The block would allow people to stop, mount horses or load animals into carriages. The oldest ancient Roman road was Via Appia, a km long road that stretched southeast from Rome all the way to Tarentum today Taranto. The road was later extended to the Adriatic coast, to Brundisium today Brindisi. Along these main roads, many smaller roads and paths were built that could be used to reach Rome from the Roman provinces. The ancient Roman roads connected cities and provinces.
Without them, the ancient Romans would never have been able to conquer and hold on to such a vast territory over several centuries — at the height of the Roman expansion, the Roman Empire covered an area of 4. Although the network of Roman roads gradually disappeared after the fall of the Roman Empire, it became the basis for hundreds of contemporary infrastructural corridors throughout Europe and the Middle East.
Many ancient Roman roads also passed through Croatian territory, and some of them coincide with contemporary routes. Read more: Vajont , The 10 megaprojects through history. Ancient Roman roads — a monument to history and road construction The ancient Romans were famous builders. Image 1. In hilly terrain attempts were made to even out the elevation through cuttings, bridges, and viaducts. In mountainous areas the engineers made wide curves, adapting to the land to maintain uniform slopes.
In high mountains they used tight turns and even tunnels. Whenever possible, the road was laid out on the eastern and southern slopes to take advantage of the greater amount of sunlight to prevent winter snowfalls from impeding travel. These 10 ancient highways wrap around the world. After a public bidding process, private contractors would be awarded the project to build a road.
They hired laborers but also relied on enslaved people and criminals sentenced to forced labor. Sometimes they used the army and military engineers to design or direct the work. Legions also built roads as part of military operations and in conquered areas. Sometimes, when a legion was inactive, the commanders, or legates, decided to put the soldiers to work on road construction, as did the consul Gaius Flaminius, for example, whose men built the Flaminian Way from Rome over the Apennine Mountains to Ariminum Rimini in B.
Ideally, the materials for road construction came from nearby quarries; if not, they might have had to be imported. The work began by clearing the ground of trees, rocks, and everything that could be an obstacle. The soil was drained, and rainwater runoff was diverted through channels and sewers. Then a ditch was dug and filled with large, loosely placed stones that allowed drainage. Medium-size boulders were added to compact the layer below and fill in large gaps, on top of which a layer of sand and gravel was spread to provide a more comfortable surface for carts.
These layers, which elevated the road above the surrounding terrain, were then compacted and hardened with water, hand tampers, and a large stone roller. The road was then flanked with curb stones. To complete the work, cylindrical stone posts were placed at intervals of one Roman mile measured by a thousand steps, or the milia passum.
Today it can sometimes be difficult to identify an ancient road as Roman; because their building techniques were so successful, they were adopted again in the 18th century.
In Roman times soldiers, farmers, and traders often wore shoes called caligae, which had studs on the bottom to protect their leather soles. Roman roads not only allowed for easier transport of soldiers, supplies, and trade, but also supported the growth of new communities and services. Many Roman roads were topped with a final layer of gravel; when passed over by a continuous stream of soldiers and carts, the roads grew dusty.
Second-century A. Roman historian Suetonius alludes to this in his biography of Emperor Caligula :. He started the march and did it with such precipitation that the Praetorian cohorts, by necessity and against custom, had to affix their badges on their baggage to be able to follow each other.
As he traveled in a litter carried by eight men, the troops followed so slowly that he demanded that the inhabitants of neighboring cities sweep the road and water it to cut back on the dust. To help travelers stay fresh, they could stop at a mansio, an official service establishment that sprang up along Roman roads. These facilities, grouped around a central courtyard, had stables and troughs for the horses, a place to eat, and sleeping quarters.
Some offered public baths so travelers could wash off the dust. A complex network of aqueducts quenched Rome's thirst. As the Roman Republic and then the empire expanded, so too did its network of roads. The roads built during the republic enjoyed a renaissance under Augustus who reinvigorated the system for building and maintaining the roads. Augustus understood the vital importance of these arteries, not only for moving armies and commerce along their paved paths, but also as a symbol: A network, created out of dazzling technical know-how, that united the growing empire, and brought its subjects the benefits of Roman rule.
New roads were built in newly conquered lands in Britain and in Syria. Today many Roman roads have become the foundation for the major highways and byways in the former Roman world, a testament to the skill of the engineers who designed and built them. All rights reserved. History Magazine. It first united Rome with Capua and then was extended south to the port city of Brundisium on the coast of the Adriatic. If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences.
This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again. Share article:. How did the Romans build their roads The art of road construction in ancient Rome The roads of ancient Rome: who they were named after.
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