Roads of the Romans

[lothia]

Ave Civitas,

 

I am in the process of the final editing of a novel I am writing.

 

I wish to be as historically accurate as I can in my descriptions, the events, and the people in the book.

 

Because of this, I have painted myself into a corner.

 

Roman roads. I know that the roads were often given the name it benefactor, so we have this guy and the Via that guy.

I have a listing and maps of all the major viae in Italy and in Britain. What I don't have are good maps of the rest of the Empire with named roads.

 

I have in my personal library:

Roman Roads of Europe by Sitwell

The Roads of the Romans by Staccioli

Atlas of the Roman World by Cornell and Matthews.

 

Some show great maps with detailed roads (of Italy and Britain). None give names for roads in the Pratorian Praefects anywhere else.

 

I have searched the internet, but it seems that if you don't know the name of the road, you have a difficult time searching for it. For instance; Via Egnatia. I have a general map of where it ran and I found a great article on-line that speaks of its construction and layout.

 

But, since I don't have the other roads' names, I cannot search for them.

 

Can someone point me to a listing of those roads so I can search them out.

 

Thanks

 

me.

[Melvadius]

I tried a province based search 'Roman roads Gaul' and can see the problem as only a few individual named roads came up. So I don't know if there is anywhere near a full list on the net but I also come across a pdf file that contains several images on Roman construction techniques. This include some maps of road systems in 3 or 4 other provinces which normally named at least one or two that might give you a starting point inf you want to try your own province based search:

 

http://web.eng.fiu.edu/~prieto/bridges/Lec...man%20Roads.pdf

[Ludovicus]

Ordnance Survey is Great Britain's national mapping agency, providing the most accurate and up-to-date geographic data, relied on by government, business and individuals. They publish "Historical Map & Guide to Roman Britain" which indicates all the Roman roads in the UK, tho without names. Why not contact similar services in the countries of the former Roman Empire. Someone on staff may be able to give you a list of the names of Roman roads there or point you to a lover of the subject.

 

How about the Vatican Museums? The Roman road system was an important factor in Christianity's spread. Perhaps you can find the names of the roads which the apostles & disciples used to evangelize.

 

Why not locate major ancient provincial cities & capitals? All of these were served by the Roman road system. Surely these cities preserve the road names in some catalog or book.

 

Finally, there's someone in the world who's made it his or her fancy to know exactly what you're looking for. Have you looked in Yahoo Groups, Google Groups, etc. Good luck and let us know when your novel is for sale.

[Ludovicus]

From Wikipedia, Roman roads outside Italy and UK with names:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_roads#Bulgaria

 

 

Check out the references and dig, dig, dig.

[Ludovicus]

http://www.viaeromanae.org/

[Melvadius]

The bibliography on the last site looks useful for further research doing a further search I found a link to another fairly extensive bibliography on what I think may be a different site.

 

The following site lists reference books (published up to 2004) on the Roman road network sorted by groups of provinces:

 

http://www.csun.edu/~hcfll004/viaeromanae.html

[Gaius Octavius]

Is it possible that the Romans didn't name all their minor roads?

Edited December 5, 2007 by Gaius Octavius

[caldrail]

No, they didn't, especially the private roads that linked important estates directly.

[Melvadius]

To GO the answer is liable to be that only the major roads were named. We have any records of some major road names and these seem to often have either after the consul(s) responsible for their construction or else in power when the road was completed. In one case a consul put his own name on a road that he had jointly commissioned with his co-consul whom he had persuaded to resign early.

 

On the original topic the Barrington Atlas is probably the reference book you need to access. Although at $600 a set I wouldn't recommend any struggling new author buying it. See if you can get into a decent Classics Reference Library at a local university and they may have one.

 

The following website relates to this book and has links to some additional resources:

 

http://www.unc.edu/depts/cl_atlas/

[Primus Pilus]

As I recall, the Barrington doesn't list road names, but then again Moonlapse has had mine for nigh on 2 years now. In any case, our wallmap lists some 25ish of the major routes. I don't have one here in front of me at the moment though.

[Melvadius]

As I recall, the Barrington doesn't list road names, but then again Moonlapse has had mine for nigh on 2 years now. In any case, our wallmap lists some 25ish of the major routes. I don't have one here in front of me at the moment though.

 

Not having a full copy of Barrington I could only go with what was available on the site I posted links to. It had an example (admittedly from around Rome) which showed road names so I, possibly mistakenly, assumed that there would be other close-up maps elsewhere in the book showing the same detail - on that basis I stand corrected.

[Primus Pilus]

I, possibly mistakenly, assumed that there would be other close-up maps elsewhere in the book showing the same detail - on that basis I stand corrected.

 

Nothing to be concerned over M, I just wanted to bring it up... just in case. It may very well have the roads, but I just can't recall. Your suggestion of a library search prior to any potential purchase is quite valid in this case.

[Maladict]

Nothing to be concerned over M, I just wanted to bring it up... just in case. It may very well have the roads, but I just can't recall. Your suggestion of a library search prior to any potential purchase is quite valid in this case.

 

Most roads in the Barrington are unnamed.

[lothia]

Ave Civitas,

 

Thank you for such a rapid response.

 

Melvadius, that is a very useful site, not just for roads, but for bridges and aqueducts as well.

 

Ludovicus, Thanks for the ideas of where to search. I had searched some of them, but others not, but now, soon.

 

I will see if my library can fetch me a copy of the Barrington Atlas so I can see if it is worth my buying. Its new price is a bit pricey.

 

I appreciate your help. I plan on sending my manuscript out in January perhaps, so it may be months before some agent or publisher bites. I will however, post here where the book does become available for sale.

 

Thanks again for all your help.

 

Me.