It’s hard to believe, but even at the end of antiquity, more than one and a half thousand years ago, it was possible to travel from Rome to Athens or from Spain to Egypt, almost all the time remaining on a paved highway. Over seven centuries, the ancient Romans entangled the entire Mediterranean world - the territories of three parts of the world - with a high-quality road network with a total length of two earth's equators.
Oleg Makarov
Located in the southeast of the historical part of Rome, the small church of Santa Maria in Palmis with a discreet classical facade of the 17th century looks, of course, not as impressive as the grandiose monuments Eternal City like the Colosseum or St. Peter's Basilica. However, the deliberate modesty of the temple only emphasizes the special atmosphere of the place, associated with one of the most beautiful and dramatic legends of early Christianity. As the New Testament apocrypha “The Acts of Peter” narrates, it was here, on the Old Appian Way, that the Apostle Peter, fleeing from pagan persecution, met Christ marching to Rome. - Domine, quo vadis? (Lord, where are you going?) - the apostle asked the long-crucified and resurrected Teacher with surprise and fear. “Eo Romam iterum crucifigi (I am going to Rome to be crucified again),” answered Christ. Ashamed of his cowardice, Peter returned to the city, where he suffered martyrdom.
Indian network
Among the road systems created in the pre-industrial era, only one is comparable in scale to the ancient Roman one. We are talking about the mountain routes of the Incas, whose empire stretched into the 15th-16th centuries. nbsp; along the Pacific coast South America- from the modern capital of Ecuador, Quito, to the modern capital of Chile, Santiago. The total length of this road network was about 40,000 km. The Inca roads served approximately the same purposes as the Roman ones - the vast expanses of the empire required the rapid transfer of troops to “hot spots”. Traders and messengers made their way through the Andes along the same paths, carrying messages in the form of specially tied knots. The emperor himself, the Great Inca, was constantly on the move, and he considered it necessary to personally inspect his possessions. The most impressive element of the system was, perhaps, the rope bridges that the Incas stretched over deep chasms. However, if people both walked and drove along Roman roads - on horseback or in carts - then the Incas walked their paths exclusively on foot, and only the loads were entrusted to loaded llamas. After all, pre-Columbian America knew neither the horse nor the wheel.
Gift of the Blind Censor
By the time, according to legend, this legendary meeting took place (mid-1st century AD), the Appian Way had already existed for almost four centuries. The Romans knew her as regina viarum - “queen of roads”, because it was from Via Appia that the history of paved paths that connected the cities of Italy, and then the entire Mediterranean ecumene - the inhabited world - began.
Mysterious card
Conrad Peitinger (1465−1547) was the most educated man of the Renaissance, historian, archaeologist, second-hand book dealer, collector, advisor to the Austrian emperor and one of those thanks to whom we know what the network of Roman roads looked like. From his late friend Konrad Bikel, the librarian of Emperor Maximilian, Peitinger inherited an ancient map made on 11 sheets of parchment. Its origin was shrouded in mystery - during his lifetime, Bikel only said that he found it “somewhere in the library.” Having examined the map more closely, Peitinger came to the conclusion that in front of him was a medieval copy of a Roman diagram, which depicted Europe and the entire Mediterranean world. Actually, this was enough for the find to go down in history as the “Peitinger table.” It was first published in Antwerp in 1591, after the death of the scientist himself. Another 300 years later - in 1887 - Conrad Miller released a newly drawn edition of the Peitinger Table.
The “table” consists of 11 fragments, each 33 centimeters wide. If you put them together, you get a narrow strip 680 cm long, into which the ancient cartographer managed to squeeze the entire world known to him from Gaul to India. For unknown reasons, the westernmost part of the Roman Empire - Spain and part of Britain - is missing from the map. This suggests that one sheet of the map is missing. Historians are also puzzled by some anachronisms. For example, the map shows both the city of Constantinople (the former Byzantium received this name only in 328) and Pompeii, which was completely destroyed by the eruption of Vesuvius in 79. The author of the map did not try to convey either the scale, proportions, or the exact outlines of the coastlines. His work is more like a map of metro lines - the main task of which is only to depict travel routes and stopping points. The map contains about 3,500 geographical names, which includes the names of cities, countries, rivers and seas, as well as a road map, the total length of which would be 200,000 km!
