Roman Transport and Communication
Were the Same Thing.

Roman transport was critical for the management of the empire.

Good transport allowed quick and reliable movement of people, information and everything we bought or sold.

Greetings! My name is Junius Posthumus. Most call me Posthumus but you may refer to me as JP, if that feels easier on your tongue. Surus has asked me to tell you what I know about our Roman roads. What I didn't learn by watching and doing, I learned by listening. You can guess what surveyors and engineers talked about, around a fire at night!

I was never a surveyor or engineer, only a Pioneer - that's what the Roman army called its scouts. My legion's chief surveyor taught a few of us to be useful to his team so I spent a lot of my time escorting (looking after) surveyors and engineers.

My comrades and I helped plan and build some of the roads and canals that tied Britain into the web of transport that bound the empire together, from one end of the world to the other.

Well paved, well drained roads, that ran straight as a die as far as the eye could see, or so they say. (I also spent a lot of time standing on hills with a tall red and white pole in one hand and a mirror in the other.) Roman roads ran through and connected all important towns and cities in the empire...from Morocco to Britain.

Here in Britain, the Roman army built them and marched on them. Oxen pulled our baggage trains along them. Then merchants' and farmers' carts rolled along them. Imperial post riders galloped their
horses along them, carrying official messages from London to Rome in ten days...if the Gods and the Channel crossing allowed.

Roman transport used a lot of water.

Transport of heavy and bulk materials - like grain - was concentrated on water. Rivers, canals and the sea were the main commercial routes of the Roman empire. Roman shipping rode the winds and (often conflicting) currents of the Mediterranean Sea and followed the major rivers of the empire. Where the rivers were no use, Rome dug canals to move goods. Quays and harbours linked the wet and dry parts of the transport system.

Roman transport depended more on water than the land but Romans gave our roads pride of place for one simple reason.

We hated the sea! It was a necessary evil.

Being very fond of good order, Romans found the sea far too unpredictable for our taste. We were not in control. For a Roman, that was not a happy feeling.

Through road in Pompeii Copyright MDRodger

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