by Vas Mylko
Hi curious traveler. Ever wondered why the first country for road trips with Curiosio was Italy? Because all roads lead to Rome.
“By the late Republic, the Romans had expanded over most of Italy and were masters of road construction. Their roads began at Rome, where the master itinerarium, or list of destinations along the roads, was located, and extended to the borders of their domain — hence the expression — all roads lead to Rome”. — Wikipedia
Milliarium Aureum
Where exactly do the Roman roads lead? They lead to the master itinerarium aka Milliarium Aureum. It was a zero milestone in Rome. There is an artifact with the label, probably it is it.
Where is this stone in Rome? “It was hard by [under] the Temple of Saturn at the head of the Roman Forum, but its exact location is still unknown.” — Wikipedia
Next time you are in Rome, visit Forum Main Square and look in the corner.
Roman Roads
“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 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.”— Itinerarium Antonini Augusti (in English: The Itinerary of the Emperor Antoninus)
“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.” — Dionysius of Halicarnassus
“The Appian Way (Latin and Italian: Via Appia) is one of the earliest and strategically most important Roman roads of the ancient republic. It connected Rome to Brindisi, in southeast Italy. Its importance is indicated by its common name, recorded by Statius, of Appia longarum… regina viarum (the Appian Way, the queen of the long roads).” — Wikipedia
Let’s see what the Appian Way journey would be. Almost like the ancient Romans, we are going to the Roman Routeplanner website OmnesViae at https://omnesviae.org. Entering Roma (Rome) as a starting point and Brundesium (Brindisi) as a finishing point. Clicking [OSTENDERE], getting Iter Vestrum.
Curious to see what this journey would be like with Curiosio. Entering Rome as a starting point, Brindisi as the ending point, and a bunch of waypoints using their modern names. Setting the number of travelers to 2, leaving everything else flexible. Here is an interactive trip plan with a modern Appian route and itinerary:
We will go to Britain and the Wall a bit later. Right now let’s have a closer look at the Roman itinerary — at itinerarium to be precise. It's worth it.
Itinerarium
“An itinerarium (plural: itineraria) was an ancient Roman travel guide in the form of a listing of cities, villages (vici) and other stops on the way, including the distances between each stop and the next.” — Wikipedia
“The Romans and ancient travelers, in general, did not use maps. In origin it was simply a list of cities along a road: “at their most basic, itineraria involve the transposition of information given on milestones, which were an integral feature of the major Roman roads, to a written script.” … The Romans drew diagrams of parallel lines showing the branches of the roads. The very best featured symbols for cities, way stations, water courses, and so on. The maps did not represent landforms but they served the purpose of a simple schematic diagram for the user.” — Wikipedia
Tabula Peutingeriana is an illustrated itinerarium — an ancient Roman road map — showing the layout of the cursus publicus, the road network of the Roman Empire. It is dating from around AD 400. Below is a piece of itinerary from Rome to the southern end of modern Italy.