The name of the road was given by the outstanding ancient Roman statesman Appius Claudius Caecus (“Blind” - Latin Caecus). At the end of the 4th century BC. Rome, still at the origins of its power, waged the so-called Samnite Wars in Campania (a historical region centered in Naples) with varying success. In order to more firmly connect the newly acquired territories with the metropolis and facilitate the rapid transfer of troops to " hot spot» Apennine Peninsula, in 312 AD. Appius Claudius, who then held the high position of censor, ordered the construction of a road from Rome to Capua, an Etruscan city conquered a quarter of a century earlier from the Samnites. The length of the route was 212 km, but construction was completed within a year. Largely thanks to the road, the Romans won the Second Samnite War.
As you can see, like the Internet or the GPS system, Roman roads were originally created with military use in mind, but later opened up unprecedented opportunities for the development of the civilian economy and society as a whole. Already in the next century, the Appian Way was extended to the southern Italian ports of Brundisium (Brindisi) and Tarentum (Taranto), and it became part of the trade route connecting Rome with Greece and Asia Minor.
Since the paths spontaneously trodden by people and livestock were replaced by specially paved paths in the Roman era, road construction technology has changed several times. Nevertheless, current roads are formed in several layers. In the 17th century, when road construction intensified, roads were made of compacted gravel on a foundation of large blocks. The creator of this technology was the Frenchman Pierre Trezage (1716−1796).
Dangerous straightforwardness
Having first conquered the entire Apennine Peninsula, and then Western Europe to the Rhine, the Balkans, Greece, Asia Minor and Western Africa, as well as North Africa, the Roman state (first a republic, and from the 1st century BC - an empire) methodically developed a road network in each newly acquired corner of the state. Since, as already mentioned, roads were primarily a military structure, they were laid out and built by military engineers and soldiers of the Roman legions. Sometimes slaves and civilian civilians were involved.
Many Roman roads have survived to this day, and this is the best evidence that their construction was approached thoroughly and with all care. In other places, time has not been kind to the creations of ancient builders, but where legions once marched, modern routes have been laid. These paths are easy to recognize on the map - the highways following the route of the Roman viae are, as a rule, almost perfectly straight. Which is not surprising: any “detour” would lead to a serious loss of time for the Roman troops, who moved mainly on foot.
Scotsman John McAdam (1756−1836) found a way to reduce the thickness of the base, as he came to the conclusion that dry compacted soil itself could well support the weight of the road surface.
European Antiquity did not know a compass, and cartography in those days was in its infancy. Nevertheless, and this cannot but amaze the imagination, Roman land surveyors - “agrimensores” and “gromatics” - managed to lay almost perfectly straight routes between populated areas separated by tens and even hundreds of kilometers. “Gromatik” is not the word “grammarist” written by a poor student, but a specialist in working with “thunder”.
The “thunder” was one of the main and most advanced tools of Roman surveyors and was a vertical metal rod with a pointed lower end for sticking into the ground. The upper end was crowned with a bracket with an axis on which a horizontal cross was mounted. Threads with weights hung from each of the four ends of the cross. Laying a road began with surveyors placing pegs along a line (rigor) representing the future route. Groma helped to most accurately line up three pegs along one straight line, even if all of them were not simultaneously in the line of sight (for example, due to a hill). Another purpose of the thunderbolt is to draw perpendicular lines on an earthen plot (for which, in fact, a cross was needed). Land surveying work was carried out literally “by eye” - by combining in the field of view the threads of plumb lines and pegs standing in the distance, the engineers checked whether the pegs did not deviate from the vertical axis and whether they were accurately lined up in a straight line.
