Talk:Roman roads

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Wow! This page is startlingly in-depth, especially considering the state of most of the rest of the Ancient Rome articles. Great work! -Silence 13:47, 16 December 2005 (UTC)

I Agree! Great Job!

I too concur. However I did notice a mistake. The section of the article on the construction method of the roads stated that the fossa were typically 15 feet below the surface. I believe that is incorrect. The fossa were typically 2-6 feet below the surface, but as the article was correct in saying that they were often dug deeper. If I was incorrect in my belief about the depth of the fossa then I ask that you post the correction as well as the url of a credible website where the information can be found on this discussion page. Seeing as I posted this to correct wikipedia please do not post it as the credible website. My name in a simple code is olner dcamdlano

Contents

[edit] A panel in Lyon

Thought I would contribute the contents of this panel found on the side of a road in Lyon:

Place Morel: ...This square is a very ancient junction crossed in Roman times by the German Way, now Montée des Carmélites. The German Way was one of the five great highways - Aquitaine, Narbonne, Rhine, Ocean and Alps - created by Emperor Augustus' son-in-law Agrippa a little over 2000 years ago. Lugdunum - modern Lyon - was then the centre of of Gallo-Roman Civilisation

this was a fantastic, helpful article!! (and the original French)

La place, très ancien carrefour, était traversée par la voie romaine de Germanie, deveue aujourd'hui montée des Carmélites. Cette voie était l'un des cinq grands axes (Aquitaine, Narbonnaise, du Rhin, de l'Océan, des Alpes) créés par Agrippa, gendre de l'empereur romain Auguste, il y a un peu plus de 2 000 ans. Lugdunm était alors le centre de la civilisation gallo-romaine.

I'd incorporate this info but don't know enough of the background, nor the roman names of these 5 roads. Looks like Via Aquitania exists already. Stevage 16:34, 5 August 2006 (UTC)

Great Job! i like sexy men...

[edit] Purpose?

The article, similar to the general "road" article, does not actually say how or why a road is useful. It may be of use to the article to add detail of this.

There are just small mentions such as:

"The Roman roads were essential for the growth of their empire, by enabling them to move armies."

Are armies not able to move without roads? What makes it so difficult to simply walk on wild grassland?

The legions made good time on them

Any details on how fast, in particular by comparison to non road transportation, the legions or anything else could travel on them, would be useful.

Peoplesunionpro 02:21, 29 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Travel times?

I'm curious about this passage: "Carts could travel about 8 miles per day, pedestrians a little more, and so each mansio was about 15 to 18 miles from the next one." First, does this mean to say that mansiones were placed two days' travel apart? This seems counterintuitive; perhaps it could be spelled out a little better? Were travelers expected to make camp in between?

Second, doesn't 8 miles/day seem awfully low? Normal walking speed is three or four miles an hour. The Encyclopedia Britannia says "Speed of travel ranged from a low of about 15 miles per day for freight vehicles to 75 miles per day by speedy post drivers." http://www.britannica.com/ebc/article-71890 (That would make the positioning of the mansiones more sensical, too.)

The Handbook to Life in Ancient Rome I have here (Adkins & Adkins) puts the mansiones an average of 20 to 30 miles apart, and provides a top speed for couriers of over 120 miles per day. --Jere7my 07:31, 12 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Units of measurement

I noticed that the units were converted from imperial to metric. Shouldn't the measurements include both systems? 154.20.151.165 03:24, 10 May 2007 (UTC)

I'd have to say no. The Imperial system isn't used in the area where the Roman road system exists. Those places all use SI units. There's no reason here to cater to us silly Americans who can't be bothered to learn metrics.—Elipongo (Talk|contribs) 07:53, 18 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Roman Legions planted an ash tree at every second mile?

There is a claim in article Two Mile Ash that it was a Roman custom to plant an ash tree every two miles. Does anyone have a citation to support this assertion? --Concrete Cowboy --Concrete Cowboy 16:47, 6 June 2007 (UTC)