What are facts about ancient Rome road?

Answer 1

1) The Latin name for road was via (plural viae)

2) In the Roman Empire there were 400,000 km/250,000 miles of roads; of these, 80,000 km/50,300 miles were paved. 29 paved roads radiated from Rome.

3) The purpose of the paved roads was military. It speeded up the movement of troops and made their journey easier. It also made the transport of supplies of troops at the front or stationed in garrisons more efficient as they could be moved in larger quantities and faster. They were flanked by a drainage ditch.

4) The first paved road was the famous Appian way built in 312 BC by Appius Claudius Ceacus, the censor of that year, to speed up the movement of troops to the front of the Second Samnite War. At first it reached Capua (north of Naples) and then was extended to Benevento (southeast of Naples). Finally, it was extended to Apulia.

5) The romans liked to build the roads as straight as possible. This sometimes led to tracts which were so steep that they were impractical for trade. Later, they build alternative routes in these spots to make traffic more manageable

6) The roads were named after the man who commissioned its construction

7) A via terrena was an unpaved 'dirt road' of levelled earth, a via glareata had a gravel surface; a via munita was built with rectangular blocks of stone or polygonal blocks of lava. There were also viae rusticate (secondary rural roads) which were unpaved or gravelled.

8) The Roman state built the roads. The provincial governments were responsible for maintenance. Private citizens with an interest in the roads were asked to contribute to maintenance. There were also private roads built by landowners on their lands. These were viae privatae.

9) At Terracina (south of Rome) the Romans cut the bottom of a hill to make space for the Appian way to pass between the hill and the coast. In Romania part of a road is half cut into the rock of a hillside. The Romans also dug tunnels and built bridges.

10) The roads had mile stones. The word mile comes from milia passuum, 1,000 steps. A Roman mile was 1,480 metres/4,841 feet. Milestones were usually round columns 1,5 metres/5 feet high of a base 60 cm/2feet high and a diameter of 50cm/20 inches. The number of the mile of that road was inscribed on it.