The Roman road from Trier to Cologne is part of the ''

Via Agrippa ''Via Agrippa'', is any stretch of the network of Roman roads in Gaul that was built by Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, to whom Octavian entrusted the reorganization of the Gauls. In all, the Romans built of roads in Gaul. Agrippa's project Agrippa's ...

'', a Roman era long distance road network, that began at

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of t ...

. The section from

Augusta Treverorum Trier in Rhineland-Palatinate, whose history dates to the Roman Empire, is often claimed to be the oldest city in Germany. Traditionally it was known in English by its French name of Treves. Prehistory The first traces of human settlement in ...

(

Trier Trier ( , ; lb, Tréier ), formerly known in English as Trèves ( ;) and Triers (see also names in other languages), is a city on the banks of the Moselle in Germany. It lies in a valley between low vine-covered hills of red sandstone in the ...

) to the CCAA (

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 m ...

), the capital of the Roman province of

Germania Inferior Germania Inferior ("Lower Germania") was a Roman province from AD 85 until the province was renamed Germania Secunda in the fourth century, on the west bank of the Rhine bordering the North Sea. The capital of the province was Colonia Agrippin ...

, had a length of 66 Roman leagues (= 147 km). It is described in the ''

Itinerarium Antonini The Antonine Itinerary ( la, Itinerarium Antonini Augusti, "The Itinerary of the Emperor Antoninus") is a famous ''itinerarium'', a register of the stations and distances along various roads. Seemingly based on official documents, possibly ...

'', the ''

itinerarium An ''itinerarium'' (plural: ''itineraria'') was an ancient Roman travel guide in the form of a listing of cities, villages ( ''vici'') and other stops on the way, including the distances between each stop and the next. Surviving examples include ...

'' by Emperor Caracalla (198–217), which was revised in the 3rd century, and portrayed in the ''

Tabula Peutingeriana ' (Latin Language, Latin for "The Peutinger Map"), also referred to as Peutinger's Tabula or Peutinger Table, is an illustrated ' (ancient Roman road map) showing the layout of the ''cursus publicus'', the road network of the Roman Empire. The m ...

'' or Peutinger Table, the Roman map of the world discovered in the 16th century, which shows the Roman road network of the 4th century.

Route

The route of the Roman road is described in the ''Itinerarium Antonini'' as passing through seven stations, whose distance is given in

league League or The League may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Leagues'' (band), an American rock band * ''The League'', an American sitcom broadcast on FX and FXX about fantasy football Sports * Sports league * Rugby league, full contact footba ...

s.
1 Gallic league corresponds to 1.5 milia passum = ca. 2,200 metres, where 1 milia passum = 1,000 passus = ca. 1,480 metres The later Peutinger Table describes the same places with the exception of Tolbiacum (Zülpich) and

Belgica Gallia Belgica ("Belgic Gaul") was a Roman province, province of the Roman Empire located in the north-eastern part of Roman Gaul, in what is today primarily northern France, Belgium, and Luxembourg, along with parts of the Netherlands and German ...

(Billig), but without the addition of the word ''vicus''. However, the entries about the route vary considerably from those of the Antonine itinerary and are often interpreted as transcription errors. {, class="wikitable" style="text-align:center" , - style="background:#FFAA00" ! width="25%", Roman station name ! width='"20%', Current name ! colspan="3" width="55%", Distance , - style="background:#FFEBAD" ! ! ! colspan="2", Interval ! From Trier , - style="background: #FFEBAD" ! ! ! Leagues , , Kilometres , , Kilometres , - , style="text-align:left" , Treveros , , style="text-align:left" ,

, , , , , , , - , style="text-align:left" , Beda vicus , , style="text-align:left" ,

Bitburg Bitburg (; french: Bitbourg; lb, Béibreg) is a city in Germany, in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate approximately 25 km (16 mi.) northwest of Trier and 50 km (31 mi.) northeast of Luxembourg city. The American Spangdahlem ...

, , XII , , 27 , , 27 , - , style="text-align:left" , Ausava vicus , , style="text-align:left" ,

Büdesheim Büdesheim is a municipality in the district of Bitburg-Prüm, in Rhineland-Palatinate, western Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in ...

, , XII , , 27 , , 54 , - , style="text-align:left" , Egorigio vicus , , style="text-align:left" ,

Jünkerath Jünkerath is an ''Ortsgemeinde'' – a municipality belonging to a ''Verbandsgemeinde'', a kind of collective municipality – in the Vulkaneifel district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It was th seat of the former ''Verbandsgemeinde'' of Ober ...

