Viae Romana, Roman Roads Wes Bemus Mr. Palmer’s Latin 1 A-3

One of the things that allowed the Romans to build their empire into what it was was their ability to interconnect the cities under their control. A roman road was an efficient, quick and sturdy way to do this. As time wore on they grew more and more technologically advanced and sophisticated. In the end the roman roads would last for longer than the empire itself and some still exist and are in use today.

The construction of these roads were meant to be solid and stable and to last for eons. A team of workers would first plot out where the road was to go. They would then dig a square trench 3 feet deep and 5 feet wide This would be filled 1/3 of the way with large scale gravel so that any rain water would collect here and then leech out, thus not undermining the foundation of the road On top of this, ¼ of the ditch would be a layer of dirt to separate that layer with the layers above it This would be covered with a layer of smaller gravel of similar depth (1/4 th ) to promote even greater structural stability. Finally, the last ditch would be filled to the brim with concrete and paving stones (usually large flat rocks of similar composition) would be paid in this to create a flat and even roadbed for people to travel on.

At the edge of this roadbed would be laid “Kerb” stones which were large stones that would rise 6 or so inches above the roadbed. The purpose of these were for channeling water along the edge of the road to drainage cisterns buried at intervals along the road. Travelers could collect water from this which they could boil and use for drinking water. This is where we get the English word “Curb” from

These roads were so stable and usable that lines of traffic could travel in either direction at the same time without interfering with the other. Roman roads were phenomenally successful and allowed Rome to build their empire to the size that it became. It was said that at the height of the roman empire you could travel from one side of the empire to the other by horse in 14 days or less. A large number of them are still usable today and are in better condition than the other roads in the area.

Bibliography roads.php roads.php construction.php construction.php roads.htm