For Arabian road, see Via Traiana Nova

Via Traiana Nova

The Via Traiana Nova was an ancient Roman road built by the emperor Trajan. It was specifically known as the Via Traiana Nova in order to distinguish it from the Via Traiana in Italy. It is occasionally also referred to simply as the 'Via Nova' or 'Via Nova Traiana' and was completed under...

The Via Traiana was an ancient Roman road. It was built by the emperor Trajan

Trajan

Trajan , was Roman Emperor from 98 to 117 AD. Born into a non-patrician family in the province of Hispania Baetica, in Spain Trajan rose to prominence during the reign of emperor Domitian. Serving as a legatus legionis in Hispania Tarraconensis, in Spain, in 89 Trajan supported the emperor against...

 as an extension of the Via Appia from Beneventum

Benevento

Benevento is a town and comune of Campania, Italy, capital of the province of Benevento, 50 km northeast of Naples. It is situated on a hill 130 m above sea-level at the confluence of the Calore Irpino and Sabato...

, reaching Brundisium (Brindisi) by a shorter route (i.e. via Canusium, Butuntum

Bitonto

Bitonto is a city and comune in the province of Bari , Italy. It is nicknamed the "City of Olives" due to the numerous olive groves surrounding the city.-Geography:...

 and Bari

Bari

Bari is the capital city of the province of Bari and of the Apulia region, on the Adriatic Sea, in Italy. It is the second most important economic centre of mainland Southern Italy after Naples, and is well known as a port and university city, as well as the city of Saint Nicholas...

um rather than via Tarentum

Taranto

Taranto is a coastal city in Apulia, Southern Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Taranto and is an important commercial port as well as the main Italian naval base....

). This was commemorated by an arch at Beneventum

Arches of Trajan

The Arches of Trajan were built in the manner of triumphal arches in a number of places in the Roman Empire during the reign of Trajan, probably constructed by his chief architect, the engineer Apollodorus of Damascus...

.http://tjbuggey.ancients.info/viatraj.html

Background

Via Traiana was constructed in 109 AD by Emperor Trajan at his own expense. It was built following the conclusion of conquest of Italy during a period of relative freedom from military campaigns. Thus the Via Appia, from which Via Traiana was constructed as an extension, lost its original importance as a military highroad that connected Venosa

Venosa

Venosa is a town and comune in the province of Potenza, in the Southern Italian region of Basilicata, in the Vulture area. It is bounded by the comuni of Barile, Ginestra, Lavello, Maschito, Montemilone, Palazzo San Gervasio, Rapolla and Spinazzola....

 (Venusia) and Taranto

Taranto

Taranto is a coastal city in Apulia, Southern Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Taranto and is an important commercial port as well as the main Italian naval base....

 (Tarentum). Furthermore, the maintenance of direct military communications between Venusia, the military colony of 291 BC, and Rome, was no longer needed except in times of civil war, and the Via Appia simply became a means of reaching Brindisi

Brindisi

Brindisi is a city in the Apulia region of Italy, the capital of the province of Brindisi, off the coast of the Adriatic Sea.Historically, the city has played an important role in commerce and culture, due to its position on the Italian Peninsula and its natural port on the Adriatic Sea. The city...

.

Route

Strabo indicates correctly that traveling to Beneventum from Brundisium through Via Traiana was a good day shorter than the old Republican road, Via Appia. Although the actual measurement shows Via Appia to be 203 miles and Via Traiana 205 miles from Brundisium to Beneventum, the difference lies in their topography. There are a number of severe hills and difficult terrain along Via Appia until it reaches Venusia which is about 66 miles away from Beneventum. In contrast, although Via Traiana does encounter equally demanding passages as well in the first 40 miles from Beneventum, there is not another serious hill all the way to Brundisium.

Roman bridges

For an overview of the location of Roman bridges, see List of Roman bridges.

There are the remains of several Roman bridges along the road, including the Ponte dei Ladroni, Ponte delle Chianche, Ponte Pietra, Ponte Rotto (across Carapelle river

Carapelle (river)

The Carapelle is an Italian river whose source is north of Anzano di Puglia in the province of Foggia in Apulia. The river's source is near the border with the province of Avellino in Campania in the Appennino Napoletano Mountains. It curves eastward and flowing past Accadia before being joined by...

), Ponte Rotto (across Cervaro

Cervaro

Cervaro is a town and comune in the Province of Frosinone in the Italian region Lazio. It is located in the Liri valley, about 130 km southeast of Rome and about 50 km southeast of Frosinone....

river), Ponte sul Ofanto and Ponte Valentino.

Sources

• Via Traiana. "The Oxford Classical Dictionary." 3rd ed. 2003.
• Strabo. "Geography: Books 6-7." Trans. Horace Leonard Jones. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1995.
• The Via Traiana. "Papers of the British School at Rome," Vol. VIII, No.5; pages 104-171. London: Macmillan & Co., Limited, 1916.