Subject
As is natural considering its subject matter, Strabo’s Geography (64 or 63 BC – between 21 and 24 AD) contains numerous notes on the Via Appia. The passage below lists a series of cities along the road: Terracina, Formia, Taranto, and what are now Minturno and Benevento. In particular, the author describes how, near Terracina, those heading to Rome are ferried along a canal flanking the roadway, a section usually completed at night. Passengers embark in the evening and disembark in the morning, then continue by land. There are similarities between Strabo’s report and a description of this same passage by Horace in the iter Brundisinum: in both cases a mule tows the small boat.
Strabo, Geography, V.3.6: “After Circeo, at 100 stadî, there is Terracina, formerly called Trachine (“rocky”) because of its true lands. In front of this is a large marsh formed by two rivers: the largest called Ufente. There for the first time the Appian Way, which runs from Rome to Brentesion and is the most travelled road, reaches the sea: of the coastal cities it touches Terracina, then Formiae, Minturnae, Sinuessa, then finally Taranto and Brentesion. Near Terracina, for those going in the direction of Rome, the Via Appia is flanked by a canal fed in many places by standing water and rivers: it is navigated mainly at night, so that travellers travel from evening to early morning, then proceed for the rest of the journey on the road, also during the day. A mule pulls the boat…” (translation from the Italian edition by Anna Maria Biraschi).Strabo, Geography, V.3.6: “After Circeo, at 100 stadî, there is Terracina, formerly called Trachine (“rocky”) because of its true lands. In front of this is a large marsh formed by two rivers: the largest called Ufente. There for the first time the Appian Way, which runs from Rome to Brentesion and is the most travelled road, reaches the sea: of the coastal cities it touches Terracina, then Formiae, Minturnae, Sinuessa, then finally Taranto and Brentesion. Near Terracina, for those going in the direction of Rome, the Via Appia is flanked by a canal fed in many places by standing water and rivers: it is navigated mainly at night, so that travellers travel from evening to early morning, then proceed for the rest of the journey on the road, also during the day. A mule pulls the boat…” (translation from the Italian edition by Anna Maria Biraschi).
Placement
Universiteit Gent Universiteitsbibliotheek
Credits
Google Books, Universiteit Gent Universiteitsbibliotheek
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 1852.