The total length of roads built by the Romans cannot be accurately estimated. Historical literature usually gives a “modest” figure of 83–85 thousand km. However, some researchers go further and call much larger number- up to 300,000 km. The Peitinger Table provides certain reasons for this. However, it must be understood that many roads were of secondary importance and were simply dirt paths or were not paved along their entire length. The first document regulating the width of Roman roads was the so-called. "Twelve Tables". Adopted by the Roman Republic in 450 BC. BC (that is, even before the advent of long paved roads), these legislative codes established the width of the “via” at 8 Roman feet (1 Roman foot - 296 mm) on straight sections and 16 feet on turning points. In reality, the roads could have been wider; in particular, such famous Italian highways as Via Appia, Via Flaminia and Via Valeria even on straight sections had a width of 13 - 15 feet, that is, up to 5 m.
Stone Pie
Of course, not all roads that were part of the colossal communication network Ancient Rome, were of the same quality. Among them were ordinary dirt paths covered with gravel, and roads made of logs sprinkled with sand. However, the real masterpiece of Roman engineering was the famous via publicae - paved public roads, built using technology that has survived millennia. It was their foremother that became the famous Appian Way.
Roman road construction technology was described in some detail by the outstanding architect and engineer of Antiquity Marcus Vitruvius Pollio (1st century AD). The construction of the via began with two parallel grooves being dug along the future route at a given distance (2.5–4.5 m). They marked the work area, and at the same time gave the builders an idea of the nature of the soil in the area. In the next stage, the soil between the grooves was removed, resulting in a long trench. Its depth depended on the relief of geological characteristics - as a rule, builders tried to get to the rocky ground or to a harder layer of soil - and could be up to 1.5 m.
Laying roads across rough terrain, Roman engineers designed and built a variety of structures to overcome natural obstacles. Bridges were thrown across rivers - they were made of wood or stone. Wooden bridges were usually built on piles driven into the bottom, while stone bridges were often based on impressive arched structures. Some of these bridges have survived well to this day. The swamps were crossed with the help of stone embankments, but sometimes wooden gates were used. In the mountains, roads were sometimes cut right into the rocks. Laying a road began with surveyors placing pegs along a line representing the future route. To strictly maintain the direction, surveyors used the “thunder” tool. Another important function of the thunder is to draw perpendicular straight lines on the ground. The construction of a Roman road began with a ditch, into which a layer of large uncut stones (statumen), a layer of crushed stone held together with a binder mortar (rudus), and a layer of cemented small fragments of brick and ceramics (nucleus) were successively laid. Then the pavement (pavimentum) was made.
Then the road was built using the “layer cake” method. The bottom layer was called statumen (support) and consisted of large uncut stones - approximately 20 to 50 cm in size. The next layer was called rudus (crushed stone) and was a mass of smaller broken stone held together with a binder mortar. The thickness of this layer was about 20 cm. The composition of ancient Roman concrete varied depending on the area, but on the Apennine Peninsula, a mixture of lime and pozzolan, a ground volcanic rock containing aluminum silicate, was most often used as a solution. This solution exhibited setting properties in an aqueous environment and, after hardening, was water resistant. The third layer - nucleus (core) - was thinner (about 15 cm) and consisted of cemented small fragments of brick and ceramics. In principle, this layer could already be used as a road surface, but often a fourth layer was placed on top of the “core” - pavimentum (pavement). In the vicinity of Rome, large cobblestones made from basaltic lava were usually used for pavement. They had an irregular shape, but they were hewn so that they fit snugly together. Small unevenness in the pavement was smoothed out with cement mortar, but even on the best-preserved roads this “grout” has disappeared without a trace these days, exposing polished cobblestones. Sometimes stones of a regular, for example quadrangular, shape were used to create a pavement - of course, it was easier to adjust them to each other.
The pavement had a slightly convex profile, and the rainwater that fell on it did not stand in puddles, but flowed into drainage grooves running on both sides of the pavement.
The first Roman roads were built for military purposes, and later authorities constantly monitored them as strategic sites. The classic width of roads is 12 meters. They were built in four layers. The base was made of cobblestones. Then came the formwork made of crushed stones held together with concrete. A layer of brick chips was placed above the formwork. The top covering was flat slabs or large cobblestones. The Laws of the XII Tables established that the width of the road on a straight section should be 2.45 m (8 ft), on curves - 4.9 m (16 ft) 
At the beginning of the 2nd century, during the time of Trajan, there were already about 100,000 kilometers of state roads, mostly paved. They were well equipped and kept in excellent operating condition. On the main roads of Rome, every Roman mile (approximately 1.5 km) were installed road signs. The inscriptions on the stone informed the traveler the distance to the nearest village or city, to a major intersection, to Rome or to the border. Station hotels and repair services were provided. 
