All the Roads to Patavium: Morphology, Genesis and Development of the Roman Road Network Around Padua

Abstract

This paper deals with the analysis of the ancient road network around the city of Padua, attempts to reconstruct its morphology and to define its genesis and development between the second Iron Age and Late Antiquity (6th/5th cent. BC to 6th cent. AD). The study follows a methodological approach that today we define as „archaeomorphological“, first proposed by E. Vion in the late 1980s. By applying this methodology to the Paduan territory, it was possible to identify a series of routes of probable ancient origin radially converging toward the center of Roman Patavium, and linking it to other urban centers in the region and to the minor centers located within its ager. The presence of Iron Age settlements along the path of many of these routes suggests that the development of such a road network likely begins in pre-Roman times, which also highlights the ancient strategic importance of Padua and its territory as a fundamental junction between the center and the North-East of the Italian peninsula. On the other hand, the Roman road network somehow survived into the Late Antiqueand Early Medieval times, always influencing the distribution of settlements and the orientation of churches, until it was for the greater part restored by the Commune of Padua over the 13th century.

Keywords

• landscape archaeology
• archaeomorphology
• road networks
• roman roads
• patavium