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70-608: The Via Hadriana was an ancient Roman road established by the emperor Hadrian , which stretched from Antinoöpolis on the River Nile to the Red Sea at Berenice Troglodytica (Berenike). Hadrian had founded Antinoöpolis in memory of his presumed lover, the youth Antinous , who had drowned in the Nile. The Via Hadriana was finished in 137 AD. Traces of the road line were noted by Couyat (1910) and Murray (1925). Roman road At

140-416: 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

210-407: 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

280-463: 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

350-549: A law to grant all Italians not under arms citizenship. At the instruction of the Senate, Lucius Caesar proposed a law providing that each Italian community would decide as to whether they would take Roman citizenship and establish new tribes – possibly eight – in the Tribal Assembly for the new citizens. This grant to citizenship had the effect of almost tripling the number of Roman citizens and annexing large swathes of Italy into

420-517: 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

490-527: A private and public crime ( lex Julia de adulteriis ). To encourage population expansion, the leges Juliae offered inducements to marriage and imposed penalties upon the celibate . Augustus instituted the "Law of the three sons" which held those in high regard who produced three male offspring. Marrying-age celibates and young widows who would not marry were prohibited from receiving inheritances and from attending public games. The extracts below are from later legal codes and textbooks, but are also valuable in

560-513: 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

630-426: 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

700-478: 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

770-518: 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

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840-754: 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

910-415: 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

980-424: 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

1050-459: 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

1120-565: 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

1190-504: The assembly, bypassing the senate. The lex Julia de repetundis , also called the lex Julia repetundarum , was passed by Gaius Julius Caesar during his first consulship in 59 BC. It was a major piece of legislation containing over 100 clauses which dealt with a large number of provincial abuses, provided procedures for enforcement, and punishment for violations. Among other things, it: The law also expanded regulations on all kinds of public actions, including corruption before

1260-406: The bill grew. Bibulus resorted instead to obstruction tactics by declaring negative omens on every day the bill could be voted on; one day, when moving to declare those omens, he – along with his political ally Cato – was attacked in the street by a mob (almost certainly organised by Caesar and his allies), forcing him to return home. In the absence of an announcement of negative omens, Caesar carried

1330-414: The bill in the assembly. Added to the law was then the requirement that senators swear an oath to uphold the law. Cato and an ally refused until intercession by Cicero , arguing that it would be better for Rome if Cato swore and remained than withdrew to exile. In the face of obstructive tactics from Cato's allies, Caesar brought the bill expanding the public lands subject to redistribution straight to

1400-403: The bill, he won a political victory when he forced Bibulus to admit that he had few reasons for opposing the bill while publicly expressing senseless and obstinate opposition: "You will not have this law this year, not even should you all want it!". With the support of Pompey and Crassus , two influential senators with which Caesar was cooperating in a then- secret alliance , popular support for

1470-454: 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

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1540-432: 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

1610-725: 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

1680-423: 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

1750-412: 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

1820-487: 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

1890-524: 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

1960-469: 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

2030-514: 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

2100-463: 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);

2170-416: 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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2240-538: 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

2310-450: 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

2380-513: The law remained "the basis of the Roman law of provincial administration". This law may have set regulations for Italian municipalities. The question of whether Julius Caesar was responsible for this law is "fiercely debated". Under Augustus, the leges Juliae of 18–17 BC attempted to elevate both the morals and the numbers of the upper classes in Rome and to increase the population by encouraging marriage and having children ( lex Julia de maritandis ordinibus ). They also established adultery as

2450-472: The main exceptions were the Samnites and Lucanians – in an attempt to further stem rebellion. Julius Caesar passed two pieces of agrarian legislation in 59 BC during his first consulship. They were two pieces of related legislation: a lex Julia agraria and a lex Julia de agro Campano . The first law was related to the distribution of public (both existing and purchased from willing sellers) lands to

2520-489: The march brought its own baggage train ( impedimenta ) and constructed its own camp ( castra ) every evening at the side of the road. 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 ,

2590-585: 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

2660-491: 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

2730-436: 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

2800-413: 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

2870-567: 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

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2940-504: The permanent courts, the senate, and public contracts (especially as to public works and grain). It also banned the owning of ships by senators. While it extended to judicial corruption, "Caesar was prudent" in keeping away from the "political hot potato" that was anti-bribery legislation applied to the equites – diverse men including Cato and Pompey had previously tried and failed in passing such legislation. However, Caesar cooperated with an ally in introducing legislation to record

3010-618: 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

3080-481: The republic proper. The offer would be open to all Italian towns which were not under arms or who would lay those arms down within a short period. The main purpose of the law was to prevent those who had not risen up against Roman rule from doing so. It also had the effect of weakening the Italian war effort by making acceptable compromises. The next year, the Romans introduced the lex Plautia Papiria de civitate , granting citizenship to more allies under rebellion –

3150-408: 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

3220-616: 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

3290-407: 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

3360-562: The road and when. These miliaria are valuable historical documents today, and their inscriptions are collected in Volume XVII of the Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum . 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. Lex Julia#Lex Julia municipalis (45 BC) A lex Julia (plural: leges Juliae )

3430-457: 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

3500-739: 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; the Via Labicana in 421 BC; and the Via Salaria in 361 BC. In the Itinerary of Antoninus ,

3570-462: 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

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3640-445: 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

3710-430: 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

3780-566: 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." 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 . Unless these allusions are just simple anachronisms,

3850-598: 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

3920-528: 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

3990-413: 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

4060-533: The urban poor and Pompey 's veterans; the latter added public lands in Campania for distribution. The passage of the first law was troubled. Caesar started his consulship by introducing it; it immediately met a filibuster from Cato the Younger . After being blocked in the senate, Caesar brought the bill before the popular assemblies. Inviting Marcus Calpurnius Bibulus , his co-consul and political opponent, to debate

4130-474: 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,

4200-451: The votes of the jury panels (senators, equites , and tribuni aerarii ) separately, which "imposed a degree of indirect accountability without violating the secrecy of the individual verdict". It was passed with little dissent, receiving "high praise from [Caesar's] contemporaries". Many senators contributed to it, including Cato, who may have proposed the addition of some regulations against extortion of provincial towns. For centuries,

4270-609: 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

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4340-403: 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,

4410-428: 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

4480-476: Was a circular column on a solid rectangular base, set 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

4550-467: 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

4620-506: Was an ancient Roman law that was introduced by any member of the gens Julia . Most often, "Julian laws", lex Julia or leges Juliae refer to moral legislation introduced by Augustus in 23 BC, or to a law related to Julius Caesar . During the Social War , a conflict between the Italians and the Romans over the withholding of Italian citizenship, the consul Lucius Julius Caesar passed

4690-448: 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

4760-504: 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

4830-422: 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

4900-400: 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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