The ''Milliarium Aureum'' (; it, Miliario Aureo), also known by the translation Golden Milestone, was a monument, probably of

marble Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or dolomite. Marble is typically not foliated (layered), although there are exceptions. In geology, the term ''marble'' refers to metamorphose ...

gilded Gilding is a decorative technique for applying a very thin coating of gold over solid surfaces such as metal (most common), wood, porcelain, or stone. A gilded object is also described as "gilt". Where metal is gilded, the metal below was tradi ...

bronze Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals, such as phosphorus, or metalloids suc ...

, erected by the Emperor Augustus near the

Temple of Saturn The Temple of Saturn (Latin: ''Templum Saturni'' or '' Aedes Saturni''; it, Tempio di Saturno) was an ancient Roman temple to the god Saturn, in what is now Rome, Italy. Its ruins stand at the foot of the Capitoline Hill at the western end of ...

in the central Forum of

Ancient Rome In modern historiography, ancient Rome refers to Roman people, Roman civilisation from the founding of the city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingdom ...

. All roads were considered to begin at this monument and all distances in the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post-Roman Republic, Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings aro ...

were measured relative to it. On it perhaps were listed all the major cities in the empire and distances to them, though the monument's precise location and inscription remain matters of debate among historians. According to

Philip Schaff Philip Schaff (January 1, 1819 – October 20, 1893) was a Swiss-born, German-educated Protestant theologian and ecclesiastical historian, who spent most of his adult life living and teaching in the United States. Biography Schaff was born ...

, the phrase " all roads lead to Rome" is a reference to the ''Milliarium Aureum''—the specific point to which all roads were said to lead. A marble structure speculated to be the base of the milestone is present in the Roman Forum.

History

Augustus Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian, was the first Roman emperor; he reigned from 27 BC until his death in AD 14. He is known for being the founder of the Roman Pr ...

, as ''curator viarum'', erected the monument in 20 BCE. It probably received the name ''Milliarium Aureum'' soon after its inauguration. It symbolized the starting point of the

Roman road Roman roads ( la, viae Romanae ; singular: ; meaning "Roman way") were physical infrastructure vital to the maintenance and development of the Roman state, and were built from about 300 BC through the expansion and consolidation of the Roman Re ...

system to the rest of

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 ...

and to all the imperial possessions.

Architecture and style

The plan of the monument is among those missing from the recovered fragments of the ''

Forma Urbis The ''Forma Urbis Romae'' or Severan Marble Plan is a massive marble map of ancient Rome, created under the emperor Septimius Severus between 203 and 211. Matteo Cadario gives specific years of 205–208, noting that the map was based on pro ...

''. The remaining fragments for this area of the Roman Forum are all in the so-called slab V-11,

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is conside ...

#19 (Temple of Saturn with the frontal section and staircase, but the

Rostra The rostra ( it, Rostri, links=no) was a large platform built in the city of Rome that stood during the republican and imperial periods. Speakers would stand on the rostra and face the north side of the comitium towards the senate house and de ...

section is missing, Temple of Concordia, and Temple of the Deified Vespasian). Information from ancient authors is also very scarce, so there are many problems of interpretation concerning the exact nature of the ''Milliarium Aureum''.

Location

It is certain that it was "hard by nderthe Temple of Saturn at the head of the Roman Forum", but its exact location is still unknown. Due to archaeological data from excavations by Kähler in 1959, which seem to confirm data from excavations by Bunsen in 1833, many scholars now believe that it was located at the southeast corner of the podium of the ''

Augusti'' on a symmetrical axis with the '' Umbilicus urbis Romae''.B. Frischer, D. Favro and D. Abernathy,

University of California Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California ...

, 2005

Style, structure, and dimensions

The ''Milliarium Aureum'' seems to have been a marble column sheathed in gilded bronze; according to C. Hülsen, a huge marble cylinder was found in 1835 near the Temple of Saturn and it still had bronze hooks. The whole monument likely had the standard form of a Roman

milestone A milestone is a numbered marker placed on a route such as a road, railway line, canal or boundary. They can indicate the distance to towns, cities, and other places or landmarks; or they can give their position on the route relative to so ...

. Some scholars think that the ''Milliarium Aureum'' was made entirely of gilded

, while others believe only the inscribed letters were gilded bronze. Probable dimensions for the structure include a height of , and a diameter of (column only) or if including the alleged base (i.e. the carved marble fragments labeled "Milliarium Aureum" in the Roman Forum).

The problem of the inscription

Ancient sources never directly say what was inscribed on the ''Milliarium Aureum'', so every idea one may have about the inscription must be considered a modern inference based on the typical form, structure and function of Roman milestones. The main hypotheses about the inscription suggest that it included: * Nothing, except for the name and title of the Emperor. * The names of the most important cities of Italy and of the Roman Empire in 20 BCE, with the distances of these from Rome. According to a vague sentence by

Pliny the Elder Gaius Plinius Secundus (AD 23/2479), called Pliny the Elder (), was a Roman author, naturalist and natural philosopher, and naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and a friend of the emperor Vespasian. He wrote the encyclopedic ' ...

(''

Naturalis Historia The ''Natural History'' ( la, Naturalis historia) is a work by Pliny the Elder. The largest single work to have survived from the Roman Empire to the modern day, the ''Natural History'' compiles information gleaned from other ancient authors. ...

