pius VI ordered its restoration. A new Appian Way was built in parallel with the old one in 1784 as far as the Alban Hills region. The new road is the Via Appia Nuova ("New Appian Way") as opposed to

6039-491: 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

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6138-414: The old section, now known as Via Appia Antica. The old Appian Way close to Rome is now a free tourist attraction. It was extensively restored for Rome's Millennium and Great Jubilee celebrations. The first 5 kilometers (3 mi) are still heavily used by cars, buses and coaches but from then on traffic is very light and the ruins can be explored on foot in relative safety. The Church of Domine Quo Vadis

6237-436: The passing of two carts of standard (4 foot) width without interference to pedestrian traffic. Actual practices varied from this standard. The Tables command Romans to build public roads and give wayfarers the right to pass over private land where the road is in disrepair. Building roads that would not need frequent repair therefore became an ideological objective, as well as building them as straight as practicable to construct

6336-413: The paving of the streets of Rome or at least shared that responsibility with the quattuorviri viarum . 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

6435-572: The peak of Rome's development, no fewer than 29 great military highways radiated from the capital, and the empire's 113 provinces were interconnected by 372 great roads. 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. 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). The courses (and sometimes

6534-627: The quaestors. The official bodies which first succeeded the censors in the care of the streets and roads were: Both these bodies were probably of ancient origin. The first mention of either body occurs in the Lex Julia Municipalis in 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 . Their authority extended over all roads between their respective gates of issue in

6633-660: The queen of the long roads"). The road is named after Appius Claudius Caecus , the Roman censor who, during the Samnite Wars , began and completed the first section as a military road to the south in 312 BC. In July 2024, the Appian Way entered the UNESCO World Heritage List. The Appian Way was a Roman road used as a main route for military supplies for its conquest of southern Italy in 312 BC and for improvements in communication. The Appian Way

6732-408: 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 (117 to 138 AD). Furthermore, he appointed praetorians to the offices of "road-maker" and assigning each one with two lictors , making

6831-519: 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. Roman bridges were some of the first large and lasting bridges created. 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

6930-432: The right bank of the Rhône. Near Valence, the modern Route nationale 7 follows the track of the via Agrippa . To the north of the Isère the via Agrippa , having passed the crossroads still called Sept Chemins ("Seven Roads") followed the line now marked by Route départementale 101 towards Beaumont-Monteux ; there a Route communale and a pathway trace the straight Roman track which serves as boundary between

7029-407: The river, or on stone piers. Stone arch bridges were used on larger or more permanent crossings. Most bridges also used concrete, which the Romans were the first to use for bridges. Roman bridges were so well constructed that many 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

7128-464: The roads outside the city, and for forming raised footpaths at the sides. In these roads, the surface was hardened with gravel, and although pavements were introduced shortly afterwards, the blocks were laid on a bed of small stones. Examples include the Via Praenestina and Via Latina . The best sources of information as regards the construction of a regulation via munita are: After

7227-561: The roads, was located, and extended to the borders of their domain – hence the expression, " All roads lead to Rome ". Romans had an affinity for the people of Campania , who, like themselves, traced their backgrounds to the Etruscans . The Samnite Wars were instigated by the Samnites when Rome attempted to ally itself with the city of Capua in Campania. The Italic speakers in Latium had long ago been subdued and incorporated into

7326-677: The route is one of the 3rd or 4th century reused in the ambulatory of the choir of the Cathedral of Valence , where its inscription may still be read: IMP(ERATOR) CAESAR L(UCIUS) DOMIT[IUS] AURELIANU[S] P(IUS) [F(ELIX)] INV[I]CT[US] [AU]G(USTUS) P(ONTIFEX) MA(XIMUS) GER[MANIC(US) MAX(IMUS)] [GO]THIC(US) MA[X(IMUS) CARPIC(US) MAX(IMUS)] ? [PAR]THIC(US) MA[X(IMUS) TRIB(UNICIA) POT(ESTATE) VI CO(N)S(UL)] ? [III] P(ATER) P(ATRIAE) PROCO(N)[S(UL) PACATOR ET RES] [TITUT]OR ORB(IS) [REFECIT ET] [R]ESTITUIT […] MILIA [PASSUUM] I[I] II ? Roman roads At

7425-401: The sea by sand dunes. Appius Claudius planned to drain the marsh, taking up earlier attempts, but he failed. The causeway and its bridges subsequently needed constant repair. In 162 BC, Marcus Cornelius Cathegus had a canal constructed along the road to relieve the traffic and provide an alternative when the road was being repaired. Romans preferred using the canal. The Via Appia picked up

7524-462: The secondary roads were the viae terrenae , "dirt roads". The third category comprised roads at or in villages, districts , or crossroads , leading through or towards a vicus or village. 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

