Road from rome to the east
While passen- gers to and from Egypt or Syria seem frequently to have travelled along the coasts of Asia Minor and Crete, it is not probable that the Imperial de- spatches and news went regularly by that route, which was uncertain and (at least during a con- siderable part of the year) liable to great variation in time. ‘The fast sea passage (see § iii.)
was of course preferred during the open season; but it may be regarded as probable that during the rest of the year the Imperial service to the eastern provinces was conducted by the overland route through Macedonia and Thrace. Only in this way could that regularity of communication which was important for administrative purposes be attained.
For those purposes reasonable certainty as to when instructions would be received was in many cases even more important than the chance of the mes- sages being delivered more quickly ; and, where speed was important, it was always possible to send a special messenger in addition by the route which offered the chance of more rapid delivery. Hence even Syria and Mgypt probably communi. cated regularly with Rome by the overland route during the stormy and the doubtful seasons of the year.
Hudemann (Geschichte des rom. Postwesens, p. 163 f.) and other writers have rightly maintained that ships were used only as a subsidiary and occasional method of communication for Imperial * Cicero, ad Fan, xii, 10. 2 (false number in Friedlénder, p, 81, note), ad Ait. xiv. 9. + The case is quoted by Friedlander from Mommsen in Ber. d. Stichs. Gesellsch, 1850, ii. p. 61, to which the present writer has not had access. + Hieron. c. Rujin. iii. 22, ed. Vallars, ii. 51. § Cicero, ad Fam. xvi. 21.
1; xiv. 5.1. See also § xii, 5. 384 ROADS AND TRAVEL (INSIN'D) purposes, and not as a regular and permanent part of the postal system, at least under the early FEiupire; but under Hadrian a procurator (pro- curator pugillationis et ad naves-vagas) was sta- tioned at Ostia (or Portus Augusti), possibly to regulate the transmission of despatches by occa- sional or special ships (CZ xiy. 2046).
* Moreover, the overland route was the shorter for many provinces, even in the open season, and had therefore to be maintained in full efficiency throughout the year. Hence it must have been the main route for administrative purposes; and every other route, even the short sea route in summer, was merely subsidiary and additional to the great way for the Imperial couriers.
An incidental proof of the preference of land to sea travel for Imperial communication is furnished by two of Pliny’s despatches to Trajan. He men- tions (Hp. 63) that a courier came to him at Nicea from the king of Bosporus (Pantikapeeum on the Kuropean side of the entrance to the Sea of Azoff) ; but it is also implied there and in Ep. 67 that the embassy from Bosporus on its way to Rome would pass through Bithynia, and be obliged in courtesy to pay a call on him as governor in pass- ing.
The official way, then, was not to sail from the Crimea to the Hellespont or to Byzantium, but to take ship to Amastris or Sinope, the shortest sea passage, and then travel by land. The purely land route from the Crimea through South Russia round the north-western coasts of the Black Sea was not open to the Roman service, because it led through foreign territory. The regular course for the couriers carrying despatches from Rome was along the Appian Way to Brundisium.
Then they crossed from Brun- disium to Dyrrachium or Aulona, and thence went by the Via Egnatia to Thessalonica and Philippi and its harbour Neapolis.
The direct and apparently easy route along the coast to Neapolis was avoided by the Roman road (as the Itineraries are agreed): the road turned away from the crossing of the Hebrus at Amphipolis (Ac 16) inland to Philippi, the great Roman colonia, before seeking the harbour; but there was, doubt- less, always a path in local use from Amphipolis direct to Neapolis. Very little evidence exists as to the exact route beyond Neapolis.
The way to Syria under the later Empire was by Byzantium, Nicomedia, and Ancyra; but it is certain that that route was not in use so early as New Testament times, for the roads of the provinces Galatia and Cappa- docia seem not to have been constructed until the end of Vespasian’s reign ; and Cappadocia was not even properly organized as a province until about A.D. 74. Previously, viz. from A.D.
17 to 74, it had been a procuratorial province, which implied that it was governed not after the fully developed Roman system (which permitted a considerable degree of autonomy or home rule in internal matters), but after the native fashion and on monarchical lines by a procurator who represented the Emperor. The procurator represented the native king, whose rule had been deliberately chosen by the people, when the Romans had offered them their liberty and autonomy in B.C, 95 (Strab. p.
