Salaria Via Usque Ad Lapidem XVIII
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Salaria via usque ad lapidem XVIII a reconstruction of the ancient road line between Porta Collina and the 18th milestone of the road University of Oulu Faculty of Humanities Master’s thesis in Archaeology Panu Hyppönen Supervisor: Eero Jarva April 2014 INTRODUCTION Research problems and research history ………………………………………………………………………. 1 Methods of study and the structure of this thesis …………………………………………………………... 3 1 BUILDING AND MEASURING ROMAN ROADS. THE HISTORY OF VIA SALARIA. ……….. 5 1.1 Historical and theoretical aspects of Roman road building ……………………………………….. 5 1.1.1 Ex oriente via? ...………………………………………………………………………………….………………. 5 1.1.2 Planning Roman roads ….…………………………………………………………………………………….. 6 1.1.3 The canonical structure of a Roman road …………………….………………………………………. 7 1.2 Notions on the metrology related to road building …………………………………………………… 9 1.2.1 “Man is the measure of all things.” ………………………………………………….………………....... 9 1.2.2 Regulations and reality: on the width of Roman roads ……………………….…………….… 11 1.3 Brief account of the origins and the development of the road line .…………………………… 17 2 THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND CARTOGRAPHICAL EVIDENCE ON THE ANCIENT ROAD LINE OF VIA SALARIA ………………………………………………………………………………………………… 23 2.1 From Porta Collina past the Aniene…………………………………………………....………………….... 23 2.1.1 The first mile …………………….…...…..……………….…………………………………………………... 23 2.1.2 The second mile …………………………...………………………………………………………………….. 29 2.1.3 The third mile ….………………………………………………………………………………………………. 31 2.1.4 Via Salaria Vetus and Via Salaria Nova ……………………………………………………………… 35 2.2 From Aniene to Crustumerium ………………………………………………………………………………. 37 2.2.1 The fourth and fifth mile …………………………………………………………………………………... 37 2.2.2 The sixth mile …………………………………………………………………………………………………... 41 2.2.3 The seventh mile ……………………………………………………………………………………………… 43 2.2.4 The eight mile ………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 45 2.2.5 The ninth mile ..………………………………………………………………………………………………... 47 2.3 From Crustumerium to the 18th milestone …………………………………………………………...... 48 2.3.1 The 10th mile ……………………………………………………………………………………………………. 48 2.3.2 The 11th mile ……………………………………………………………………………………………………. 51 2.3.3 The 12th mile ….………………………………………………………………………………………………… 56 2.3.4 The 13th, 14th and 15th mile ……………………………………………………………………………….. 59 2.3.5 The 16th and 17th mile ………………………………………………………………………………………. 62 2.3.6 The 18th mile ……………………………………………………………………………………………………. 63 CONCLUSIONS ………………………………………………………………………………………………………….... 72 BIBLIOGRAPHY …………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 77 APPENDIX 1: MAPS APPENDIX 2: PROFILES In the cover: The ancient road line of Via Salaria between Porta Collina and 18th milestone. The image is from Google Earth (https://maps.google.fi/?mid=1365625611), and it’s oriented north-up. INTRODUCTION The subject of this thesis is to reconstruct the ancient road line of Via Salaria between Porta Collina, the starting point of the road, and its 18th milestone. Chronologically the aim is to focus to the road line as it was in the Imperial Period. Earlier phases can naturally not be left unnoticed. The reason for choosing just this particular section of the road line for the object of study lies both in the need to stay within the requirements set for a Master’s thesis1 and in the fact that the absolute location of both Porta Collina and the road’s 18th milestone are known since they both have been found in situ. In this way I will get a firm beginning and end for the reconstruction. The 18th mile is also the last complete mile of the road at the proximity of the Tiber as on the 19th mile the close tie between the road and the river ends. At the same time on the 19th mile the road enters definitively the ancient Sabine territory as it reaches the settlement of Eretum.2 Research problems and research history This being a thesis in Archaeology it is clear that the main evidence for the reconstruction of the road line is archaeological, namely the traces of the ancient road still visible in the field and the ones found during archaeological excavations. Other archaeological record is naturally not to be forgotten, but will be referred to only when necessary for locating the road line. Milestones ‐ especially those found in situ make important points of reference in the work of reconstruction. After all, as much as this thesis is about the archaeological evidence of the ancient road, it is about measuring the road line, and in this procedure the milestones in situ give concrete3 points to rely on. Via Salaria is among the oldest roads of the Roman Empire and due to this it also has had a remarkable share of archaeological research. There is plenty of archaeological evidence related to the road, for example the ancient Latial centres of Antemnae, Fidenae and Crustumerium were located by the route of Via Salaria. Also the road line itself has been studied several times. To my knowledge the first to treat the road line has been A. Nibby in his Viaggio antiquario ne’ contorni di Roma in 1819. Other early studies 1 Originally the 31st milestone of the road was chosen as the terminus of this thesis, but the ancient soil turned out so fertile that the new terminus was set to the 18th milestone. The Augustan 31st milestone of Via Salaria had an important role in my Bachelor´s thesis on the assumed 10th milestone of the road and at the same it led me to choose the object of study for this Master’s thesis. 