A prerequisite for the construction of the road was the accessibility of the road in any weather, so the roadbed not only rose 40-50 cm above the ground, but also had a sloping shape; water did not accumulate on the road during rain, but drained through the drains of roadside drainage ditches.
Do you love history? Did you know that there are ancient Roman roads that have survived to this day? This is not our modern asphalt, which lasts until the first snow or rain!
Everyone remembers that the territory of the Roman Empire was simply colossal, since it controlled the countries of Europe, Asia, and it extended to the borders of Africa! Various islands were also subject to the Roman Empire.
The Romans, in order to make it convenient for the legionnaires to walk, built roads wherever the warrior’s foot stepped.
Even though the Roman Empire fell long ago, many roads still exist today. Do you like to fantasize and mentally travel back to ancient times? Then we bring to your attention the top 10 Roman roads that you can see with your own eyes!
Appian Way
This is one of the ancient roads, more than 2330 years old! This road carried traffic from Rome to Brindisi. And there was traffic in two lanes! Isn't it amazing? Nowadays modern cars drive along this road, so where there is a highway, you can see parts of the ancient road.
Domician road
This road was built in 120 BC. and it connected Rome with Spain through Gaul. Looking at this road, we can conclude that the Romans took a responsible approach to road construction: they dug ditches, poured pieces of hard rock onto the bottom, poured gravel, after which they laid cobblestones, which were filled with cement. Of course, such a road will continue to this day.
Agrippius Way
From Rome to the north, in the direction of upper France, remains of the Agrippian Way remain. The remains of the road can be seen near Lyon, what is most interesting is that these sections of roads are still in use, despite the fact that they are more than 1977 years old!
Kalenda road
This road was built at the same time as the Agrippieva. It is located in Crimea and it is already very winding, and sometimes passes near cliffs. This suggests that it is very dangerous, because the Romans even removed rocks to pave the way. But the Romans did a great job, and this road still serves in our time!
Roman road from Vindonissa to Grenario
The ancient Romans felt at home in Germany, and even here they managed to contribute to the construction of roads. To do this, they attracted the local population, who allocated funds for their construction. Maybe that's why the roads in Germany are considered one of the best in the world?
Egnatian Way
This road is considered the longest, and its length is 800 kilometers! And this road passes through Macedonia, Turkey, Albania and it leads, of course, to Rome. It took almost 100 years to build the road! But, thanks so much convenient road, there was a trade route here. And, the cities through which this road went became very prosperous!
August road
And this road is even longer than Egnatieva! And its length is 1500 kilometers! It is located on the territory of modern Spain and it went from Calisa to Girona via Barcelona. The remains of the road can be seen in Sagunto.
Road in Thessaloniki
Here this road is located right in the city center! And it is actively used by local residents, since it contains an intersection and part of the street. This road was built by the Romans in the 4th century BC. Its width is 7 meters, and it was discovered during the construction of the metro, and the most interesting thing is that it follows the contours of modern roads. Or maybe vice versa?
Icknield Road
The ubiquitous Romans even built roads in England! And the remainder of the Icknield Road can be seen in Birmingham. The Romans chose roads so perfectly that the Icknield Road is covered with a modern motorway, and is actively used by the British.
Blackstone Edge
This road was built on the Rishworth Moors! And it’s truly amazing that the Romans even knew how to build them here! A section of the road with a ditch to drain water in the middle of the road has survived to this day, and can be seen near Manchester.
Then they began to appear in other territories of the Roman Empire between significant political and economic centers.
Initially, roads were built for military purposes, but then began to play a significant role in the economic development of the empire. Perhaps, in the end, the developed network of roads only made it easier for the barbarians to conquer Roman territories. After the fall of the Roman Empire, roads continued to be used for at least about a millennium, and in some cases still today, although they were now paved with asphalt.