, , VII , , 16 , , 70 , - , style="text-align:left" , Marcomago vicus , , style="text-align:left" ,

Marmagen Marmagen is a German tradesmen's village in the Eifel with a population of about 1,600. The formerly independent parish has been part of the municipality of Nettersheim in the district of Euskirchen since 1969. Marmagen is the oldest village in t ...

, , VIII , , 18 , , 88 , - , style="text-align:left" , Tolbiaco vicus , , style="text-align:left" ,

Zülpich Zülpich ( ksh, Zöllech) is a town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany between Aachen and Bonn. It belongs to the district of Euskirchen. History The town is commonly agreed to be the site with the Latin name of ''Tolbiacum'', famous for the ...

, , XII , , 24 , , 112 , - , style="text-align:left" , Agrippina , , style="text-align:left" ,

Köln Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 million ...

, , XVI , , 35 , , 147 Recent research and archaeological surveys of a corridor up to 250 metres wide along the road have shown that at intervals of no more than every three or four kilometres, and in densely populated areas often as little as a few hundred metres, there were sites of various '' vici'' (settlements), ''

mansion A mansion is a large dwelling house. The word itself derives through Old French from the Latin word ''mansio'' "dwelling", an abstract noun derived from the verb ''manere'' "to dwell". The English word '' manse'' originally defined a property l ...

es'' (inns) and ''

mutation In biology, a mutation is an alteration in the nucleic acid sequence of the genome of an organism, virus, or extrachromosomal DNA. Viral genomes contain either DNA or RNA. Mutations result from errors during DNA or viral replication, mi ...

es'', (

coaching inn The coaching inn (also coaching house or staging inn) was a vital part of Europe's inland transport infrastructure until the development of the railway, providing a resting point ( layover) for people and horses. The inn served the needs of tra ...

s), '' stationes beneficiarium'' (military road posts) and religious votive stones, immediately by the road. This is especially true of crossroads, road junctions and river crossings. This road infrastructure was encouraged by the ''

cursus publicus The ''cursus publicus'' (Latin: "the public way"; grc, δημόσιος δρόμος, ''dēmósios drómos'') was the state mandated and supervised courier and transportation service of the Roman Empire, later inherited by the Eastern Roma ...

'', a sort of national postal system.Jeanne-Nora Andrikopoulou-Strack, Wolfgang Gaitzsch, Klaus Grewe, Susanne Jenter und Cornelius Ulbert: ''Neue Forschungen zu den Römerstraßen im Rheinland'', in In: Thomas Otten, Hansgerd Hellenkemper, Jürgen Kunow, Michael Rind: ''Fundgeschichten – Archäologie in Nordrhein-Westfalen'': Begleitbuch zur Landesausstellung NRW 2010, pp. 163 ff. (fortan ''Neue Forschungen'')

References

Literature

* Michael Rathmann, ''Untersuchungen zu den Reichsstraßen in den westlichen Provinzen des Imperium Romanum'', Darmstadt, 2003. * Friedrich Wilhelm Schmidt, edited by Ernst Schmidt:
Forschungen über die Römerstrassen etc. im Rheinlande
'. In: Jahrbücher des Vereins von Alterthumsfreunden im Rheinlande 31 (1861), pp. 1–220 (online resource, retrieved 3 March 2012) * Carl von Veith: ''Die Römerstrasse von Trier nach Köln.'' In: ''Jahrbücher des Vereins von Alterthumsfreunden im Rheinlande.'' Heft 83-85, Bonn, 1883-85 * Joseph Hagen: ''Die Römerstraßen der Rheinprovinz.'' Bonn, 1931 * Hermann Aubin: ''Geschichtlicher Handatlas der Rheinprovinz.'' Cologne,1926 * Charles Marie Ternes: ''Die Römer an Rhein und Mosel.'' Stuttgart, 1975 * Römisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum Mainz (publ.): ''Führer zu vor- und frühgeschichtlichen Denkmälern'', Bd. 26: ''Nordöstliches Eifelvorland.'' Mainz, 1976 * Römisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum Mainz (publ.): ''Führer zu vor- und frühgeschichtlichen Denkmälern'', Bd. 33 ''Südwestliche Eifel.'' Mainz, 1977 * Heinz Günter Horn: ''Die Römer in Nordrhein-Westfalen.'' Stuttgart, 1987 Roman roads in Germania Germania Inferior Eifel in the Roman era Roads in Germany Former buildings and structures in Germany