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| '''Via Egnatia''' (]: Εγνατία Οδός) was a ] constructed by the ] around ]. It was named after ], proconsul of Macedonia, who ordered its construction. The road stretched across ], ] and ], running across modern ], ], ], ], and ]. It was constructed in order to link up different Roman colonies from the ] to ]. | |||
| The Egnatia road '''Via Egnatia''' (]: Εγνατία Οδός) | |||
| is the infrastructural work with which the Romans, starting from the second half of | |||
| the 2 nd century B. C., structured the millenary route that ran from the southern regions of the '''Adriatic''' coast to the northern '''Aegean''', ensuring thus communications from East to West. '''Strabo''' bears witness that, at its western end, on the Adriatic coast, this road started from the town of Apollonia.A road coming from '''Epidamnos''' ('''Dyrrachium''') - conventionally called in studies as the "northern branch of Via Egnatia" or, more usually and easily, "Via Egnatia" - joined Via Egnatia in a point that, according to Strabo, was equidistant from the two above mentioned towns. Such intersection, at least in the period when the two itineraries contained in the entire ''Itinerarium Provinciarum'' were written, coincided with the site of '''Clodiana''', or had such site in its neighbourhood as its subsequent statio, that was called "mansio Coladiana" in a third source of itineraries, the ''Itinerarium Burdigalense''. | |||
| After the two roads met in a single route, the latter took the middle valley of '''Shkumbin''' climbing it up until '''Sopi i Polis''' hill, in the area of '''Haxhi Beqarit''', where the ancient road was forced to pass from the right to the left banks of Shkumbin, due to the morphology of the valley itself. According to Strabo, from this region on, or maybe from farther downhill, the road was surely called the "'''road of Candavia'''", from the name of an Illyrian mountain. | |||
| This section of the road crossed in fact some highlands which, at that time, were supposed to stretch at least until the '''Lychnidòs''' lake region (Ochrida lake, lakes of Prespa and Mikra Prespa). From Lychnidòs, the road went on towards the mountain passes along which ran the border between Illyricum and Macedonia. Through such passes, the route let into a district of the northern Macedonia, Lyncestyde, and its main centre, '''Herakleia Lynkestidos''', where another route of the great road junction of Stobi came. The Egnatia road touched then '''Edessa''' and thus, after crossing the Macedonian plain, it reached '''Thessalonica''' through '''Pella'''. This town on the thermaic gulf, however, was located only at the middle of the route which ended at Cipsela on the Ebro and that only later was continued until Byzantium. | |||
| The Via Egnatia undoubtedly falls within that category of roads which take their name from their | |||
| builder, or better from the person who paved them, rather than from their function or point of arrival,and the find of 1974 in the alluvial soils of Gallikos river near Thessalonica of a milestone bearing the name of the builder confirms such theory. | |||
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| ⚫ | The Via Egnatia was repaired and expanded several times. It remained an important commercial and strategic route for centuries, and was one of the most important roads in the ], connecting ] on the Adriatic with ], ], and finally ] on the ]. Almost all overland trade with western Europe travelled along the Via Egnatia. During the ]s, armies travelling to the east by land followed the road to Constantinople before crossing into ]. In the aftermath of the ], control of the road was vital for the survival of the ] as well as the Byzantine successor states the ] and the ]. | ||
| http://xoomer.virgilio.it/mifasolo/pdf/inglese.pdf | |||
| Michele Fasolo: La via Egnatia I. Da Apollonia e Dyrrachium ad Herakleia Lynkestidos Istituto Grafico Editoriale Romano, Roma 2003 | |||
| ] | ] | ||
Revision as of 20:17, 21 February 2005
Via Egnatia (Greek: Εγνατία Οδός) was a road constructed by the Romans around 146 BC. It was named after Gaius Ignatius, proconsul of Macedonia, who ordered its construction. The road stretched across Illyria, Macedonia and Thrace, running across modern Albania, Greece, Republic of Macedonia, Bulgaria, and Turkey. It was constructed in order to link up different Roman colonies from the Adriatic Sea to Byzantium.
The Via Egnatia was repaired and expanded several times. It remained an important commercial and strategic route for centuries, and was one of the most important roads in the Byzantine Empire, connecting Dyrrhachium on the Adriatic with Thessalonica, Adrianople, and finally Constantinople on the Bosporus. Almost all overland trade with western Europe travelled along the Via Egnatia. During the Crusades, armies travelling to the east by land followed the road to Constantinople before crossing into Asia Minor. In the aftermath of the Fourth Crusade, control of the road was vital for the survival of the Latin Empire as well as the Byzantine successor states the Empire of Nicaea and the Despotate of Epirus.
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