Everything about The Via Egnatia totally explained
The
Via Egnatia (
Greek: Ἐγνατία Ὁδός) was a
road constructed by the
Romans in the
2nd century BC. It crossed the Roman provinces of
Illyricum,
Macedonia, and
Thrace, running through territory that's now part of modern
Albania, the
Republic of Macedonia,
Greece, and European
Turkey.
Starting at
Dyrrachium (now
Durrës) on the
Adriatic Sea, the road followed a difficult route along the river Genusus (
Shkumbin), over the
Candaviae mountains and thence to the highlands around
Lake Ohrid. It then turned south, following several high mountain passes to reach the northern coastline of the
Aegean Sea at
Thessalonica. From there it ran through Thrace to the city of
Byzantium (now
Istanbul). It covered a total distance of about 1,120 km (696 miles / 746 Roman miles). Like other major Roman roads, it was about six metres (19.6 ft) wide, paved with large polygonal stone slabs or covered with a hard layer of sand.
Construction
The main literary sources for the construction of the road are
Strabo's
Geographica and a number of
milestones found along the route's length, marking the road for a length of 535 miles as far as the border between Macedonia and Thrace at the river Hebrus (
Maritsa). Bilingual inscriptions on the milestones record that
Gnaeus Egnatius,
proconsul of Macedonia, ordered its construction, though the exact date is uncertain; the road presumably took its name from its builder. It may have succeeded an earlier military road from Illyria to Byzantium, as described by
Polybius and
Cicero, which the Romans apparently built over and/or improved.
The Via Egnatia was constructed in order to link a chain of Roman colonies stretching from the
Adriatic Sea to the
Bosphorus. The termini of the Via Egnatia and the
Via Appia, leading from Rome itself, were almost directly opposite each other on the east and west shores of the
Adriatic Sea. The route thus gave the colonies of the southern Balkans a direct connection to Rome. It was also a vital link to Roman territories further to the east; until a more northerly route across Illyria was opened under
Augustus it was Rome's main link with her empire in the eastern Mediterranean. It was repaired and expanded several times but experienced lengthy periods of neglect due to Rome's civil wars.
The road played a vital role in several key moments in Roman history: the armies of
Julius Caesar and
Pompey marched along the Via Egnatia during
Caesar's civil war, and during the
Liberators' civil war Mark Antony and
Octavian pursued
Cassius and
Brutus along the Via Appia to their fateful meeting at the
Battle of Philippi. Surviving milestones record that the emperor
Trajan undertook extensive repairs of the road prior to his campaign of
113 against the
Parthians. However, by the fifth century AD the road had largely fallen into disuse as a result of violent instability in the region.
Post-Roman usage
In later years, the Via Egnatia was revived as a key road of the
Byzantine Empire;
Procopius records repairs made by the Byzantine emperor
Justinian I during the sixth century, though even then the dilapidated road was said to be virtually unusable during wet weather.
Key towns along the Via Egnatia
(listed from west to east)
Further Information
Get more info on 'Via Egnatia'.
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