- The Via Egnatia was a 696 mile (1,120km) Roman Road that ran east west across in Greece.
- It started at Dyrrachium on the Adriatic, ran through Thessalonica and ended at Byzantium on the Bosphorus.
Construction
- Begun from 146 BCE and completed in 120 BCE, by the Governor of Macedonia Gaius Egnatius, to consolidate the new Province of Macedonia.
- Total Distance Dyrrachium to Byzantium 696 miles (1,120 km).
- The road served as an extension of the Via Appia from Rome to Brindisi, with a sea crossing to Dyrrachium.
Route
- Dyrrachium
- Claudiana
- Apollonia
- Masio Scampa
- Lychnida
- Damastion
- Heraclea
- Florina
- Edessa
- Pella
- Thessalonica
- Pydna
- Amphipolis
- Philippi
- Neapolis
- Anastasipopolis
- Traianoupolis
- Kypsela
- Aenus
- Aproi
- Adrianople
- Perinthus
- Caenophrurium
- Selymbria
- Melantias
- Rhegion
- Byzantium
Links to other Roads
- Via Appia from Rome, terminated on the Adriatic opposite the Via Egnatia, giving a direct route from Rome to the Aegean Sea.
- It gave Rome a link into Illyria before they had control of the Alps.
Armies
- Julius Caesar, Pompey, Mark Anthony, Octavian, Cassius and Brutus all marched their armies along the Via Egnatia during the various Civil Wars
Later Use
- The Byzantine armies used it in later centuries.
- The Crusades used it much later.
Today
- The Modern Road ‘Egnatia Odos’, runs parallel to the Via Egnatia between Thessalonica and the Turkish Border.
Dyrrachium