2 See for example Strab. 5, 3, 1 (note 106), where Eretum is referred to as a Sabine village. 3 Even though in this case perhaps the metaphor “limestone” would be more appropriate. 1 of the road line include F. Gori’s Dal ponte Salario di Roma a Fidene, Crustumerio ed Erèto4and N. Persichetti’s comprehensive La Via Salaria nei circondari di Roma e Rieti5 as well as T. Ashby’s The Classical Topography of the Roman Campagna6. The ancient road line has also been studied by E. Martinori (Via Salaria, published in 1931).7 The posthumously published La campagna romana antica, medioevale e moderna by G. & F. Tomassetti8 must also be mentioned together with the early studies. More recent studies include S. Quilici Gigli’s La Via Salaria da Roma a Passo Corese,9 L. Quilici’s La Via Salaria da Roma all’Alto Velino: la tecnica struttiva dei manufatti stradali,10 and M. Cifarelli’s & F. di Gennaro’s La via Salaria dall’Aniene all’Allia, which covers the ancient road line between km 6 and km 15.11 Also L. Quilici’s & S. Quilici Gigli’s monographs on Latial Archaic settlements of Antemnae, Crustumerium and Fidenae contain fundamental information on Via Salaria’s ancient road line.12 Nonetheless, the extensive focus on these settlements has turned the interest a bit away from Via Salaria itself, as Cifarelli & di Gennaro state in their afore mentioned article.13 This is visible also in the journal Bullettino della Commissione Archeologica Comunale di Roma, where new findings of the road line are mainly to be sought: nearly every new volume contains information e.g. on the roads Via Flaminia and Via Nomentana, but Via Salaria gets a mention less frequently. There being such a vast amount of available research one could question the sense of doing one more study on such a thoroughly studied subject. This brings us to the problems this thesis is trying to solve, of which the first and the most important is naturally: 4 See Gori 1863. 5 See Persichetti 1908. 6 See Ashby 1906. 7 See Martinori 1931. 8 See Chiumenti & Bilancia 1977. 9 See Quilici Gigli 1977. 10 See Quilici 1993. Quilici´s excellent study even contains a map projection of the ancient road line although in a small scale. 11 See Cifarelli & di Gennaro 2000. 12 See Quilici & Quilici Gigli 1978; 1980; 1986. 13 Cifarelli & di Gennaro 2000: 125. 2 What is the whole body of archaeological record related to the section of road line under study we have at the moment? The main task of this study is to try to collect and list every piece of knowledge concerning the ancient road line with its milestones and other archaeological record (when necessary) related to the road context. What is the alignment of the ancient road? The archaeological record will be used to reconstruct the alignment of the ancient road ‐ what other means are there to get a clearer picture of the alignment? How precisely can it be defined? How wide is the road line of the ancient Via Salaria? Romans seem to have had certain standards concerning the width of their roads. Does the width of Via Salaria conform to these standards? How were Roman roads planned and measured? For example, the ancient Via Salaria is 139 Roman miles long and its milestones are presumably located exactly on every mile. How was Roman road construction planned? What kind of measuring equipment was needed for this? How steep is the reconstructed road line? The ancient wheeled traffic couldn’t handle slopes too steep. What is our knowledge concerning the gradients of Roman roads in general? How steep are the known sections of Via Salaria? Does my reconstruction fit in the frames of the maximal possible steepness? Methods of study and the structure of this thesis The first task for me in the work of reconstruction is to relate the ancient Via Salaria to general knowledge on Roman road building and the metrological aspects related to it. This is done by getting familiar with publications on the history of the ancient road networks, the regulations ruling Roman roads, the practicalities the road builders had to face and the studies on Roman metrology. Chapter one will concentrate on providing 3 this information. The question of the history of consruction of Via Salaria will also be dealt with in chapter one. The most important part of this study is to search for the archaeological evidence related to the ancient road line. This is to be found in the literature, since my personal exposure to Via Salaria’s ancient road line consists only of a short section of pavement visible near the two remaining 31st milestones of the road.