Story
First strategic roads
Fall of the Empire
Other sources
There were other itineraries besides the book of Antoninus. For example, itineraries describing the pilgrimage to Jerusalem of Eusebius of Caesarea, Eusebius of Nicomedia or Theognis of Nicaea. The Itinerarium Burdigalense, written in 333, also describes which road to take to reach the Holy Land. And the Alexander Itinerarium (Itinerarium Alexandri) is a list of the conquests of Alexander the Great.
Road structures
The construction of Roman roads did not end with the construction of the road itself. For the convenience of travelers, road signs were installed along the way, bridges were built over water barriers, etc.
Milestones
Main article: Milestone
In order to navigate the terrain, Roman engineers erected on the roadsides at certain intervals viae publicae And vicinales mile stones ( miliarium). They were cylindrical columns with a height of 1.5 to 4 m and a diameter of 50 to 80 cm. The columns stood on cubic bases sunk into the ground by about 60-80 cm. The mile stones weighed more than 2 tons. These poles, unlike modern road signs, were not placed every mile. They indicated the distance to the nearest populated area.
On the top of each mile stone (since travelers most often rode horses or sat in carts, they could clearly see everything) there were inscriptions: the name of the emperor, by whose decree the road was built or repaired, his titles, a few words about the appearance of the stone ( whether it was placed here after the construction or repair of the road) and the distance from this point to the nearest populated area, major road intersection or border. The Romans calculated distances in miles. Roman mile (lat. milia passuum) was equal to 1000 double steps and was approximately 1.48 km. On some roads such signs were placed later than the road itself was built (for example, on the Domitia road), therefore the distances were indicated in other units.
- Mixed bridges
Or, for greater strength, the bridge supports were built of stone, and the supporting structure of the platform was made of wood. One example of this type of construction is the Roman bridge at Trier, where the piers were made of stone and the deck was made of wood. Today only the Roman stone pillars remain, while the upper part was built of cut stone later.
- Pontoon bridges
Postal stations, inns and warehouses
Many sources describing inns have survived to this day. These tabernae(lat. tavern) often had a very bad reputation, so travelers preferred to camp near them, or live in deversorium(lat. inn, hotel ), intended for wealthy people, or, using the laws of hospitality ( hospitium), settle with local residents to whom they had letters of recommendation.
In addition to inns on the roads there were horrea(lat. barn, granary, warehouse ), which were under the jurisdiction of the service cura annonae(caring for the food supply of the capital of the Empire; lat. annonae curam agree- take care of food).
Courier service and security
Cursus publicus- The postal service of the Roman Empire actively used Roman roads. Couriers quickly delivered messages and news to all corners of the Empire. The postal service was so well established that under favorable conditions, couriers on carts could travel about 75 km per day (for comparison, postal services in the mid-16th century could usually cover no more than 45 km per day).
Couriers mainly traveled to cisium with boxes installed on them. If the message was urgent, then on horseback. The couriers wore distinctive leather headdresses called petanus. The postal service was a rather dangerous occupation, as couriers were often targets for bandits and enemies of the empire. Private correspondence of wealthy people was transported by slaves tabellarii(lat. messenger, messenger).
Since it quickly became clear that traveling along the roads was not as safe as we would like, they began to build defensive structures along the roads and set up military camps. They kept order on the roads. Over time, some defensive structures turned into real fortresses. In addition, the garrison was often involved in road repair work.
Civil, military and sacred monuments
Along the roads there were various cult and sacred places, for example, temples, which were built for the spiritual support of travelers and in honor of the gods who protect travelers. Travelers prayed to Mercury, the god of trade and patron of travelers, Diana, protector of roads and various local gods. Various offerings were given to the gods - money, things, food, etc.
Mausoleums and trophies were erected along the roads by emperors or other wealthy people. They glorified emperors, military leaders, and talked about the victories of the Roman troops.
Largest Roman roads
Main Roman roads in Italy
- Via Agrippa(Agrippian Way) - built in 40, connected Rome and Boulogne-sur-Mer.
- Via Æmilia(Emilian Way) - built in 187 BC. e. , connected Rimini and Piacenza.
- Via Appia(Appian Way) - built in 312 BC. e. , connected Rome and Brindisi.
