An ancient

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

''statio'' (

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

for "position" or "location", pl. ''stationes'') was a stopping place on a

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

for travellers looking for shelter for the night and a change of horses. The name of the statio was sometimes a town or city with suitable accommodation, such as inns, and sometimes a dedicated building between larger settlements. They often included thermal baths in the facilities. They are often referred to in English as a waystation or poststation. They were sometimes identical to, or complementary to, ''mansiones'', maintained by the central government for those on official business whilst travelling. ''Stationes'' are mostly known through the famous

Antonine Itinerary The Antonine Itinerary (, "Itinerary of the Emperor Antoninus") is an , a register of the stations and distances along various roads. Seemingly based on official documents, possibly in part from a survey carried out under Augustus, it describes t ...

, a register of ''stationes'' and their distances along various roads of the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ruled the Mediterranean and much of Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. The Roman people, Romans conquered most of this during the Roman Republic, Republic, and it was ruled by emperors following Octavian's assumption of ...

, seemingly based on official documents, possibly from a survey carried out under

Augustus Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian (), was the founder of the Roman Empire, who reigned as the first Roman emperor from 27 BC until his death in A ...

.Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Antonini Itinerarium". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 2 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 148 Examples of ''stationes'' are: * Tre Taverne * Forum Appii * Philosophiana in Sicily.

References

{{reflist Roman waystations