Milestones

Miliarium (milestone) Potaissa Napoca Miliarium

After 124 BC most viae were divided into numbered miles by milestones. The words we translate as mile are milia passuum, “one thousand of paces”, which amounted to about 1620 yards, 1480 meters. A milestone, or miliarium, was a circular column on a solid rectangular base, set two feet into the ground, standing several feet high, 20" in diameter, weighing about 2 tons. At the base was inscribed the number of the mile relative to the road it was on. In a panel at eye-height was the distance to the Roman Forum and other information about the officials who made or repaired the road.

Remains of the miliarium aureum in the Roman Forum.

The Romans had a preference for standardization whenever they could, and so Augustus, after becoming permanent commissioner of roads in 20 BC, set up the golden milestone near the temple of Saturn. All roads were considered to begin from this gilded bronze monument. On it were listed all the major cities in the empire and distances to them. Constantine called it the navel of Rome.

Milestones permitted distances and locations to be known and recorded exactly. It wasn’t long before historians began to refer to the milestone at which an event occurred.

Way Stations

A legion on the march didn’t need a way station, as it brought its own baggage train and constructed its own camp (castra) every evening at the side of the road. Other officials or people on official business, however, had no legion at their service, and so the government maintained way stations, or mansiones (“staying places”), for their use. Passports were required for identification.

Carts could travel about 8 miles per day, pedestrians a little more, and so each mansio was about 15 to 18 miles from the next one. There the official traveller found a complete villa dedicated to his refreshment. Oftentimes a permanent military camp or a town grew up around the mansio.

Non-official travellers needed refreshment too, and at the same locations along the road. A private system of cauponae were placed near the mansiones. They performed the same functions but were somewhat disreputable, as they were frequented by thieves. Graffiti decorate the walls of the few whose ruins have been found.

Genteel travellers needed something better than cauponae. In the early days of the viae, when little unofficial existed, houses placed near the road were required by law to offer hospitality on demand. Frequented houses no doubt became the first tabernae, which were hostels, rather than the “taverns” we know today. As Rome grew, so did its tabernae, becoming more luxurious and acquiring good or bad reputations as the case may be. One of the best hotels was on the Via Appia. It had a large storage room containing barrels of wine, cheese and ham.

A third system of way stations serviced vehicles and animals: the mutationes (“changing stations”). They were located every 12-18 miles. In these complexes, the driver could purchase the services of wheelrights, cartwrights, and veterinarians. Using these stations in chariot relays, the emperor Tiberius hastened 500 miles in 24 hours to join his brother, Drusus Germanicus, who was dying of gangrene as a result of a fall from a horse.