540) : when the last king proved incapable, and the province was still unfit for real Roman pro- vincial organization, a procurator was sent in place of the king, who gradually raised the country to the Roman level. After A.D. 74 Roman roads began to spread over the combined provinces of * Mommsen, Staatsrecht, ii. 3 p.1030 (approved by O. Hirsch- feld), denies this, and understands that the procurator’s duty was to register the ships as they singly entered the harbour.
Accepting this, however, we must observe that such registra- tion was necessary for the postal service, and might naturally be combined with it. ROADS AND TRAVEL (IN NT) Galatia—Cappadocia (united under one governor, but as a double, not a single uniform homogeneous province).
Thus there gradually grew up a great through route from the Bosporus opposite Byzan- tium by Juliopolis to Ancyra, Archelais-Colonia and Tyana, and the Cilician Gates, joining the older line of the Overland Route and also that of the Central Route * to the Gates at Colonia Faus- tiniana or Faustinopolis, which was founded by Marcus Aurelius beside the old native village of Halala (the Byzantine Loulon), 23 miles 8.8.W. from Tyana, and named after his wite, who died there.
That new through route, the ‘ Pilgrims’ Route,’ is described by the present writer in Hist. Geogr. of Asia Minor, p. 240 ff., and more fully in sections in the Geograph. Journal, 1908, and by Anderson in Journ. of Hell. Stud. 1899, p. 58 ff. It is therefore highly probable that messengers for Syria and Egypt during the first and early second centuries went by the same route as mes- sengers to Asia.
t They sailed from Neapolis, the ‘port of Philippi, to Alexandria Troas (Ac 1610 20°), Galen, it is true, sailed (from Troas) to Thessalonica; but he implies that this was an unusual course, taken for the special purpose of visiting Lemnos (Op. ed. Kiihn, xii. 171).t ‘Those who preferred to avoid even this short voyage seem to have crossed the Hellespont at Lampsacus and thence followed the route given in the Antonine Itinerary, p. 834, by Ilium to Troas.
In general, travellers from the East would prefer the less fatiguing route by Corinth (§ x.) ; but there would always be many travellers from the northern provinces on the overland road, and in winter it was the only route that was always open. Hence Aristides, when he travelled to Rome in the winter (probably of A.D. 143-144), went by that road.
He describes the hardships of the journey—the rain, the frozen Hebrus, the snow, the wretched inns, the sullenness and ill- will of the barbarous natives; he lay long sick in Edessa; and thus, although for a time he went as fast as the Imperial post, he finally reached Rome on the hundredth day from his own home (which probably is to be understood as Hadrianouthere in Mysia, though Tergamus or Smyrna are also pos- sible).
§ From Lampsacus or Troas the way for Syrian couriers doubtless went by Pergamus (still the capital of Asia in the 1st cent.), Philadelphia, and on through the Cilician Gates to Tarsus, Antioch, Palestine, and Egypt. The way from Philadelphia to the Gates is described more fully below, § xi. An important and typical route deserves fuller discussion.
In the reign of Trajan, Ignatius was conducted to Rome from Syrian Antioch by land through many cities (the only one mentioned by name being Philadelphia) to Smyrna,|| thence he went (probably on shipboard) to Troas and Neapolis for Philippi, and then went along the Egnatian Way, and soon to Rome. There is one unusual feature in this journey, viz. the detour to Smyrna.
Presumably, some special duty required the escort to go to Smyrna; possibly prisoners under sentence were to be taken from thence; but the exact reason must remain uucertain. The ordinary course for such a party would have been * See below, § x. + A new route came into use before A.D. 193; see § xii. t+ Returning from Rome to Asia, he again wished to visit Lemnos ; but this time he took ship from Neapolis for Thasos, and thence to Lemnos. § Or, 24, p. 805 (i. 481 f., ed. Dindorf).
| Friedlinder, Darstellungen aus der Sittengeschichte Roms, p. 80, mentions only the absurd account of the Acta (Antiochian), that Ignatius went by sea’from Seleucia to Smyrna, and says that this ignorant statement, whether true or invented, is at- least the work of one thoroughly acquainted with the way.
