The Roman Milestones of Braga ( pt, Marcos Miliários no Concelho de Braga) are a series of ancient road markers located in

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...

Braga (Maximinos, Sé e Cividade) Braga (Maximinos, Sé e Cividade) is a civil parish in the municipality of Braga, Portugal. It was formed in 2013 by the merger of the former parishes Maximinos, Sé and Cividade. The population in 2011 was 14,572,Braga in

northern Northern may refer to the following: Geography * North, a point in direction * Northern Europe, the northern part or region of Europe * Northern Highland, a region of Wisconsin, United States * Northern Province, Sri Lanka * Northern Range, a ra ...

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

History

The ''Via de Braga a Guimarães'' was constructed during the period of Romanization of the later-Portuguese territory. Specifically, during the first half of the 1st century, this roadway and associated river raised bridges connected

Guimarães Guimarães () is a city and municipality located in northern Portugal, in the district of Braga. Its historic town centre has been listed as a UNESCWorld Heritage Sitesince 2001, in recognition for being an "exceptionally well-preserved and a ...

and

Bracara Augusta Braga ( , ; cel-x-proto, Bracara) is a city and a municipality, capital of the northwestern Portuguese district of Braga and of the historical and cultural Minho Province. Braga Municipality has a resident population of 193,333 inhabitants (in ...

(Braga) then one of the most important urban nuclei in the region (called ''Conventus Bracaraugustanus''). From 41 BC milestones were erected in Braga by masons in the function of various Roman emperors, including

Claudius Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (; 1 August 10 BC – 13 October AD 54) was the fourth Roman emperor, ruling from AD 41 to 54. A member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, Claudius was born to Nero Claudius Drusus, Drusu ...

Nerva Nerva (; originally Marcus Cocceius Nerva; 8 November 30 – 27 January 98) was Roman emperor from 96 to 98. Nerva became emperor when aged almost 66, after a lifetime of imperial service under Nero and the succeeding rulers of the Flavian dy ...

Hadrian Hadrian (; la, Caesar Trâiānus Hadriānus ; 24 January 76 – 10 July 138) was Roman emperor from 117 to 138. He was born in Italica (close to modern Santiponce in Spain), a Roman ''municipium'' founded by Italic settlers in Hispania B ...

Caracalla Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (born Lucius Septimius Bassianus, 4 April 188 – 8 April 217), better known by his nickname "Caracalla" () was Roman emperor from 198 to 217. He was a member of the Severan dynasty, the elder son of Emperor S ...

, Elagabalus,

Maximinus Thrax Gaius Julius Verus Maximinus "Thrax" ("the Thracian"; – 238) was Roman emperor from 235 to 238. His father was an accountant in the governor's office and sprang from ancestors who were Carpi (a Dacian tribe), a people whom Diocletian ...

Carus Marcus Aurelius Carus (c. 222 – July or August 283) was Roman emperor from 282 to 283. During his short reign, Carus fought the Germanic tribes and Sarmatians along the Danube frontier with success. He died while campaigning against th ...

Carinus Marcus Aurelius Carinus (died 285) was Roman emperor from 283 to 285. The elder son of emperor Carus, he was first appointed ''Caesar'' and in the beginning of 283 co-emperor of the western portion of the empire by his father. Official accoun ...

Diocletian Diocletian (; la, Gaius Aurelius Valerius Diocletianus, grc, Διοκλητιανός, Diokletianós; c. 242/245 – 311/312), nicknamed ''Iovius'', was Roman emperor from 284 until his abdication in 305. He was born Gaius Valerius Diocles ...

Maximian Maximian ( la, Marcus Aurelius Valerius Maximianus; c. 250 – c. July 310), nicknamed ''Herculius'', was Roman emperor from 286 to 305. He was ''Caesar'' from 285 to 286, then ''Augustus'' from 286 to 305. He shared the latter title with his ...

Galerius Gaius Galerius Valerius Maximianus (; 258 – May 311) was Roman emperor from 305 to 311. During his reign he campaigned, aided by Diocletian, against the Sasanian Empire, sacking their capital Ctesiphon in 299. He also campaigned across the D ...

