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From
earliest times the Romans displayed remarkable skill at building and
engineering. They constructed bridges across the river Tiber, aqueducts
to supply Rome with water, and sewers to drain the Forum and keep the
city healthy. As they expanded their power across Italy, the Romans
linked the capital with other communities they had conquered by a
network of roads so well designed that many still lie beneath the
motorways of modern Italy. (see Via Appia)
After the neglect of the provinces during the civil wars, Augustus was
determined to improve the infrastructure to promote economic growth.
During the first two centuries AD, war was relatively infrequent, and
Augustus and his successors kept their troops busy with military
construction. A great network of roads, bridges, and canals opened the
interior of Gaul to Roman commerce and cultural influence.
Rome's military engineers were skilled surveyors who designed numerous
vast projects in the provinces that the troops helped to build:
fortified camps, frontier walls, roads, canals, bridges, arches, baths,
and temples. These projects and other legionary expenditures helped the
provincial economies by providing work for local merchants,
craftspeople, farmers, and the usual range of camp followers.
Expansion of the Roman Empire was both facilitated by and an impetus to
the development of an efficient system of roads. They were usually
built by a consul or other important magistrate, starting in the early
Republic.
The roads were important militarily, as they bound together the
steadily growing Roman Empire. A good road would shed water during the
rainy season and permit travel at a rapid pace during all kinds of
weather.
They were surfaced with stone paving blocks, had a drainage ditch on
each side and were crowned to shed water. The major Roman roads were
built upon a foundation of carefully laid rock which was constructed
from a large ditch dug into the underlying earth. In this way, if the
ground became waterlogged, a tight foundation layer helped prevent
anyone traveling on the road from sinking out of sight in the mud.
City streets were paved with large fitted stones lain upon a foundation of rock also.
Roman civil engineering made it possible for the Romans to travel
almost as efficiently by road as by ship, although the Romans usually
preferred to travel by sea to towns on the coast, if they were given a
choice. Roads were often frequented by bandits and one who traveled
without a good company of slaves and armed retainers risked losing his
or her life.
The few inns at which a traveler could find lodging for the night were
of dubious quality at best and were downright risky at times. Most
innkeepers were crooks, the food was bad, and the inns were frequented
by cutthroats and drunks. All kinds of lice and other insects infested
the bedding, and the traveler might not even find a bed at all because
they were all taken by other guests by the time he arrived at the inn.
Occasions for road travel included army officers on business,
government magistrates traveling between Rome and their posts, students
journeying to Athens to complete their education at the universities
there, and imperial postal couriers carrying messages and letters.
Travel for enjoyment and long journeys by foot were almost unheard of
in Roman society.
The rich often traveled lying down in a litter carried on the shoulders
of slaves or seated in a sedan chair, also carried by slaves. Military
officers traveled on horseback and the Roman army had stations at which
a courier or officer could exchange a tired mount for a fresh one.
Intimate knowledge of this system of relay stations enabled the emperor
Constantine as a young man to escape the court of Galerius to rejoin
his father in Britain.
The streets in Rome and other large were crowded and narrow. Freight
was delivered by wagons at night, as wagons were banned from the city
by day because of the congestion. Travel within the cities was often
done on foot by rich and poor alike. The proper way for a wealthy woman
of Senatorial rank to travel was by carpentum, a large four wheel
covered coach. Additionally, she could travel by litter, just like the
men. |
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