XIV.] THE ROMAN ROADS. 299
identification of that place with Satala1. It lay near the head-
waters of the river Lycus, due west of Theodosiopolis (Erzeroum),
but separated from that place, and from the Euphrates valley, by a
range of mountains. Afterwards the road was prolonged from
Satala to Trapezus, which was also a Roman military station;
and ultimately a line of posts guarded by troops was established
along the entire route from Samosata to the Euxine.
The communications between the capital and the frontier
provinces of the empire were maintained by means
of the great system of military roads, the construe-
tion of which everywhere followed in the wake of
the Roman conquests. The starting-point for these, from which
the measurements along them were calculated, was in each case
the gate by which the road issued from the walls of Rome; and
the distances to which they respectively extended were recorded
on the Milianum Aureum, or Golden Milestone, which was set
up for that purpose by Augustus in the Forum at the foot of
the Capitoline Hill. Through the facilities which they offered for
speedy transit the intelligence which was constantly required by
an elaborately centralised system of administration was transmitted
to headquarters, and provision was made for the rapid passage of
the Roman armies, and for the conveyance of merchandise from
distant countries. The massive construction of these roads is
made evident by the terraces, raised above the level of the neigh-
bouring ground and paved with solid masonry, which remain in
part both in our own country and in other lands which were
formerly subject to Rome; and the system of milestones by
which they were measured is represented by numerous specimens
which are found in all the three continents. We will now proceed
to trace the principal lines which were followed by these great
arteries of communication, beginning from the western provinces,
The great western road at its commencement was called
the Via Aurelia, under which name it extended The via
from Rome to Pisae (Pisa) by way of Cosa and Amelia.
i See Mr V. W. Yorke's paper, A Journey in the Fatty of the Upper
Euphrates, in the Geographical Journal, vol. 8 (1896), p. 460. The whole of
this paper contains valuable information about the line of Roman defences
here spoken oL