“The Vicarello Cups are four silver cups at Vicarello, Italy, near Lake Bracciano. Their appearance recalls Roman milestones and they are engraved with the route from ancient Gades (modern Cadiz) to Rome.” — Wikipedia
“Engraved with the names and distances of 104 stations on the road between Gades/Cadiz and Rome, covering in total a distance of 1,840 Roman miles (2,723.2 km / 1,692.1 mi). Believed to be a votive offering by merchants traveling from Gades to Rome, the inscription is a valuable source of information about the road network at the time, and scholars refer to this artifact as the Itinerarium Gaditanum.” — Wikipedia
“The four silver cups come from the rich votive deposit of Vicarello. Each bears an itinerary from Cadiz to Rome, engraved with slight variations in several columns. The cylindrical form, typical of drinking vessels, also recalls mile-markers placed at the sides of the consular roads; the objects thus have the twin function of an indispensable element of a traveler’s luggage, and at the same time a safe guide during the voyage, thanks to the indication of all the post-stations and the distance of each stage. The cups, dating to the 3rd century B.C., are amongst the earliest and most precise epigraphic testimonies of the Roman road system and show that the fame of the springs’ health-giving properties had reached even the farthest parts of the empire.” — Museo Nazionale Romano
Roman Roads in Britannia
“Roman roads in Britannia were initially designed for military use, created by the Roman Army during the nearly four centuries (AD 43–410). It is estimated that about 3,200 km / 2,000 mi of paved trunk roads (surfaced roads running between two towns or cities) were constructed and maintained throughout the province. Most of the known network was complete by 180. The primary function of the network was to allow rapid movement of troops and military supplies, but it subsequently provided vital infrastructure for commerce, trade, and the transportation of goods. A considerable number of Roman roads remained in daily use as core trunk roads for centuries after the end of Roman rule in Britain in 410. Some routes are now part of the UK’s national road network. Others have been lost or are of archaeological and historical interest only.” — Wikipedia
Notice two walls between Scotland and England. “Hadrian’s Wall also known as the Roman Wall, or Vallum Hadriani in Latin, is a former defensive fortification of the Roman province of Britannia, begun in AD 122 in the reign of the emperor Hadrian. Running “from Wallsend on the River Tyne in the east to Bowness-on-Solway in the west”, the Wall covered the whole width of the island. In addition to the wall’s defensive military role, its gates may have been customs posts.” — Wikipedia
Let’s plan a drive from Dover to Chester. Almost like the ancient Romans used to do we are opening the website OmnesViae https://omnesviae.org and filling in the blanks. Dover (Dvbris) as a starting point, Deva (Chester) as a finishing point. We are going the way known as Watling Street. (See main routes at that time on this map and the table there).
Now, let’s throw these points into the Curiosio route planner and see what road trip will be recommended. Below is a trip plan, all points and places in the itinerary are clickable for more information about them. Curiosio suggests a small detour to the Surrey Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
Roads, Railways, Rockets
“After the Romans departed, systematic construction of paved highways in the United Kingdom did not resume until the early 18th century.” — Wikipedia
Industrial Revolution happened in the 18th century. It began in Great Britain and spread through continental Europe. At that time Brits produced many technological and architectural innovations. In the 1820s the steam engine-hauled long-distance railways became feasible. After that, it took only 140 years for earthlings to launch the first artificial Earth satellite and then the first human in orbit. Today, SpaceX is launching almost every week, sometimes multiple times per week.
Rockets, Railways, Roads
Ever wondered why space rockets and space ships are so narrow? There is a theory.
Don’t know if it’s critical for SpaceX engineering that has facilities close to the spaceports... Know that earlier rockets and Space Shuttle were transferred across the US by railways. “The railroad line from the factory happens to run through a tunnel in the mountains” — Dwane Thomas. So the Space Shuttle had to fit the tunnel. The tunnel was slightly wider than the railroad track.
Why the American railroad track is 4 feet, 8.5 inches? Because of their English heritage — Brits built the first American railroads. Why did Brits use that weird gauge? Because railways evolved from the tramways, inheriting the gauge. Why the trams were built with such a wheelbase? Because the wagon equipment and tools were reused to build tram wheels. Guess how wagons got that wheelbase? Long-distance rides in England were defined by the wheel ruts. “If they tried to use any other spacing, the wagon wheels would break on some of the old, long distance roads in England, because that’s the spacing of the wheel ruts.” — Dwane Thomas.
The last question to answer: who built those old long rutted roads? Romans. “Since the chariots were made for Imperial Rome, they were all alike in the matter of wheel spacing. Roman war chariots formed the initial ruts, which everyone else had to match for fear of destroying their wagon wheels.” — Dwane Thomas. Commercial and trade wagons had to be built with the same wheelbase as the military just to not break on the road.
The reverse engineering is going further — why is the width of a wagon suspiciously matching the width of two rear ends of two horses? A pair of horses was used long before Romans, for redundancy and power on long journeys. Ergonomics dictates some minimum space inside the carriage for people and cargo. Romans just used this at scale — they built a network of paved roads and leveraged it for the military, political, and economic purposes of the empire. Having good roads paid off. Happy road-tripping!
