The Via Traiana Nova or Via Nova Traiana ( for, , Latin, Trajan's New Road), previously known as the
Via Regia or King's Highway, was an ancient
Roman road built by Emperor
Trajan
Trajan ( ; la, Caesar Nerva Traianus; 18 September 539/11 August 117) was Roman emperor from 98 to 117. Officially declared ''optimus princeps'' ("best ruler") by the senate, Trajan is remembered as a successful soldier-emperor who presi ...
in the province of
Arabia Petraea
Arabia Petraea or Petrea, also known as Rome's Arabian Province ( la, Provincia Arabia; ar, العربية البترائية; grc, Ἐπαρχία Πετραίας Ἀραβίας) or simply Arabia, was a frontier province of the Roman Emp ...
, from
Aqaba on the Red Sea to
Bostra
Bosra ( ar, بُصْرَىٰ, Buṣrā), also spelled Bostra, Busrana, Bozrah, Bozra and officially called Busra al-Sham ( ar, بُصْرَىٰ ٱلشَّام, Buṣrā al-Shām), is a town in southern Syria, administratively belonging to the Dara ...
. It was specifically known as the Via Traiana Nova in order to distinguish it from the
Via Traiana in
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...
. It is occasionally also referred to simply as the 'Via Nova'
[Browning, Iain (1982:33) ''Jerash and the Decapolis'' (London: Chatto & Windus)] or 'Via Nova Traiana'
[Young, Gary K. (2001:119) ''Rome's Eastern Trade: International commerce and imperial policy, 31 BC - AD 305'' (London: Routledge)] Its construction started shortly after the annexation of Arabia, supervised by governor
Gaius Claudius Severus
Gaius Claudius Severus was a Roman senator who lived in the second half of the 1st century AD and the first half of the 2nd century AD.
Life
Part of a family of Pontian Greek descent, Severus was born and raised in Pompeiopolis, a city in the Rom ...
, and was completed under
Hadrian
Hadrian (; la, Caesar Trâiānus Hadriānus ; 24 January 76 – 10 July 138) was Roman emperor from 117 to 138. He was born in Italica (close to modern Santiponce in Spain), a Roman ''municipium'' founded by Italic settlers in Hispania ...
.
Sources
{{List of Roman roads
Traiana Nova, Via
Trajan
Arabia Petraea