On the contrary, it proceeds from one who mixes up and con- fuses quite inconsistent routes and methods of travel, as is shown in the sequel, Hip P © Larytus Ste 4 Be 8 at OS ANN , >, a ae sf rc} 5 SH HN fis Ah CHIEF ROUTES of the Explanation ——— Voyage from Italy to Alexandria and return. _s + beside a sea-route indicate that it was wsed) only in one direction, owing to the prevalent winds.
Coasting vayages imply frequent anchorage, which cannot’ be wecatods md All voyage lines are merely approximate, and subject to much variation. Scale of English Miles Engraved & Printed by us ersouesU” ¢ Ch: fieracle® W.#4XK Johuston Lunrted Edinburgh T CLARK. 5 ¢ ROADS AND TRAVEL (IN NT) ROADS AND TRAVEL (IN NT) 385 to report to the governor at Pergamus ; orders must have been sent to alter the usual course.
From Smyrna the natural course would be to sail to ‘T'roas and Vhilippi; and it is certain that Ignatius passed through both of those towns, and that he sailed from ‘Troas to Philippi. If we could assume that the convoy travelled by the Great Ilighway, through Philomelium, Julia, Apamea, and Lavdicea, it would be necessary to suppose that the call to Smyrna was received at Philadelphia.
, Had the orders to visit Siwyrna been known at Laodicea, the natural course would have taken the party through ‘Tralles and Ephesus. But it may be regarded as most probable that the Roman ollicer followed the direct path west from Julia straight through Prymnessus and near Ac- monia to Vhiladelphia and Pergamus, and that the convoy, travelling by this ordinary route, was called away to Sivyrna from Philadelphia.
‘This establishes a probability that the path Julia- Prymnessus-Philadelphia was the usual one for imperial business under the early Empire. ‘That path was an important Roman road in the early impire, and less important later (see Cities and Bish. of Phrygia, ii. p. 588 f.) The reason why the officer who conducted Jenatius (with other prisoners) preferred the land road to the direct voyage from the Syrian coast, did not lie in the season of the year.
Friedlander says the voyage from Seleucia to Smyrna was made in late autumn or winter; but, as we saw, there was no such voyage, and indeed that voyage could hardly have been made in winter: he is wrong also as to the period, for Ignatius was at Smyrna on 23 August, and is therefore likely to have started from Antioch in early July.* Accord- ing to the Acta, he entered Rome and was martyred on the feast of the Sigillaria, 20 Dec.
, which would point to a later start; but no statement in the Acta as to the journey carries the smallest weight ; and that authority must be disregarded except when confirmed by other evidence, especially that of the letters themselves. Better authorities f give 17 October as the day of his martyrdom and presumably of his entry into Rome, for those two days were wrongly identified by the hagiographers: see p. 386.
We must therefore suppose that the land road was followed because it was the ordinary official route for government messages and parties; and that for Imperial administration and communica- tion ships were used only occasionally as oppor- tunity offered: that conclusion was stated on general grounds at the beginning of this section, and is confirmed by the circumstances of this special case.
A similar conclusion is distinctly suggested by Ac 272-6 281); it is evident that, but for the accidental meeting with a convenient Alex- andrian corn ship at Myra, the centurion would have conducted St. Paui and the rest of his con- voy to Smyrna, Troas, Neapolis, and so on by the same route as Ignatius travelled from Smyrna.
When Ephesus became the regular seat of government of the province Asia, the ordinary course for such a party would perhaps have been by Julia, Apamea, Laodicea, Tralles, and Mag- nesia to Ephesus, to report themselves there to the governor; but, as we have seen, it was prob- ably not before the time of Hadrian that Ephesus became the official capital, as it had long been the practical and commercial capital of the province.
Now by that time the road-system across Asia Minor was greatly developed: the roads of Galatia and Cappadocia were built on a great scale under but special * See the calculation of time for the journey as given in the following section. + The earliest are Chrysostom and the early Syrian Martyr- oiogy. See Lightfoot, /gnatius and Polycarp, ii. p. 416 f.