'', 3.66), the distances in Roman miles were measured starting from the city gates and not from the location of the ''Milliarium'' (thus with a difference of ca. 1 mile):

Via Appia The Appian Way (Latin and Italian: ''Via Appia'') is one of the earliest and strategically most important Roman roads of the ancient republic. It connected Rome to Brindisi, in southeast Italy. Its importance is indicated by its common name, ...

from

Porta Capena Porta Capena was a gate in the Servian Wall in Rome, Italy. The gate was located in the area of Piazza di Porta Capena, where the Caelian Hill, Caelian, Palatine Hill, Palatine and Aventine Hill, Aventine hills meet. Probably its exact position ...

(to

Brundisium Brindisi ( , ) ; la, Brundisium; grc, Βρεντέσιον, translit=Brentésion; cms, Brunda), group=pron is a city in the region of Apulia in southern Italy, the capital of the province of Brindisi, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. Histo ...

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders wi ...

and the Oriental Provinces); Via Salaria and Via Nomentana from Porta Collina and

Via Flaminia The Via Flaminia or Flaminian Way was an ancient Roman road leading from Rome over the Apennine Mountains to ''Ariminum'' ( Rimini) on the coast of the Adriatic Sea, and due to the ruggedness of the mountains was the major option the Romans ha ...

(to Northern Italy,

Raetia Raetia ( ; ; also spelled Rhaetia) was a province of the Roman Empire, named after the Rhaetian people. It bordered on the west with the country of the Helvetii, on the east with Noricum, on the north with Vindelicia, on the south-west ...

Noricum Noricum () is the Latin name for the Celtic kingdom or federation of tribes that included most of modern Austria and part of Slovenia. In the first century AD, it became a province of the Roman Empire. Its borders were the Danube to the nor ...

Pannonia Pannonia (, ) was a province of the Roman Empire bounded on the north and east by the Danube, coterminous westward with Noricum and upper Italy, and southward with Dalmatia and upper Moesia. Pannonia was located in the territory that is now west ...

and Illyricum);

Via Aurelia The ''Via Aurelia'' (Latin for "Aurelian Way") is a Roman road in Italy constructed in approximately 241 BC. The project was undertaken by Gaius Aurelius Cotta, who at that time was censor.Hornblower, Simon, & Antony Spawforth. ''The Oxford Cl ...

(to the Galliae and Hispaniae);

Via Ostiensis The Via Ostiensis ( it, via Ostiense) was an important road in ancient Rome. It ran west from the city of Rome to its important sea port of Ostia Antica, from which it took its name. The road began near the Forum Boarium, ran between the Aventin ...

(to Ostia and the main harbours of

Corsica Corsica ( , Upper , Southern ; it, Corsica; ; french: Corse ; lij, Còrsega; sc, Còssiga) is an island in the Mediterranean Sea and one of the 18 regions of France. It is the fourth-largest island in the Mediterranean and lies southeast of ...

and

Sardinia Sardinia ( ; it, Sardegna, label=Italian, Corsican and Tabarchino ; sc, Sardigna , sdc, Sardhigna; french: Sardaigne; sdn, Saldigna; ca, Sardenya, label= Algherese and Catalan) is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, aft ...

, Sicilia and

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

). * The names of the roads out of Rome and the men of praetorian rank Augustus had made ''curatores viarum'' to see to their upkeep, based on

Cassius Dio Lucius Cassius Dio (), also known as Dio Cassius ( ), was a Roman historian and senator of maternal Greek origin. He published 80 volumes of the history on ancient Rome, beginning with the arrival of Aeneas in Italy. The volumes documented the ...

's account of the erection of the monument.

The problem of the marble fragments labeled "Milliarium Aureum"

The ca. 3-m diameter marble fragments labeled "Milliarium Aureum" with an

anthemion The palmette is a motif in decorative art which, in its most characteristic expression, resembles the fan-shaped leaves of a palm tree. It has a far-reaching history, originating in ancient Egypt with a subsequent development through the art o ...

frieze In architecture, the frieze is the wide central section part of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic or Doric order, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Paterae are also usually used to decorate friezes. Even when neither columns nor ...

decoration have long been considered part of the base of the monument. However, there is no direct evidence for this, considering as well that the diameter of this base seems to be too large for a standard ''milliarium''. According to Richardson, the ruins labeled "Milliarium Aureum" can be considered pertinent only if the column of the monument was of a colossal scale, of almost 3 m diameter and not 1.15 m:

Still less credible is that the carved stone members labelled Milliarium Aureum at the northwest end of the Forum Romanum today actually belonged to the base of that monument. The frieze decorated with an anthemion belongs relatively high on a building, and both elements are of a diameter equal to that of the Umbilicus Romae, too large for a milestone, unless it were of colossal scale.L. Richardson, jr., 'Milliarium Aureum', ''A New Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome'' (1992) p. 254.

References

*Samuel Ball Platner, ''A Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome'', London: Oxford University Press (1929), p. 34

External links

''UCLA Digital Roman Forum'' page for the "Miliarium Aureum" Archaeological discussion and 3D reconstruction''Stanford University Forma Urbis Romae'': slabs of the Forum Area with the "Miliarium Aureum" (the "Miliarium Aureum" is a missing part near the letters "...ordia")
{{Authority control Roman Forum Roman roads Kilometre-zero markers Milliarium Monumental columns in Rome Rome R. X Campitelli