7623-445: 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

7722-564: The slaves had forfeited their right to live. In 71 BC, 6,000 slaves were crucified along the 200-kilometer (120 mi) Via Appia from Rome to Capua. In 1943, during World War II , the Allies fell into the same trap Pyrrhus had retreated to avoid, in the Pomptine fields , the successor to the Pontine Marshes . The marsh remained, despite many efforts to drain it, until engineers working for Benito Mussolini finally succeeded (even so,

7821-430: 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. It would seem that in the reign of Claudius the quaestors had become responsible for

7920-483: The surfaces) of many Roman roads survived for millennia; some are overlaid by modern roads. "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 Livy mentions some of the most familiar roads near Rome, and the milestones on them, at times long before

8019-617: 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 . With the term viae militariae compare the Icknield Way ( Icen-hilde-weg , or "War-way of the Iceni"). 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

8118-535: The terms via munita and vía publica became identical. Viae were distinguished according to their public or private character, as well as according to the materials employed and the methods followed in their construction. Ulpian divided them up in the following fashion: According to Isidore of Sevilla , the Romans borrowed the knowledge of construction of viae munitae from the Carthaginians , though certainly inheriting some construction techniques from

8217-582: The track of the old Via Latina, from which they rained down shells on Anzio. Even though the Allies expanded into all the Pomptine region, they gained no ground. The Germans counterattacked down the via Appia from the Alban hills in a front four miles wide, but could not retake Anzio. The battle lasted for four months, one side being supplied by sea, the other by land through Rome. In May 1944, the Allies broke out of Anzio and took Rome . The German forces escaped to

8316-413: 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

8415-474: The various functionaries, including emperors, who succeeded the censors in this portion of their duties, may be said to have exercised a devolved censorial jurisdiction. The devolution to the censorial jurisdictions 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,

8514-609: 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: 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, to a town, 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 , and describes their characteristics as follows: Roman roads were named after

8613-403: The years the Romans 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,

8712-428: 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, the magistri pagorum had authority to maintain the viae vicinales . In Rome each householder was legally responsible for the repairs to that portion of the street which passed his own house; it

8811-467: 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 . Roads were not free to use; 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

8910-448: Was constructed by filling the fossa . This was done by layering rock over other stones. Into the fossa was placed large amounts of rubble , gravel and stone, whatever fill was available. Sometimes a layer of sand was put down, if it was locally avbailable. When the layers came to within 1 yd (1 m) or so of the surface, the subsurface was covered with gravel and tamped down, a process called pavire , or pavimentare . The flat surface

9009-509: Was said to have been so smooth that you could not distinguish the joints. The Roman section still exists and is lined with monuments of all periods, although the cement has eroded out of the joints, leaving a very rough surface. The road concedes nothing to the Alban hills , but goes straight through them over cuts and fills. The gradients are steep. Then it enters the former Pontine Marshes. A stone causeway of about 31 kilometers (19 mi) led across stagnant and foul-smelling pools blocked from

9108-422: Was situated. The road at the time was a via glarea, a gravel road. The Romans built a high-quality road, with layers of cemented stone over a layer of small stones, cambered, drainage ditches on either side, low retaining walls on sunken portions, and dirt pathways for sidewalks. The Via Appia is believed to have been the first Roman road to feature the use of lime cement. The materials were volcanic rock. The surface

9207-399: Was still largely influenced by the centuriation ; this, according to Lugli, was the path of the Appian Way. This path, as well as the part located in today's Apulia region, was still in use in the Middle Ages . A further piece of evidence for Lugli's proposed path is the presence of a number of archaeological remains in that region, among them the ancient settlement of Jesce. By studying

9306-504: 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 Julia Municipalis restricted commercial carts to night-time access in the city within the walls and within a mile outside the walls. 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

9405-422: 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. The governing structure was changed by Augustus , who in the course of his reconstitution of

9504-481: Was the first long road built specifically to transport troops outside the smaller region of greater Rome (this was essential to the Romans). The few roads outside the early city were Etruscan and went mainly to Etruria . By the late Republic , the Romans had expanded over most of Italy and were masters of road construction. Their roads began at Rome, where the master itinerarium , or list of destinations along

9603-478: Was the government of Italy, for the time being. Appius Claudius died in 273, but in extending the road a number of times, no one has tried to displace his name upon it. The Appian Way's path across today's regions Lazio and Campania has always been well known, but the exact position of the part located in Apulia (the original one, not the extension by Trajan) was long unknown, since there were no visible remains of

9702-440: Was the main factor that allowed them to concentrate their forces with sufficient rapidity and to keep them adequately supplied, whereafter they became a formidable opponent. The main part of the Appian Way was started and finished in 312 BC. The road began as a leveled dirt road upon which small stones and mortar were laid. Gravel was laid upon this, which was finally topped with tight fitting, interlocking stones to provide

9801-400: 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 mortar , which the Romans had discovered. They seem to have mixed the mortar and the stones in the ditch. First a small layer of coarse concrete , the rudus , then

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