Constantius Chlorus Flavius Valerius Constantius "Chlorus" ( – 25 July 306), also called Constantius I, was Roman emperor from 305 to 306. He was one of the four original members of the Tetrarchy established by Diocletian, first serving as caesar from 293 t ...

, Magnentius,

Constantine Constantine most often refers to: * Constantine the Great, Roman emperor from 306 to 337, also known as Constantine I * Constantine, Algeria, a city in Algeria Constantine may also refer to: People * Constantine (name), a masculine given na ...

and

Maximinus Daia Galerius Valerius Maximinus, born as Daza (20 November 270 – July 313), was Roman emperor from 310 to 313 CE. He became embroiled in the Civil wars of the Tetrarchy between rival claimants for control of the empire, in which he was defeated ...

. #6 (CIL4750), Claudius, milha IV, Braga, Sé, Carvalheiras #14 (CIL4751), Nerva, Braga, Sé, Carvalheiras #21 (CIL4752), Hadrian, milha XIII, Braga, Sé, Carvalheiras #29 (CIL4753), Caracalla, Braga, Sé, Carvalheiras #30 (CIL4754), Caracalla, Carvalheiras #40 (CIL4768 e 4769), Elagabalus, Braga, Sé, Carvalheiras #41 (CIL4766), Elagabalus, milha III, Braga, Sé, Carvalheiras #43 (CIL4757), Maximian and Maximinus Thrax, Braga, Sé, Carvalheiras #44 (CIL4756), Maximian and Maximinus Thrax, Braga, Sé, Carvalheiras #59 (CIL4860), Carus, Braga, Sé, Carvalheiras #63 (CIL4761), Carinus, milha VI, Braga, Sé, Carvalheiras #67 (inédito), Diocletian, Braga, Sé, Carvalheiras #68 (inédito), Maximian, Braga, Sé, Carvalheiras #70 (inédito), Galerius, Braga, Sé, Carvalheiras #72 (inédito), Constantius Chlorus, Braga, Sé, Carvalheiras #76 (CIL4765), Magnentius, Braga, Sé, Carvalheiras #83 (inédito), Constantine or Constantius Chlorus or Constantine II, Braga, Sé, Carvalheiras #84 (CIL6210), unknown, Marco de Canavezes, Freixo, alongside the church #86 (CIL4758), Maximian and Maximinus Thrax, Braga, Sé, Carvalheiras #100 (inédito), Braga, Sé, Carvalheiras #101 (inédito), Braga, Sé, Carvalheiras, in the estate of Conselheiro Pimentel. The milestones were essential to the consolidation of the new territorial administration imposed by Rome and the routes served inherent military purposes, while assuring the transport of raw materials (specifically metals) essential to the good performance of the new imperial order. Many of these milestones were investigated and analyzed by Francisco Martins de G. M. Sarmento (1833–1899) and Albano Belino (1863–1906). A series of milestones that were classified in 1910 by Martins Capela (later known as the ''Série Capela''), in his public examination of milestones of Conventus Bracaraugustanus dating from 1895. In this work, Capela inventoried a group of 21 milestones or fragments (of which there is no evidence from where they were discovered), including 20 encountered in the ''Campo das Carvalheiras'' in Braga and one near the Church of Freixo, in Marco de Canavezes. There discovery and analysis resulted in an ample campaign by the ''Conselho Superior dos Monumentos Nacionaes'' (''National Monuments Superior Council''), then attached to the ''Ministerio das Obras Publicas, Commercio e Industria'' (''Ministry of Public Works, Commercial and Industry''), that was involved in cataloguing the artistic and archaeological patrimony. These efforts resulted in its inclusion on a list of national monuments, that were then classified in 1910.

Architecture

Examples of the Roman milestones are housed in the installations of the Museum D. Diogo de Sousa. In the territory the milestones are various heights and diameters, in various locations (such as the ''Passeio das Carvalheiras'' and ''Rua dos Bombeiros Voluntários'', from various epochs.

References

Notes

Sources

* * * * * * {{Braga Ancient Roman buildings and structures in Portugal National monuments in Braga District Buildings and structures in Braga Tourist attractions in Braga