[HN Gopher] The Beautiful Network of Ancient Roman Roads (2015) ___________________________________________________________________ The Beautiful Network of Ancient Roman Roads (2015) Author : wglb Score : 47 points Date : 2022-06-15 17:39 UTC (1 days ago) (HTM) web link (www.atlasobscura.com) (TXT) w3m dump (www.atlasobscura.com) | Lio wrote: | > _spanned from Hadrian's Wall in Scotland_ | | Straight off the bat that's wrong. | | Hadrian's Wall is in England not Scotland. | | I guess they could be thinking of Antonine's Wall but that's a | different story. | ghaff wrote: | In general, I agree. Although in the context of the actual | quote, there was so much back and forth trading of land in | northern England over the centuries that to say Hadrian's Wall | was in at least partly in Scotland at one point isn't | necessarily wrong. | superb-owl wrote: | I recently came across a piece of a Roman road while hiking the | Pyrenees. Astounding to see something that old, and to realize | just how far the Roman empire extended. | Lio wrote: | I was riding Peddar's Way[1] in England last year. | | It was an old Roman road but I was told by someone on the trail | it actually dates back to pre-Roman Britain. | | That blew my mind. To walk or ride roads so old and yet so | unchanged. | | 1. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peddars_Way | nonrandomstring wrote: | We have many in the South of England. As a kid I walked and biked | them. Most are dirt trails now, grown over. But if you look on | maps it's clear they are the shortest, straight path between | major towns. Modern roads twist and turn around them. | | I am showing my embarrassing ignorance of history here, but I | don't know why that happened. Maybe something to do with land | rights, and the "enclosures"? Anyway something important was lost | in the communication systems of England between the Roman era and | today. | kwhitefoot wrote: | See The Rolling English Road By G. K. Chesterton | | https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/48212/the-rolling-eng... | | :-) | nonrandomstring wrote: | "The night we went to Birmingham by way of Beachy Head." | | Thanks for that delight. | | So we shall blame alcohol? "The cause of and solution to so | many of lifes problems." :) | jjtheblunt wrote: | > Via Appia was also the site where, in 71 BCE, around 6000 | members of Spartacus's slave army were crucified on the | hillsides. | | Ignorant question: did Romans kill people on crosses before the | Christian era? | overkalix wrote: | The cross became a symbol of Christianity because Jesus was | crucified, not the other way around. | | Moreover, crucifixion is just a pragmatic approach to | traditional public executions. Many societies have used trees | and walls to hang, kill and display the executed their necks | broken, beaten to death, lashed, lynched, asfixiated, left to | die of thirst or exposure... the method doesn't really matter, | the point is they are there for everyone to see. | dudul wrote: | Yes | hourago wrote: | > Along these roads ran messengers, as a type of precursor to the | American Pony Express a relay of horsemen could carry a message | 50 miles a day. | | Is there any real connection between both? | | It sounds strange. Relay horses seems just an obvious solution to | tired horses when you give more priority to speed than cost. | bombcar wrote: | I think they're just pointing out that they use relay horses. I | wonder how many times in history that's been both possible and | needed - the expense is relatively high compared to sending a | single rider. | jmclnx wrote: | If I remember correctly, from what I read, relay horses | allowed the message to arrive faster. Horses get tired too, | so after a certain distance the rider would get a fresh | horse. | ciupicri wrote: | By the way see the Man versus Horse Marathon [1] which | proves that horses aren't that fast on long distances, in | this particular case 22 miles (35 km). | | [1]: | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man_versus_Horse_Marathon | ghaff wrote: | For all its role in Americana, the Pony Express lasted | something like 18 months having come in just prior to the | telegraph. | polycaster wrote: | Somewhat related to the topic: ORBIS - The Stanford Geospatial | Network Model of the Roman World https://orbis.stanford.edu/ | [deleted] ___________________________________________________________________ (page generated 2022-06-16 23:00 UTC)