The ''Via Aurelia'' (

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...

for "Aurelian Way") is a

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 ...

in Italy constructed in approximately 241 BC. The project was undertaken by

Gaius Aurelius Cotta Gaius Aurelius Cotta (124–73 BC) was a Roman statesman, orator, priest, and Academic Skeptic; he is not to be confused with Gaius Aurelius Cotta who was twice Consul in the 3rd century BC. Life Born in 124 BC, he was the uncle to Julius Caesa ...

, who at that time was censor.Hornblower, Simon, & Antony Spawforth. ''The Oxford Classical Dictionary.'' 3rd ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996. Cotta had a history of building roads for Rome, as he had overseen the construction of a military road in Sicily (as consul in 252 BC, during the

First Punic War The First Punic War (264–241 BC) was the first of Punic Wars, three wars fought between Roman Republic, Rome and Ancient Carthage, Carthage, the two main powers of the western Mediterranean in the early 3rd century BC. For 23 years ...

) connecting ''Agrigentum'' (modern

Agrigento Agrigento (; scn, Girgenti or ; grc, Ἀκράγας, translit=Akrágas; la, Agrigentum or ; ar, كركنت, Kirkant, or ''Jirjant'') is a city on the southern coast of Sicily, Italy and capital of the province of Agrigento. It was one o ...

) and ''Panormus'' (modern

Palermo Palermo ( , ; scn, Palermu , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital of both the autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan province. The city is noted for its ...

Background

In the middle Republic, a series of roads were built throughout Italy to serve the needs of Roman expansion, including swift army movements and reasonably quick communication with Roman colonies spread throughout Italy. There also was the unintended (but beneficial) consequence of an increase in trade among Italian cities and with Rome. The roads were standardized to wide allowing two chariots to pass, and distance was marked with

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 ...

s. The ''Via Aurelia'' was constructed as a part of this road construction campaign, which began in 312 BC with the building of the ''

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, ...

''. Other roads included in this construction period were the ''Viae Amerina'' ( 231 BC), ''Flaminina'', ''Clodia'', '' Aemilia'', ''Cassia'', ''Valeria'' ( 307 BC), and ''Caecilia'' ( 283 BC).

Route

The ''Via Aurelia'' crossed the

Tiber River The Tiber ( ; it, Tevere ; la, Tiberis) is the third-longest river in Italy and the longest in Central Italy, rising in the Apennine Mountains in Emilia-Romagna and flowing through Tuscany, Umbria, and Lazio, where it is joined by the Ri ...

by way of the bridge ''Pons Aemilius'', then exited Rome from its western side. After the Emperor

Aurelian Aurelian ( la, Lucius Domitius Aurelianus; 9 September 214 October 275) was a Roman emperor, who reigned during the Crisis of the Third Century, from 270 to 275. As emperor, he won an unprecedented series of military victories which reunited ...

built a wall around Rome ( 270–273 CE), the ''Via Aurelia'' exited from the ''Porta Aurelia'' (gates). The road then ran about to ''

Alsium Alsium ( el, ; modern: Palo) was an ancient city on the coast of Etruria, between Pyrgi and Fregenae, on the Via Aurelia, by which it is about 35 km from Rome near the modern Ladispoli. It was one of the oldest towns of Etruria, but does ...

'' on the Tyrrhenian coast, north along the coast to ''Vada Volaterrana'',

Cosa Cosa was a Latin colony founded in southwestern Tuscany in 273 BC, on land confiscated from the Etruscans, to solidify the control of the Romans and offer the Republic a protected port. The Etruscan site (called ''Cusi'' or ''Cosia'') may have ...

, and ''Pisae'' (modern-day

Pisa Pisa ( , or ) is a city and ''comune'' in Tuscany, central Italy, straddling the Arno just before it empties into the Ligurian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa. Although Pisa is known worldwide for its leaning tower, the ci ...

). There the original length of the Via Aurelia terminated. This was an especially important route during the early and middle Republic because it linked Rome, ''Cosa'', and ''Pisae''. ''Cosa'' was an important colony and military outpost in

Etruria Etruria () was a region of Central Italy, located in an area that covered part of what are now most of Tuscany, northern Lazio, and northern and western Umbria. Etruscan Etruria The ancient people of Etruria are identified as Etruscans. Thei ...

