Via Julia Augusta

Last updated
Via Julia Augusta
Pont Flavien, Bouches-du-Rhone, France. Pic 01.jpg
Via Giulia Augusta leading across the Pont Flavien in southern France
Location Placentia (modern Piacenza) to Arelate (modern Arles)
Type Roman road
History
Builder Roman Empire, Augustus Caesar
Periods13 BCE

The Via Julia Augusta (modern Italian Via Giulia Augusta) is the name given to the Roman road formed by the merging of the Via Aemilia Scauri with the Via Postumia. The road runs from Placentia (modern Piacenza) to Arelate (modern Arles), initially westward along the edge of the plain of the River Po to Derthona (Tortona), then southward to the Ligurian coast. There it formed a continuous route westward along the precipitous descent of the Ligurian mountains into the sea. This takes it to Vada Sabatia (Vado Ligure), Albingaunum (Albenga) and Album Intimilium (Ventimiglia), continuing to La Turbie (above modern Monaco), where its original terminus was marked by a triumphal arch. Later it was extended, taking a route away from the coast via the valley of the River Laghet, north of Nice and westward to Arles where it joined the Via Domitia. [1]

Contents

It was begun in 13 BCE by Augustus, and its engineering works were repeatedly renewed by later emperors. However by about 420 CE, when Rutilius Namatianus returned to Gaul from Italia, he took ship past the Maritime Alps rather than rely upon the decaying road. In 1764 Tobias Smollett similarly travelled by sea rather than use the seaside tracks, fit only for "mules and foot passengers". [2] Road access was not restored until the time of Napoleon.

Roman bridges

There are the remains of a number of Roman bridges along the road, including the Pont des Esclapes Pont Flavien; Pontaccio; Ponte dell’Acqua; Ponte delle Fate; Ponte delle Voze; Ponte Lungo; Ponte sul Rio della Torre; Primo Ponte di Val Ponci; Quarto Ponte di Val Ponci and Pontetto.

See also

Commons-logo.svg Media related to Via Julia Augusta at Wikimedia Commons

Related Research Articles

Favorinus was a Roman sophist and skeptic philosopher who flourished during the reign of Hadrian and the Second Sophistic.

Following is a list of rivers of classical antiquity stating the Latin name, the equivalent English name, and also, in some cases, Greek and local name. The scope is intended to include, at least, rivers named and known widely in the Roman empire. This includes some rivers beyond the bounds of the Roman empire at its peak.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Menton</span> Commune in Provence-Alpes-Côte dAzur, France

Menton is a commune in the Alpes-Maritimes department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region on the French Riviera, close to the Italian border.

<i>Via Aquitania</i>

The Via Aquitania was a Roman road created in 118 BC in the Roman province of Gaul. It started at Narbonne, where it connected to the Via Domitia. It then went toward the Atlantic Ocean, via Toulouse and Bordeaux, covering approximately 400 kilometres (250 mi).

<i>Via Aurelia</i>

The Via Aurelia 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. Cotta had a history of building roads for Rome, as he had overseen the construction of a military road in Sicily connecting Agrigentum and Panormus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aquitani</span> Group of non Indo-European peoples who inhabited between the Pyrenees and the Garonne

The Aquitani were a tribe that lived in the region between the Pyrenees, the Atlantic ocean, and the Garonne, in present-day southwestern France in the 1st century BCE. The Romans dubbed this region Gallia Aquitania. Classical authors such as Julius Caesar and Strabo clearly distinguish the Aquitani from the other peoples of Gaul, and note their similarity to others in the Iberian Peninsula.

<i>Travels Through France and Italy</i>

Travels Through France and Italy is travel literature by Tobias Smollett published in 1766.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Via Postumia</span>

The Via Postumia was an ancient Roman road of northern Italy constructed in 148 BC by the consul Spurius Postumius Albinus Magnus. It ran from the coast at Genua through the mountains to Dertona, Placentia and Cremona, just east of the point where it crossed the Po River. From Cremona the road ran eastward to Bedriacum, the current town of Calvatone, where it forked, one branch running to the right to Mantua, the other to the left to Verona, crossing the Adige river on the Ponte Pietra, the only bridge on the Adige river at that time, and then traversing the Venetian plain, crossing the Piave River at Maserada sul Piave until finally reaching Aquileia, an important military frontier town founded by Rome in 181 BC. The Roman conquest of Liguria depended upon this road, and several of the more important towns owed their origin largely to it. Cremona was its central point, the distance being reckoned from it both eastwards and westwards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ceva</span> Comune in Piedmont, Italy

