Classical Studies 2700B

Stone #3: Roads

Why were early roads built? NOT for trade: reasons why not (including cost: in Roman Emp. for every hundred miles grain, wine, oil were transported by land, price doubled). Reasons for road-building came with development of early empires in Middle East and need for rapid movement of dispatches; also development and widespread adoption of war-chariot c. 1600 BC created need for something better than simple tracks. Early history of use of the horse and development of cavalry. Paved roads before this time v. rare and exceptionally expensive. N.B. distinction between a cleared level, gravelled surface and a paved road; sometimes short stretches of road were paved; e.g., between a capital and an important shrine, as at Hittite capital of Hattushash c. 1400 BC. Minoans and Mycenaeans in Aegean area in late Bronze Age developed finished (but not paved) surfaces c. 3.5 metres wide with bridges and culverts to keep them drained in rainy season.

After the Bronze Age Assyrians were the great organizers in Near East, like the Romans later: main routes had guard posts about every 10 km. with fire signals. Persians enhanced existing Assyrian system after c. 530 BC; e.g., “Royal Road” from Sardis (Lydia) to main Persian capital of Susa about 2,600km away. Description of Persian “postal” system (from Herodotus, Greek historian of 5^th cent. BC).

Romans: developed Etruscan system of well-graded, drained dirt roads (learning from them during late Regal and early Republican periods—c. 550 to c.480 BC). Big feature of Roman roads was paving. Great system of highways developed as Rome expanded first in Italy and then in Greece and Asia Minor; and later still in West. Main highways—Via Appia, Via Flaminia and Via Aurelia in Italy. In N. Greece Via Egnatia. In W. provinces roads tended to centre on one or two towns—like later railway junctions. Exx. of this.

Actual construction: Roman roads tended to run straight (though not so in river valleys). Roads usually built by army, but few implements—pick, hammer, mattock and spade (no wheelbarrows until Middle Ages) > difficulty in cutting tunnels. Over plains, road sometimes raised on embankment above general ground level—reasons for this.

Composition of roads: many handbooks dead wrong here (e.g., Forbes, in Studies in Ancient Technology² vol. 2, pp152ff.)—four layer theory, lots of cement or concrete, and total depth of c. 100-140 cm. What really happened. Note, in iron-producing areas, use of slag. Outside of road proper was a narrow unpaved track, for pedestrians and pack-animals.

Width of roads: normally about ten Roman feet (almost 3 metres). Roads v. narrow in mountainous areas (see Alpine crossing slide showing Great St Bernard Pass).