La viabilità tardoantica: riflessioni e problemi aperti

Abstract

Between the 4th and 5th centuries BC, the use, management and hierarchies of Roman roads changed. In particular, at that period the itineraria (Antonini, Burdigalense and Tabula Peutingeriana) and the milestones, together with the literary texts, attest on one hand the vitality of roads due to military and pilgrimage purposes, on the other hand the problems regarding their maintenance. The milestones from the Tetrarchic period became acts of tribute to the emperors by the local jurisdictions (cf. text in dative and the decrease of mileage indication), demonstrating a different management of the roads. In fact, the dedications to the central power may indicate a new role of the provinces/towns in the maintenance and care of the roads passing through their territory, together with the voluntary declaration of loyalty and devotion to the emperors. In the context of the late antique political transformations, deep changes are observed in the hierarchy between the roads, strictly related to the changes of urban and rural settlement: between the 4th and 5th centuries a few roads lost their importance, in favour to others (such as waterways) which before had had only a secondary use. The paper explains the phenomenon, and in Roman Cisalpina in particular. [Author]