Ceva, the ancient Ceba, is a small Italian town in the province of Cuneo, region of Piedmont, 49 kilometres (30 mi) east of Cuneo. It lies on the right bank of the Tanaro on a wedge of land between that river and the Cevetta stream.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fulvia Plautilla</span> Wife of the Roman emperor Caracalla (died 211)

Publia Fulvia Plautilla was the wife of the Roman emperor Caracalla, her paternal second cousin. After her father was condemned for treason, she was exiled and eventually killed, possibly on Caracalla's orders.

The Marici were a Celto-Ligurian tribe dwelling around present-day Pavia (Lombardy) during the Iron Age.

Publius Septimius Geta was the father of the emperor Lucius Septimius Severus, father-in-law of the Roman empress Julia Domna and the paternal grandfather of the Roman emperors Caracalla and Geta. Besides mentions in the Historia Augusta, Geta is known from several inscriptions, two of which were found in Leptis Magna, Africa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pont Flavien</span> Bridge in Saint-Chamas, France

The Pont Flavien is a Roman bridge across the River Touloubre in Saint-Chamas, Bouches-du-Rhône department, southern France. The single-arch crossing, which was built from limestone, was on a Roman road - the Via Julia Augusta - between Placentia, Italy and Arles. It is the only surviving example of a Roman bridge bounded by triumphal arches from the Augustan period, although similar bridges probably existed elsewhere, as indicated by portrayals on coins of the late 1st century BC.

Gaius Avidius Nigrinus was a Roman senator who lived between the 1st and 2nd centuries. Nigrinus served as suffect consul for the nundinium of April to June 110 with Tiberius Julius Aquila Polemaeanus as his colleague.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Avidia (mother of Lucius Verus)</span> 2nd century Roman noblewoman

Avidia was a well-connected noble Roman woman. She is among the lesser known members of the ruling Nerva–Antonine dynasty of the Roman Empire.

The Temple of Juno Lucina was a Roman temple dedicated to Juno Lucina on the Esquiline Hill in Rome. It was dedicated on 1 March 375 BC, the festival of the Matronalia. Before its construction, the cult of Juno Lucina occurred in a sacred grove or lucus on the site - Varro dates the cult's origin to Titus Tatius, king of the Sabines. It was struck by lightning in 190 BC, damaging the tympanum and doorway. In 41 BC the quaestor Quintus Pedius built or rebuilt a wall possibly dating back to the sacred grove. It was still operational in the imperial period, as attested to in inscriptions.

The Temple of Fortuna Respiciens was a temple in ancient Rome, sited on the western slopes of the Palatine Hill. It is mentioned in the 4th century Regional Catalogues. The only surviving part of its structure is a polychrome pediment discovered on via di San Gregorio in the Neronian fire layer and now in the Capitoline Museums

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Porta Aurelia-Sancti Petri</span> Gate of the Aurelian walls in Rome

The Porta Aurelia-Sancti Petri was one of the gates of the Aurelian walls in Rome (Italy). It was originally called the Porta Cornelia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Temple of Jupiter Apenninus</span>

The Temple of Jupiter Apenninus or Temple of Jupiter Poeninus was an Umbrian-Roman temple that lay at the foot of Monte Catria, near the modern village of Scheggia, between today's Umbria and Marche regions, in Italy. The temple stood near the ancient Via Flaminia, 200 km from Rome, where the road crossed the Apennines. The structure, once one of the most important Umbrian shrines, has now completely disappeared.

References

  1. The Romans on the Riviera and the Rhone by W. H. Hall. Originally published by Macmillan & Co., Ltd., 1898. Chapter XVIII Via Aurelia, Section 3: Julia Augusta. Re-keyed by Bill Thayer http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/e/roman/texts/secondary/HALRIV/18*.html accessed 26 Oct 2016
  2. Travels through France and Italy, by Tobias Smollett. Published by J. Mundell & Co. Edinburgh, 1796. Letter XXV. Written from Nice, Jan. 1, 1765. Re-keyed by Bill Thayer. http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Gazetteer/Places/Europe/Italy/_Texts/Smollett/Travels/25.html accessed 26 Oct 2016