, and ''Pisae'' was the only port between ''Genua'' and Rome. Consequently, it was an important naval base for the Romans in their wars against the

Ligurians The Ligures (singular Ligur; Italian: liguri; English: Ligurians) were an ancient people after whom Liguria, a region of present-day north-western Italy, is named. Ancient Liguria corresponded more or less to the current Italian reg ...

Gauls The Gauls ( la, Galli; grc, Γαλάται, ''Galátai'') were a group of Celtic peoples of mainland Europe in the Iron Age and the Roman period (roughly 5th century BC to 5th century AD). Their homeland was known as Gaul (''Gallia''). They sp ...

and

Carthaginians The Punic people, or western Phoenicians, were a Semitic people in the Western Mediterranean who migrated from Tyre, Phoenicia to North Africa during the Early Iron Age. In modern scholarship, the term ''Punic'' – the Latin equivalent of the ...

. The via Aurelia later was extended by roughly in 109 BC by the ''

Via Aemilia Scauri The ''Via Aemilia Scauri'' was an ancient Roman road built by the consul Marcus Aemilius Scaurus during his term as censor in 109 BC. E. Fentress, 'Via Aurelia, Via Aemilia' ''Papers of the British School at Rome'' LII, 1984, 72-76. Route It ...

'', constructed by M. Aemilius Scaurus. This road led to ''Dertona'' (modern

Tortona Tortona (; pms, Torton-a , ; lat, Dhertona) is a '' comune'' of Piemonte, in the Province of Alessandria, Italy. Tortona is sited on the right bank of the Scrivia between the plain of Marengo and the foothills of the Ligurian Apennines. Histor ...

), ''Placentia'',

Cremona Cremona (, also ; ; lmo, label= Cremunés, Cremùna; egl, Carmona) is a city and ''comune'' in northern Italy, situated in Lombardy, on the left bank of the Po river in the middle of the ''Pianura Padana'' ( Po Valley). It is the capital of the ...

, ''Aquilea'', and ''Genua'', from which travellers could proceed to ''Gallia Narbonensis'' (southern France) by way of the ''

Via Postumia The Via Postumia was an ancient Roman road of northern Italy constructed in 148 BC by the ''consul'' Spurius Postumius Albinus Magnus. It ran from the coast at Genua through the mountains to Dertona, Placentia (the termination of the Via Aem ...

''. This followed some rebuilding of the road by the same person during his consulship in 119 BC. By the time of the high Empire, travellers could go from Rome by way of the ''Via Aurelia'' across the Alps on the

Via Julia Augusta The Via Julia Augusta (modern Italian Via Giulia Augusta) is the name given to the Roman road formed by the merging of the Via Aemilia Scauri with the Via Postumia. The road runs from Placentia (modern Piacenza) to Arelate (modern Arles), initi ...

to either northern France or ''Gades'' (modern Cadiz, Spain).Boumphrey, Geoffrey Maxwell. ''Along the Roman Roads.'' London: Allen & Unwin, 1935. The modern ''Strada Statale 1'' occupies the same route, and colloquially is still referred to as, ''La Via Aurelia''.

Roman bridges

There are the remains of several

Roman bridge The ancient Romans were the first civilization to build large, permanent bridges. Early Roman bridges used techniques introduced by Etruscan immigrants, but the Romans improved those skills, developing and enhancing methods such as arches and ...

s along the road, including the ''Cloaca di Porta San Clementino'', ''Ponte del Diavolo'', ''Primo Ponte'', and the ''Secondo Ponte'' (the last three in Sta Marinella).

Notes

External links

* Samuel Ball Platner
Via Aurelia
from ''A Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome'' (London: Oxford University Press, 1929). * Joshua Hammer

''Smithsonian'' magazine, June 2009.
Omnes Viae: Via Aurelia on the Tabula Peutingeriana
{{List of Roman roads Aurelia, Via 240s BC establishments 3rd-century BC establishments in the Roman Republic 3rd-century BC establishments in Italy Rome Q. XIV Trionfale Rome S. IX Aurelio Rome S. VIII Gianicolense

Background

Route

Roman bridges

See also

Notes

External links