Via Aurelia

File:Map of Roman roads in Italy.png

Route of Via Aurelia (in yellow)

The Via Aurelia (Template:Literally) 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.<ref name=autogenerated1>Hornblower, Simon, & Antony Spawforth. The Oxford Classical Dictionary. 3rd ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996.</ref> 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) connecting Agrigentum (modern Agrigento) and Panormus (modern Palermo).<ref>The Cambridge Ancient History. [New] ed. London: Cambridge University Press, 1970. Volume 7, p. 548 & 643</ref>

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 Template:Convert wide allowing two chariots to pass, and distance was marked with milestones.<ref>Via Aurelia: The Roman Empire's Lost Highway Template:Webarchive Smithsonian Magazine, June 2009</ref>

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. Other roads included in this construction period were the Viae Amerina (Template:Circa 231 BC), Flaminina, Clodia, Aemilia, Cassia, Valeria (Template:Circa 307 BC), and Caecilia (Template:Circa 283 BC).<ref>The Cambridge Ancient History. [New] ed. Paris: Cambridge University Press, 1950. Volume 8, pg. 484.</ref>

Route

The Via Aurelia crossed the Tiber by way of the bridge Pons Aemilius, then exited Rome from its western side. After the Emperor Aurelian built a wall around Rome (Template:Circa 270–273 CE), the Via Aurelia exited from the Porta Aurelia (gates). The road then ran about Template:Convert to Alsium on the Tyrrhenian coast, north along the coast to Vada Volaterrana, Cosa, and Pisae (modern-day Pisa). There the original length of the Via Aurelia terminated.<ref>Platner, Samuel Ball. A Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome. London, Oxford University Press, H. Milford, 1929. pg. 561.</ref>

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, 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, Gauls and Carthaginians.<ref>Boatwright, Mary T., Daniel J. Gargola & Richard J.A. Talbert. A Brief History of the Romans. Oxford University Press, New York, US, 2006. pp. 48-49.</ref>

The Via Aurelia later was extended by roughly Template:Convert in 109 BC by the Via Aemilia Scauri, constructed by M. Aemilius Scaurus. This road led to Dertona (modern Tortona), Placentia, Cremona, Aquilea, and Genua, from which travellers could proceed to Gallia Narbonensis (southern France) by way of the Via Postumia.<ref name=autogenerated1 />

This followed some rebuilding of the road by the same person during his consulship in 119 BC.<ref>Fentress, E., 'Via Aurelia, Via Aemilia', Papers of the British School at Rome LII, 1984, pp. 72-76</ref>

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 to either northern France or Gades (modern Cadiz, Spain).<ref>Boumphrey, Geoffrey Maxwell. Along the Roman Roads. London: Allen & Unwin, 1935.</ref>

The modern Strada Statale 1 Aurelia occupies the same route, and colloquially is still referred to as La Via Aurelia.

Roman bridges

There are the remains of several Roman bridges 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).Template:Cn

See also

• List of Roman bridges
• Roman road
• Roman bridge
• Roman engineering

External links

• Samuel Ball Platner, Via Aurelia, from A Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome (London: Oxford University Press, 1929).
• Joshua Hammer, Via Aurelia: The Roman Empire's Lost Highway, Smithsonian magazine, June 2009.
• Omnes Viae: Via Aurelia on the Tabula Peutingeriana