348 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 193 4 



thermore, the four-lane superhighway which connects Washington, 

 the capital city of the United States, with Mount Vernon, the home 

 of George Washington, will grow famous because it leads to a na- 

 tional shrine which is a Mecca for tourists and sightseers from every 

 nation. Who would venture an opinion, however, that these roads 

 shall ever vie for fame with the Via Appiaf 



Historical events and characters, rather than engineering quality, 

 determine the place in the sun of a road, and the Via Appia was 

 the most important road in the greatest empire the world has ever 

 known. Julius Caesar rode in royal splendor over its flintlike sur- 

 face, as reigning monarch of an earthly empire in a few centuries 

 to pass into oblivion; whereas the apostle Paul, white-haired but 

 resolute, wearily trod its surface on his way to Rome, where he 

 proclaimed the foundation of a spiritual Kingdom which would 

 never perish from the hearts of mankind {3} . 



ROME THE HUB CITY OF THE IMPERIAL ROAD SYSTEM 



Rome became the hub from which roads were to radiate in all 

 directions. From the legendary date of 753 B. C, when Romulus, 

 its mythological founder, is said to have laid out the city foursquare 

 under the name of Roma Quadrata^ the boundaries were gradually 

 extended until, as mistress of the known earth, the city occupied 

 the area covered by the historic seven hills, adjacent to the Tiber 

 River. During the period of the kings, which lasted until 509 

 B. C, there were no paved roads in Rome, and in fact the earliest 

 pavement that has been found was laid in 174 B. C, on a street 

 that ascends the Capitoline Hill. The period of the Republic, how- 

 ever, from 509 to 28 B. C, was marked by the extension of the 

 jurisdiction of Rome over the peninsula of Italj'^, Carthage in Africa, 

 and Asia, and roads were built vigorously in order to consolidate 

 these victories. The roads provided means of communication for 

 powerful military legions and swift messengers of the government 

 and made possible commercial intercourse with the subjugated pro- 

 vinces. 



MILEAGE OF ROADS IN THE MAIN ROAD SYSTEM 



The sygtem of main roads, shown in figure 1, called military, con- 

 sular, or praetorian, depending upon their purpose or their builder, 

 grew in magnitude until during the Empire, from 28 B. C. to its fall 

 in the West in A. D. 476, it embraced, according to the Itinerary of 

 Antonine, 372 main roads with a total length of 53,658 Roman miles.^ 

 These roads were distributed as to locality (4) as follows: 



'The journey unit adopted by the Romans was the mUliaHum, of 1,000 paces of 5 

 feet, which equaled 1,481.47 meters or 4,859 English feet. In Gaul they measured by 

 the Gallic league of 1,500 paces, or 7,289 English feet. The Roman foot (pied) was 

 equal to 0.29556 meters, or 0.9694 of an English foot. 