- Via Aurelia(Aurelian Way) - built in 241 BC. e. , connected Rome and Liguria.
- Via Cassia(Cassian Way) connected Rome and Etruria.
- Via Clodia connected Rome with the coast of the Tyrrhenian Sea.
- Via Domitia(Via Domitia) - built around 118 BC. e. , connected northern Italy with Spain through Narbonese Gaul.
- Via Egnatia- built in the 2nd century BC. e. , connected Durres with Byzantium.
- Via Julia Augusta- built in the 1st century BC. e. , connected Piacenza with the Rhone Valley.
- Via Flaminia(Flaminian Way) - built in 220 BC. e. , connected Rome with Umbria.
- Via Latina connected Rome with southern Italy.
- Via Postumia connected Genoa with Aquileia.
- Via Salaria("salt road") connected Rome with the territories of the Sabines, following through the Tiber valley.
- Via Valeria connected Rome with central Italy.
Localization of Roman roads
Many Roman roads have survived to this day: some of them are in their original form, while others are replaced by modern highways. Unfortunately, historical sources that have survived to this day do not always help to accurately determine the location of a particular road.
Led by Brennus, Rome was sacked. Only the Roman commander Marcus Furius Camillus, who arrived in time, saved the Romans from capitulation. Roads made it possible to increase the speed of movement of both troops and trade caravans.
The first paved road was built in 312 BC. e. Appius Claudius Caeus between Rome and Capua: it was named after its creator Via Appia(Appian Way). At the end of the Roman Republic, the territory of the Apennine Peninsula was covered with a network of similar roads. Each of them bore the name of the censor by whom it was built. Also, the road could be named after the direction or area through which it passed. Sometimes roads were renamed after another Roman figure repaired it. Roads were paved only on the territory of cities or on the approaches to them (with the exception of completely paved Via Appia), and were mostly covered with sand, crushed stone and gravel from open pits nearby.
The Rise of Roman Roads
Fall of the Empire
The management of this road was then entrusted to a government official - curator viarum(With lat.- “road guard”) He gave orders for any work related to the road, including monitoring its condition and, if necessary, repairing it.
Average width viae publicae ranged from 6 to 12 m.
Viae vicinales
Viae vicinales(With lat.- “country roads”) - these roads branched off from viae publicae and connected them together vici(With lat.- “villages, towns”) in one area. They made up the bulk of the roads of the ancient transport network.
Average width viae vicinales was about 4 m.
Viae privatae
Viae privatae(With lat.- “private roads”) connected large properties, villae(With lat.- “villa, estate”), with viae vicinales And viae publicae. They were privately owned and entirely financed by the owners. Most often they began at the boundaries of the estates.
Average width viae private ranged from 2.5 to 4 m.
Transport
The Roman government from time to time decided to distribute such itineraria among the population. The first known such attempt was made by Julius Caesar and Mark Antony in 44 BC. e. Three Greek geographers Zenodox, Theodotus and Polyclitus were commissioned to compile such an itinerary. The task took more than 25 years to complete. As a result of this work, a stone slab was installed near the Pantheon, on which this itinerary was engraved. Anyone could approach it and make a copy of it.
Itinerary Antonina
Itinerarium Antonini Augusti (lat. Itinerarium Antonini Augusti) is an index book that lists all the road crossings and distances of each of the Roman roads that existed at that time. It was compiled during the reign of Caracalla, then apparently redone during the Tetrarchy period at the end of the 3rd century. Most likely, the pointer was made on the basis of some kind of wall map.
In accordance with the Antoninian itinerary, the length of Roman roads was about 85 thousand km and connected 372 settlements.
Peitinger table
The most famous document that has survived to this day is the Peutinger table (lat. Tabula Peutingeriana). The surviving map, or rather diagram, is a copy made by an Alsatian monk in the 13th century from a document, the original of which dates back to the beginning of the 3rd century, but has layers of later times. Presumably, the Peitinger table may go back to the map of Agrippa, compiled for his son-in-law, Emperor Octavian Augustus. In the 16th century, the map belonged to the humanist Conrad Peutinger, and is now kept in the library of Vienna in Austria. The roll scroll consists of 11 sheets, the total length of which is 6.8 m and the width is 0.34 m. The map, in the form of a list of tribes and peoples along trade routes, depicts the entire world known to the Romans - from England to Africa and from the Atlantic Ocean to India.
