Earlier this year the Ephorate of Antiquities of Rodopi,
north Greece, announced the discovery of two sections of the ancient Via Egnatia
brought to light during work undertaken to lay water pipes. The works, carried out by the Municipality of Iasmos in Rodopi, took place in February and
March 2019.
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| Photo: Ephorate of Antiquities of Rodopi |
The Via Egnatia is the name given to the military road which
connected the Adriatic and Byzantium as part of a road system which started in
Rome and continued south, first via the Via Appia, later by the Via Traiana, to
Brindisi on the eastern Adriatic coast. Once across the the sea the road, which
was systemized by the Romans in the 2nd C BC under the proconsul of
Macedonia, Gnaeus Egnatius, ran along a pre-existing route which started at the
port of Dyrrachium (another branch started further south in Apollonia) in
present day Albania, ran across the Pindus mountains, and eastward on to
Byzantium. It was the first public road that the Romans built outside Italy,
and was important to them not only for trade but for conquest. It made the movement
of troops much quicker and easier, at times cutting across quite difficult
terrain.
In February 2019 workmen digging a ditch for the water pipeline
noticed a series of well laid stone slabs in their excavation. Archaeologists
were called in to inspect the discovery and rescue excavation was carried out bringing
to light a section of Roman road, measuring 3m × 14m, in a very good state of
preservation.
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| Photo: Ephorate of Antiquities of Rodopi |
In March during the second phase of the project on the Polyanthos
- Iasmos road under the supervision of the Commune of Komotini, a second part
of the paved ancient road was discovered, this time a section about 3 metres in
length. Remains of the ancient road continued under the modern asphalt road so
were unable to be exposed.
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| Photo: Ephorate of Antiquities of Rodopi |
These sections of the Via Egnatia road, along with another
part discovered a little to the east are adding to our knowledge of the exact
course of the ancient road, which in this segment is very close to the route of
the modern highway, known as the Egnatia Odos.
Other, well preserved sections of this famous road may be
seen at various sites in north Greece including Kavala (ancient Neapolis). In
fact, the although the whole of the ancient road is named after Gnaeus
Egnatius, it was not all ‘built’ under his supervision. The section for which he
was responsible ended at Neapolis (Kavalla) and the section after that,
including these new discoveries, was systemised after the conquest of Thrace in
46CE.
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