road signs

[lothia]

Ave Civitas,

 

I was wondering if the Romans marked their roads with something beside a mile marker.

For instance, when leaving one town, was their a sign, "Hicksvilla 12 miles" or were there markers "You are now entering Macedonia"

 

And what about where roads intersected. Was there a "< Portus =| |= Rome >" sign up anywhere.

 

If not, how did people know where they were when they traveled?

 

Thanks

Edited December 16, 2012 by lothia

[Bryaxis Hecatee]

I've never heard of signposts in the ancient world, directions were given by the mile markers and asking peoples at the roadside inns or relay stations. Also people relied on local guides, and on written itineraries like the Antonine itinerary or the ones on those goblets from Vicarello currently at the National Museum of Roman Archeology of the Palazzo Massimo, in Rome :

 

 

[GhostOfClayton]

There was also the favourite little theory that any phallus you found around was ejaculating in the direction of a brothel. This theory is obvioulsy b****cks, (in more ways than one). But it seems to be disproved all the more by the lack of any other direction signs.

[Klingan]

It is also important to remember that we have very few "names" of individual streets and alleys preserved and the ones we have (as far as I know) are all unofficial and describing in character (e.g. the street of the money lenders). It would therefore seems as if street names were flowing and could change in a much more fluid manner than today.

 

You can find some unofficial names in the works of Cicero (I'm pretty sure there is one in Ad Cat. I).

[GhostOfClayton]

You can find some unofficial names in the works of Cicero (I'm pretty sure there is one in Ad Cat. I).

 

What's 'Ad Cat. I'?

[Melvadius]

You can find some unofficial names in the works of Cicero (I'm pretty sure there is one in Ad Cat. I).

 

What's 'Ad Cat. I'?

 

Cicero's First Oration against Catiline?

[Klingan]

You can find some unofficial names in the works of Cicero (I'm pretty sure there is one in Ad Cat. I).

 

What's 'Ad Cat. I'?

 

Cicero's First Oration against Catiline? :unsure:/>

 

Yep, sorry for using the abbreviation, didn't even think about it.

[GhostOfClayton]

Yep, sorry for using the abbreviation, didn't even think about it.

 

Don't apologise. Acedemics like yourself have earned the right, through years of study and hard work, to use lingo and jargon. Otherwise, there'd be nothing to mark you as seperate from the likes of me, who has learned everything he knows from Wikipedia.

 

That's how it should be, and long may it continue.

[caldrail]

Ave Civitas,

 

I was wondering if the Romans marked their roads with something beside a mile marker.

For instance, when leaving one town, was their a sign, "Hicksvilla 12 miles" or were there markers "You are now entering Macedonia"

 

And what about where roads intersected. Was there a "< Portus =| |= Rome >" sign up anywhere.

 

If not, how did people know where they were when they traveled?

 

Thanks

 

A study of this sort of thing I read recently is quite revealing. generally there were no road signs whatsoever. If you wanted to know which road led to somewhere other than Rome, you simply asked someone. In fact, it wasn't unusual for a person to begin a long journey without the slightest idea of where his destination actually was. You took the journey in stages, making progress by heading in more or less the direction someone suggested you ought to go.

 

And yes, robbing hapless travellers on the road was a known hazard of getting around in those days.

[lothia]

Ave Civitas,

 

Thank you for your replies. Travel, without a guide, seems to be have been very difficult business.

Unless you knew where your destination was even stopping along the way could get you off your track. How could you ask someone in Raetia which road to take to some city in Macedonia if the Raetian didn't know anything about Macedonia (or maybe even where Macedonia was).

Were travel not so serious and dangerous, then traveling could almost be comedic, going off on wrong directions, back-tracking, doing the Abbott and Costello "Who's on First" act trying to find the right road to Scupi.

Again, thanks for your help.

Tom

[GhostOfClayton]

Where would the Cursus Publicus fit into all this, I wonder? They must have known how to route a communication, and so would have been a useful place to ask.

 

Also, surely the Mansios you stopped in would know the route to the next one or maybe two on any particular itinerary.

 

If travelling from Rome, or any significant city, there would have been a demand for travel instructions. Surely that gap in the market would have been filled by a Travel Agent, even if only to give directions.

 

I just can't see finding your way as being quite so hit and miss as heading vaguely in the right direction, asking someone, hoping they speak Latin, that they know what they're talking about, and don't expect too significant a tip for the information.

[Melvadius]

I have to agree with Ghost here.

 

We know that route maps of the Empire existed such as the Antonine Itinerary as well as the Tabula Peutingeriana.

 

Such determined map and route listing would not have stood in isolation especially when you consider that many mile stones would originally have been painted providing distances to major towns nearby. We also have a series ofperiplus (sailing instructions) surviving from the period.

 

These survivals argue for large quantities of documentary evidence being lost which would have provided general information for travellers giving them sufficient information to plan their journeys to the far flung areas of the empire and beyond.

 

The Cursus Publicus being an imperial authorised route would definately have had routing information to ensure public messages ended up in the right place.

[caldrail]

Not everyone had access to itineraries or the strip maps showing connections and stops. Since the local hostels would know which road led where, a courier, soldier, or other traveller would quickly find advice on which direction to go, plus it happens that the natural reaction of common people when asked by a stranger about directions is simply to help them as conventiently as possible.