Other sources
There were other itineraries besides the book of Antoninus. For example, itineraries describing the pilgrimage to Jerusalem of Eusebius of Caesarea, Eusebius of Nicomedia or Theognis of Nicaea. The unknown pilgrim who wrote the Bordeaux Itinerary in 333 also describes which road to take to reach the Holy Land. Itinerary of Alexander Itinerarium Alexandri listen)) is a list of the conquests of Alexander the Great.
Road structures
The construction of Roman roads did not end with the construction of the road itself. For the convenience of travelers, road signs were installed along the way, bridges were built over water barriers, etc.
Milestones
In order to navigate the terrain, Roman engineers erected on the roadsides at certain intervals viae publicae And vicinales mile stones ( miliarium). They were cylindrical columns with a height of 1.5 to 4 m and a diameter of 50 to 80 cm. The columns stood on cubic bases sunk into the ground by about 60-80 cm. The mile stones weighed more than 2 tons. These poles, unlike modern road signs, were not placed every mile. They indicated the distance to the nearest populated area.
On the top of each mile stone (since travelers most often rode horses or sat in carts, they could clearly see everything) there were inscriptions: the name of the emperor, by whose decree the road was built or repaired, his titles, a few words about the appearance of the stone (whether it was placed here after the construction or repair of the road) and the distance from this point to the nearest populated area, major road intersection or border. The Romans calculated distances in miles. The Roman mile (lat. milia passuum) was equal to 1000 double steps and was approximately 1.48 km. On some roads such signs were placed later than the road itself was built (for example, on the Domitia road), therefore the distances were indicated in other units.
Overcoming natural barriers
Roman engineers tried to build as little bypass routes as possible, so they had to make sure that travelers could overcome various water obstacles without any inconvenience.
Brody
It was often possible to cross rivers or streams through a ford. Therefore, here the roads were usually paved with crushed stone or lined with lime, and the edges of the road were supported by wooden beams. However, archaeologists have also found other fords that crossed important roads. Here the ford was filled with large boulders, a retaining wall and a channel for draining water were built, and the road was paved. Such ford crossings were often later turned into small wooden or stone bridges.
Bridges
Main article: List of Roman bridges
- Stone bridges
- Mixed bridges
Or, for greater strength, the bridge supports were built of stone, and the supporting structure of the platform was made of wood. One example of this type of construction is the Roman bridge at Trier, where the piers were made of stone and the deck was made of wood. Today only the Roman stone pillars remain, while the upper part was built of cut stone later.
- Pontoon bridges
Postal stations, inns and warehouses
Mutatio(With lat.- “place for changing horses, postal station”) - stations that were located along the road every 10-15 km and were intended for a short stop for travelers and changing horses.
For every three postal stations there was one mansio(With lat.- “resting place, halt, overnight, stop”). They were separated from each other at a distance of 25 to 50 km. To make them easier to distinguish from ordinary postal stations, buildings mansio they were painted red (in Italy, the houses of trackmen are still painted red). He ran the affairs at the inn caupo(With lat.- “tavern keeper, innkeeper”). These stops were well equipped and here travelers could spend the night, eat, stable their horses - stabulum, use the services of a blacksmith or cart maker. Sometimes an entire city subsequently grew around such stations (for example, Reinzabern in Germany or Saverne in Alsace).
Many sources describing inns have survived to this day. These tabernae(With lat.- “tavern”) often had a very bad reputation, so travelers preferred to camp near them, or live in deversorium(With lat.- “inn, hotel”), intended for wealthy people, or, using the laws of hospitality ( hospitium), settle with local residents to whom they had letters of recommendation.
In addition to inns on the roads there were horrea(With lat.- “barn, granary, warehouse”), which were under the jurisdiction of the service cura annonae(caring for the food supply of the capital of the Empire; lat. annonae curam agere - to take care of food).
Courier service and security
Cursus publicus(the state postal service of the Roman Empire) actively used Roman roads.
