Editing Via Domitia (section)

{{short description|Roman road linking Italy and Hispania through Gallia Narbonensis}}
{{infobox ancient site
| name=Via Domitia
| image=Via domitia map600x600 (1).png
| caption=  Route of the Via Domitia
| coordinates =
| location= [[Briançon]], France to [[La Junquera]], Spain
| map_type = 
| epochs =118 BC 
| builder= [[Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus (consul 122 BC)|Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus]] and [[Quintus Fabius Maximus Allobrogicus]]
| type=[[Roman road]]
}}

The '''Via Domitia''' was the first [[Roman road]] built in [[Gaul]], to link [[Italy]] and [[Hispania]] through [[Gallia Narbonensis]], across what is now [[Southern France]]. The route that the Romans regularised and paved was ancient when they set out to survey it, and traces the mythic route travelled by [[Heracles]].<ref>F. Benoît, "La légende d'Héraclès et la colonisation grecque dans le delta du Rhône", ''L'Humanité'' '''8''' (1949:104-48), noted by Fred S. Kleiner, "Gallia Graeca, Gallia Romana and the Introduction of Classical Sculpture in Gaul" ''American Journal of Archaeology'' '''77'''.4 (October 1973:379-390) p. 381 note 20, with further bibliography.</ref>

The construction of the road was commissioned by [[Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus (consul 122 BC)|Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus]], whose name it bore, following the defeat of the [[Allobroges]] and [[Averni]] by himself and [[Quintus Fabius Maximus Allobrogicus]] in 122 BCE. Domitius also established a fortified garrison at Narbo (modern [[Narbonne]]) on the coast, near Hispania, to guard construction of the road. It soon developed into a full Roman colony ''Colonia Narbo Martius''.<ref>Brennan,T.C.,The Praetorship in the Roman Republic, p. 507</ref> The lands on the western part of the route, beyond the [[River Rhône]] had been under the control of the Averni who, according to [[Strabo]], had stretched their control to Narbo and the Pyrenees.<ref>Strabo, Geography, 4.2.3</ref>

Crossing the Alps by the easiest passage, the [[Col de Montgenèvre]] (1850 m), the Via Domitia followed the valley of the [[Durance]], crossed the [[Rhône]] at [[Beaucaire, Gard|Beaucaire]] passed through [[Nîmes]] (Nemausus) then followed the coastal plain along the [[Gulf of Lion]]. At Narbonne, it met the [[Via Aquitania]] (which led toward the [[Atlantic Ocean]] through [[Toulouse]] and [[Bordeaux]]). Thus Narbonne was a crucial strategic crossroads of the Via Domitia and the Via Aquitania, and it was an accessible, but easily defensible port at that time. 

This "cusp point" in the Roman westwards expansion and ensuing supply, communication and fortification was a very important asset, and was treated as such (see [[Narbonne]]). In between the cities that it linked, the Via Domitia was provided with a series of ''[[mansio]]nes'' at distances of a [[day's journey]] for a loaded cart, at which shelter, provender and fresh horses could be obtained for travellers on official business.

The route as it was in [[Late Antiquity]] is represented in schematic fashion on the ''[[Tabula Peutingeriana]]''.