The Phenomenon of Roman Roads: How They Persisted for Over 2000 Years and Why They Are Still Used Today

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

More than two thousand years remained before the appearance of the first high-speed highways with asphalt concrete pavement, and the Romans already knew how to build roads that were in many ways not inferior to modern ones. Whether the current highways will be able to survive for centuries and remain in demand is a moot point. But the Roman roads have already passed such a test of time.

The phenomenon of Roman roads

Surprisingly, the Romans partially adopted the skill of road construction from the Etruscans and Carthaginians - that is, representatives of even earlier civilizations. The first Roman roads - then simply leveled and rammed strips of land that connected settlements - appeared around 500 BC. By 490 BC. refers to the construction of Via Latina - one of the oldest roads between Rome and Capua, a road famous for the fact that the early Christian catacombs are located along it.

Later, they began to build gravel roads, paved with stones like tiles - this is how tourists now see antique highways. High-quality and numerous roads were needed by Rome to strengthen its power over vast territories: the empire needed to provide the fastest and simplest transport links between the provinces, for the movement of both troops and officials.

Traders quickly appreciated all the benefits of the appearance of such highways. In those days when sea routes were mainly used for doing business, Roman merchants mastered the movement of goods over land. The roads were used by Roman citizens themselves, acting at the same time as charioteers or passengers of carriages, and pedestrians.

Roman roads were designed to be traveled on foot, on horseback, and also in chariots or carriages drawn by horses or mules. The goods were transported on carts pulled by oxen. The law established the minimum width of the road - about 2 meters 30 centimeters, in fact, this value reached 7 meters. Thus, the two oncoming crews could freely disperse.

The level of development of the ancient Roman road network is amazing: by the onset of the era of the late empire, there were at least 370 major roads in 113 provinces, and the total length of transport arteries connecting the cities of the huge state was about 400 thousand kilometers. On the territory of Great Britain alone (we are talking about the name of the island), about four thousand kilometers of roads were laid - and this was one of the farthest provinces of the empire.

Roman road construction technologies

If it were not for the era of the Middle Ages, and the New era simply replaced antiquity, developing and improving all its achievements, one can only guess to what level the construction of roads around the world would have risen. After all, the oldest automobile routes have existed for much less time than Roman roads - the service life of the latter was calculated not for decades, but for centuries, sometimes reaching thousands of years or even more.

It would be an interesting thought experiment to imagine the quality of modern highways, the construction technologies of which would have been improved over the course of five hundred years. The Romans, even before the onset of the new era, developed several successful formulas for the construction of road networks.

The roads were as straight as possible. This was done to reduce the cost of repairs. The Romans did not build their "avenues" once and for all, and, of course, from time to time the covering had to be repaired. It is unlikely that in those years the repair of the road aroused more enthusiasm among the population than it is now, moreover, it turned into serious expenses for the treasury. The straight, which means the shortest possible road, was easier and cheaper to repair.

The second distinctive feature of the road construction was the use of local materials found nearby from open pits. Whether it was sand, gravel or crushed stone, the road was built from “what is at hand”. Various craftsmen took part in the creation of the road. At the first stage, a land surveyor worked, making calculations and measurements and placing landmarks along the route.

The project of the road was drawn up by an engineer who took into account the peculiarities of the terrain, and the builders, either slaves or soldiers, took on the direct implementation. The site, which was to become part of the road, was underestimated, leveling and compacting the lower, earthen layer. Large stones the size of a palm and more were laid on it - this was the foundation of the future road. The next level was a mixture of rubble, broken stone, sometimes lime or sand, if it could be mined nearby. The top layer of the road consisted of fine gravel, sand, lime or covered with earth; it was soft and durable at the same time.

In cities, roads were paved by laying massive stones on top of the above layers so that the road surface was flat. The modern appearance of the roads preserved from antiquity (as, for example, in Pompeii) may suggest that traveling on Roman roads was comparable to modern driving on bumps, but this was hardly the case. We should not forget about the centuries that have passed since the construction or the last repair of this coating, and also about the impact of climatic and various other factors on the road surface. There is no doubt that the roads, when used by the Romans, were much smoother and easier to move around.

Paved roads could only be found in cities. The only exception was the first paved along the entire length of Via Appia, or Appian Way, which in ancient times poets called "the queen of the roads". It was built in 312 BC. the military leader and statesman Appius Claudius Tsek, having received, according to tradition, the name of its creator-censor.

The upper part of the road surface was curved in such a way as to provide drainage in case of rain. A sidewalk was made along the edges of the road and curb stones were laid. Thus, over the past two thousand years, mankind has not invented anything fundamentally new in the structure of the road. There are even versions that the Romans used concrete mixtures for the upper layer of roads (which they really knew how to produce).

The fate of Roman roads

By the beginning of the new era, the Roman Empire was penetrated by a network of roads, three dozen major highways departed from the city of Rome. At the Forum in the center of the city, a "golden milestone" was installed - from it the distance along the roads of the empire was counted.

Something like motels were arranged along the roads - every 25 - 30 kilometers a traveler could rest, feed the animals, and provide them with care. Often a whole village grew up around such "travel hotels" - after all, the number of traveling Roman officials did not decrease. And the routes leading to Rome (or from Rome) often became the final resting place of citizens: according to the law, it was not allowed to arrange burials within the city, so the dead were buried along major roads.

And in the fall of Rome, the roads were assigned their own role - an important and rather gloomy one: the availability of convenient routes only helped the barbarians in their advance through the empire. The custom of laying roads along the shortest distance was ensured by the construction of bridges, even tunnels, swampy areas were crossed by structures on piles. All this greatly facilitated the tasks of the conquerors.

Fragments of Roman roads have been preserved throughout Italy and even beyond its borders, and also on the territory of Pompeii and Herculaneum - cities that were once buried under the ash of Vesuvius. In addition, many modern highways run over ancient roads. In Italy, Via Cassia leads from Rome to Tuscany, and Via Aurelia leads to France. Even in Egypt, a "Roman trace" has been preserved - this is Via Hadriana, once founded by the emperor Hadrian in memory of the young Antinous man who drowned in the Nile.

One of the most important functions of Roman roads was to ensure the passage of couriers - messengers who delivered mail. This was an important milestone in the history of regular mail. That's how postage stamps appeared, some of which cost a fortune.