Subject
In the passage quoted, taken from Geography, Strabo (64 or 63 BC – between 21 and 24 AD) states that travellers coming to Brindisi from Greece and Asia can reach Rome by two roads, one of which is the Appian Way, which requires a journey longer by one day and covers a distance of 360 miles. Strabo, Geography, VI.3.7: The most direct route for those who sail from Greece or Asia is the one leading to Brentesion (Brindis) and it is here that all those who must go to Rome land.
There are two routes from Brentesion: the first is a mule track that passes through the territory of the Peucezî called Pedicli and then through that of the Daunians and Samnites until it reaches Beneventum (Benevento). On this route is the city of Egnatia and then Celia, Netium, Canusium and Herdonia. The other route, which passes through Taranto, turns a little to the left, lengthening the itinerary by about a day. It is called via Appia and is more passable for wagons; on it are the cities of Uria and Venusia: the first between Taranto and Brentesion, the other on the border between the territory of the Samnites and that of the Lucans. The two routes, after leaving Brentesion, rejoin near Beneventum and Campania. The road leading from here to Rome is called Appia and passes through Caudium, Calatia, Capua and Casilinum, as far as Sinuessa; the places after these have already been mentioned. The total length of the road from Rome to Brentesion is 360 miles…” (translation from the Italian edition by Anna Maria Biraschi).
Placement
Bodleian Library – Oxford University
Credits
Google Books, Bodleian Library – Oxford University
References
Strabone. Geografia. L’Italia (Libri V-VI), a cura di Anna Maria Biraschi. Testo greco a fronte, Milano 1988.
Strabonis Geographica recognovit Augustus Meineke, Volumen primum, Lipsiae 1877.
