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ancient roman transportation

The success and extent of the ancient Roman empire could only exist because of the advanced transport network. The military were generally charged with the construction of roads in new territories, generally utilising local materials.

The roads themselves were then open to be used by the Roman population at large, generally by horse drawn carriage or on foot.

Roman dominance over the seas and expertise with ships meant that by the end of the Republic it would be quite easy to travel to a wide variety of locations with little trouble.

It was common for rich students to travel to more distant parts of the empire in order to improve their skills. Dominance of the seas came thanks to the historic victory over the Carthaginians and Pompey's victory over the pirates who were well known to pillage coastal towns or take dignitaries in exchange for ransom. A particularly well remembered occasion is when Julius Caesar himself was taken in his youth (he gained their respect and later came to order their deaths by capital punishment).

Transport of mercantile goods was forbidden to the upper classes who therefore had to resort to their clients to take care of business on their behalf. This limitation was not only one of social stigma but also imposed through legal limitations on the size of ships the senatorial class were allowed to own (claudia lex).

The amazing size of the greater roman engineering achievements also belies a particular ability with the transportation of heavy goods in great quantities although even in then it was very expensive. There are a variety of accounts of how gigantic statues or obelisks came to be transported with trains of elephants.

Going back to the military (the backbone of Roman society), transportation was a particularly important logistical issue, particularly when one bears in mind that a moving army was rather like a moving pre-fabricated city which the soldiers were capable of carrying and installing in wondrously short periods of time.

This kind of transport was generally with carts drawn by the usual animals but we shouldn't forget the soldiers themselves who were known to carry amazing quantities of equipment, armor and rations for huge distances on foot. This began during the republican period when General Marius was called on to defend Rome against the barbarians invading from the north. He took his time to set up a professional army which he trained to undertake amazing physical feats. His men came to be popularly known as Marius' Mules.

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"ancient roman transportation" was written by Giovanni Milani-Santarpia for www.mariamilani.com - Rome apartments