VIA DOMITIA

The 'Via Domitia' was the first Roman road built in Gaul, which is in modern day France. It was constructed in 118 BC by the proconsul, Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus, and was built around the same time the first Roman colony in Gaul, ''Colonia Narbo Martius'' (Narbonne) was founded. The Via Domitia connected Italy to Spain. At Narbonne, it met the Via Aquitania (which led toward the Atlantic Ocean through Toulouse and Bordeaux). Thus Narbonne was a crucial stategic crossroads of the Via Domitia and the Via Aquitania, and it was an accessible, but well defendable, port at that time. So this 'cusp point' in the Roman Empire's western expansion and ensuing supply, communication and fortification was a very important asset, and was treated as such (see Narbonne).

Contents

Route of the Via Domitia

Notes

External links

Bibliography

Route of the Via Domitia

★ Briançon (''Brigantio'')

★ Chorges (''Caturigomagus'')

★ Gap (''Vapincum'')

★ Le Monetier Allemont (''Alabons'')

★ Embrun (''Eburodunum'')

★ Sisteron (''Segustero'')

★ Notre Dame des Anges (''Alaunium'')

★ Céreste (''Catuiacia'')

★ Apt (''Apta Julia'')

★ Notre Dame des Lumières (''Ad Fines'')

★ Cavaillon (''Cabellio'')

★ Saint-Rémy-de-Provence (''Glanum'')

★ Saint Gabriel (''Ernaginum'')

★ Beaucaire (''Ugernum'')

★ Nîmes (''Nemausus'')

★ ''Ambrussum''

★ Lunel-Vieil

★ Castelnau-le-Lez (''Sextantio'')

★ Montpellier ''route remains unknown''

★ Montbazin (''Forum Domitii'')

★ Mèze

★ Pinet

★ Saint-Thibéry (''Cessero'')

★ Béziers (''Baeterris'')

★ Narbonne (''Narbo Martius'') At Narbonne a section opf the Via Dominitia is exposed in the Place de l'Hôtel de Ville. The Via Domitia crossed the Atax (the Aude) by a seven-arched bridge at the site of the Pont des Marchands.^[1]

★ Fitou (''Ad Viscensimum'')

★ Salses (''Ad Salsulae'')

★ Perpignan

★ Ruscino
''At Ruscino, the road separates in two: the Inland Route and the Coastal Route, which rejoin at La Junquera. ''
'Coastal Route'

★ Elne (''Illiberris'')

★ Saint-Cyprien

★ Argelès

★ Collioure

★ Port-Vendres (''Portus Veneris'')

★ Banyuls
'Inland Route'

★ Montescot

★ Le Boulou

★ Cluses (''Clausurae'')

★ Le Perthus (''Pannissars'')
'Rejoins at:'

★ La Junquera (''Deciana'')
'' Here the Via Augusta begins.''

Notes

1. Narbonne: Remains of the Domitian Way

External links

★ Via Domitia

★ Luberon News - Via Domitia

★ Traces of the Via Domitia

Bibliography

★ Raymond Chevalier, ''Les Voies Romaines'', Picard, Paris, 1997. ISBN 2-708405-268

★ Pierre A. Clement and Alain Peyre, ''La Voie Domitienne: De la Via Domitia aux routes de l'an 2000'', Presses du Languedoc/Max Chaleil Editeur, 1992. ISBN 2-859980-970

★ Pierre A. Clement, ''La ''Via Domitia: Des Pyrénées aux Alpes'', Editions Ouest-France, Rennes, 2005. ISBN 2-737335-086