Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/1323

 VIA FLAMINIA. of the Itinerary, though there are several variations in the route. Now, if we apply what has been said to the remark of Strabo, that the distance from Thessa- lonica was the same whether the traveller started from Epidaiiinus (Dyrrachium) or from Apollonia, it is difficult to perceive how such could have been the case if the junction of the two branches existed in his time also at Clodiana; since, as we have already seen, it was 16 miles farther to that place from Apollonia than from Dyrrachium ac- cordinsc to the Itin. Ant.; and the Itin. Hierosol. makes it 24 miles farther. Indeed the maps would seem to show that if the two branches were of equal length their junction must have taken place to the E. of Lake Lychnitis; the branch from Dyrrachium passing to the N. of that lake, and that from Apol- lonia to the S. But, although Burmeister, in his review of Tafel's work (in Zimmerman's Zdtschrift fur die Alter tlmmswissensclw ft, 1840, p. 1148), adopted such an hypothesis, and placed the junction at Heracleia, it does not appear that the assumption can be supported by any authority. Clodiana, where the two branches of the Via Egnatia, or Candavia, united, was seated on the river Genusus (the Tjerma or Shumbi). From this point the valley of the river naturally indicated the course of the road to the E. (Leake, Northern Greece, vol. iii. p. 312.) We will now proceed to consider the second, or eastern, portion of the Egnatian Way, viz., that be- tween Thessalonica and Cypsela. The whole length of this route, according to Strabo, was 268 Koman miles; and the distances set down in the Itin. Ant. amount very nearly to that sum, or to 265, as follows. (Find, and Farth. p. 157; Wess. p. 330, seq.) Apollonia - - - - 36 miles. Amphipolis - - - 32 „ Fhilippi - - - - 32 „ Acontisma - - - 21 „ Otopisus (Topirus) - - 18 ,, Stabulum Diomedis - - 22 „ Maximianopolis - - - 18 „ Biizice or Brendice - 20 „ Trajanopolis - - 37 „ Cypsela - - - - 29 „ 265 „ Another route given in the same Itinerary (Wess. p. 320, seq.) does not greatly vary from the above, but is not carried on to Cypsela. This adds the following stations: — Melissurgis, between Thessalo- nica and Apollonia, Neapolis, between Fhilippi and Acontisma, Cosintas, which according to Tafel (pars ii. p. 21) is meant for the river Cossinites, be- tween Topirus and Maximianopolis, and Milolitum and Tempyra, between Brendice and Trajanopolis. The Itin. Hierosol. makes the distance only 250 miles. Many remains of the Egnatian Way are said to be still traceable, especially in the neiglibourhood of Thessalonica. (Beaujour, Voy.7nUitaire dans I' Em- pire Othoman, vol. i. p. 205.) [T. H.D.] VIA FLAMINIA (r) ^Aafiivia 6S6s), one of the most ancient and important of the highroads of Italy, which led from Fiome direct to Ariminum, and may be considered as the Great North Road of the Romans, being the principal and most frequented line of communication with the whole of the north of Italy. It was also one of the first of the great VIA FLAMINIA. 1299 highways of which we know with certainty the period of construction, having been made by C. Flaminius during his censorship (b. c. 220), with tiie express purpose of opening a free communication with the Gaulish territory, which he had himself reduced to subjection a few years before. (Liv. Ejiit. xx.) It is therefore certainly a mistake, when Strabo ascribes it to C. Flaminius (the son of the preceding), who was consul together with ]I. Aemilius Leiiidus, the author of the Aemilian Way, in b. c. 187, and liim- self constructed a road from Bononia to Arretium. (Liv. xxxix. 2 ; Strab. v. p. 217.) It is certain that the Flaminian Way was in existence long be- fore, and its military importance was already felt and known in the Second Funic War, when the consul Sempronius proceeded by it to Ariminum, to watch the movements and oppose the advance of Hannibal. (Liv. xxii. 11.) Throughout the period of the Republic, as well as under the Empire, it was one of the best known and most frequented of the highways of Italy. Cicero, in one of the Fhilippics, says there were three ways which led from Rome to Cisalpine Gaul ; the Flaminian by the Upper Sea (the Adriatic), the Aurelian by the Lower, and the Cas- sian through the midst of Etruria {Phil. xii. 9). During the contest between the generals of Vespa- sian and Vitellius (a. d. 69) the military importance of the Flaminian Way was fully brought out, and it was felt that its possession would be almost decisive of the victory. (Tac. Eist. i. 86, iii. 52, &c.) Tacitus alludes to the extent to which this great highway was at this period frequented, and the conse- quent bustle and crowding of the towns on its course (76. ii. 64). Most of these, indeed, seem to have grown up into flourishing and populous places, mainly in consequence of the traffic along the line of road. So important a highway was naturally the object of much attention,and great pains were taken not only to maintain, but to restore and improve it. Thus, in B.C. 27, when Augustus assigned the care of the other highways to different persons of consular dignify, he reserved for himself that of the Via Flaminia, and completely restored it throughout its wliole length from Rome to Ariminum, a service which was acknow- ledged by the erection of two triumphal arches in his honour, one at Rome, the other at Ariminum, the latter of which is still standing. [Aui.-MiNUJr.] Again, at a later period, Vespasian added materially to the convenience of the road by constructing a tunnel through the rock at a place called Intercisa, now known as II Furlo, a work which still subsi.sts in its integrity. [iNTiiUcisA.] This remarkable passage is particularly noticed by the poet Claudian, who has left us a general description of the Flami- nian Way, bywhicli the emperor Honorius proceeded, in A. D. 404, from Ravenna to Rome. (Claudian, de VI. Cons. Hon. 494 — 522.) Indeed, it is evi- dent that in the latter ages of the Empire, when tiie emperors for the most part took up their residence at Mediolanum or Ravenna, the Flaminian Way, which constituted the direct line of communication between those cities and Rome, must have become of still greater importance than before. One proof of the im])ortant influence exercised by this great line of highway, is alVurded by the circum- stance that, like the Aemilian Way, it gave name to one of the provinces of Italy in the later division of that country under the Empire; though, by a strange confusion or perverseness, the name of Flaminia was given, not to the part of Umbria which was actually traversed by the Via Flaminia, but to the eastern 4 o 2