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{{Short description|Roman road in ancient Hispania}}
{{infobox ancient site
| name= Via Augusta
| image= Spain.Catalonia.Roda.de.Bara.Arc.Bera.jpg
| image_size=  300px
| caption=  The [[Arc de Berà|Arch of Berà]] on the Via Augusta
| coordinates =
| location= Roman province of Hispania (Spain, southern France) from ''Gades'' ([[Cádiz]]) to ''Pertusium'' (Coll de Pertús) in the [[Pyrenees]]
| map            = Via Augusta map-fr.svg
| map_size       =
| map_caption    =  Route of the Via Augusta
| epochs = 8 BC – 2 BC
| builder= [[Roman Empire]], [[Augustus Caesar]]
| type=[[Roman road]]
}}
{{italic title}}
The '''''Via Augusta''''' (also known as the  '''''Via Herculea''''' or '''''Via Exterior''''')  was the longest and busiest of the major [[Roman roads|roads built by the Romans]] in ancient [[Hispania]] (the [[Iberian Peninsula]]). According to historian Pierre Sillières, who has supervised excavation of Roman sites in Spain to identify the exact route followed by the Via Augusta, it was more a system of roads than a single road.<ref name="BowmanChamplin1996" /><ref name="Castellvi1997">{{cite book|editor=Georges Castellvi|title=Voies romaines du Rhône à l'Èbre: via Domitia et via Augusta|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0-lnAAAAMAAJ&q=%20%22was%20not%20formed%20of%20a%20single%20axis%22|year=1997|publisher=Éditions de la Maison des sciences de l'homme|page=292|isbn=9782735106332}}</ref> Approximately {{convert|1,500|km|mi|abbr=on}} long, the Via Augusta was built to link Spain with Italy, running from the southwestern coastal city of ''Gades'' ([[Cádiz]]) to the [[Pyrenees]] Mountains along inland valleys parallel to the coast of the [[Mediterranean Sea]]. As the main axis of the road network in Roman Hispania,<ref name="O'Callaghan2013">{{cite book|author=Joseph F. O'Callaghan|title=A History of Medieval Spain|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xVMJAgAAQBAJ&pg=PT33|year=2013|publisher=Cornell University Press|isbn=978-0-8014-6871-1|page=33}}</ref> it appears in ancient sources such as the [[Itinerarium|itinerary]] inscribed on the [[Vicarello Cups]]<ref name="AdkinsAdkins2014">{{cite book|author1=Lesley Adkins|author2=Roy A. Adkins|title=Handbook to Life in Ancient Rome|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zGY1Sqjwf8kC&pg=PA188|year=2014|publisher=Infobase Publishing|isbn=978-0-8160-7482-2|pages=188–}}</ref> as well in as the [[Antonine Itinerary]].

The highway was named after the emperor [[Augustus]], who ordered reconstruction of the previously existing ''Via Herculea'' (or ''Via Heraklea''), which ran from the Pyrenees to ''Carthago Nova'', and extension of the arterial roadway as far as ''Gades''.<ref>{{cite book|title=Archaeology|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y94sAAAAMAAJ&q=%22Via%20Herculea%22%20%22Via%20Augusta%22|year=1951|publisher=Archaeological Institute of America|page=5}}</ref> The works were carried out between 8 BC and 2 BC,<ref name="MacMullen2000">{{cite book|author=Ramsay MacMullen|title=Romanization in the Time of Augustus|url=https://archive.org/details/romanizationinti0000macm|url-access=registration|year=2000|publisher=Yale University Press|isbn=978-0-300-12990-8|pages=[https://archive.org/details/romanizationinti0000macm/page/57 57]–}}</ref><ref name="Marzà2003">{{cite book|author=Xavier Allepuz Marzà|title=Borriol|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=x3MKGOPSH_kC&pg=PA270|year= 2003|publisher=Publicacions de la Universitat Jaume I|isbn=978-84-8021-413-1|page=270}}</ref> taking advantage of what remained of roads that had existed in the time of the [[Roman Republic]].<ref name="Gómez2013">{{cite book|author=Enrique Melchor Gil|editor=Luis Segado Gómez|title=Orígenes históricos de Villafranca de Córdoba|url=https://www.academia.edu/2907558|year=2013|publisher=Universidad de Córdoba, Servicio de Publicaciones|isbn=978-84-9927-127-9|page=103|chapter=La red viaria romana en la comarca del Alto Guadalquivir: la zona de Villafranca de Córdoba|language=es |quote=English: The main Roman road traversing the province of Córdoba was the Via Augusta, built by order of the emperor, and taking advantage of the network of roads that had existed since the era of the Roman Republic. The road communicated Rome with Gades, passing through Tarraco, Carthago Nova and the four capitals of the legal convents of Betica (Corduba, Astigi, Hispalis and Gades). This was a public road built and maintained by the Roman administration, on which the ''cursus publicus'', or the courier and transportation system of the imperial administration, was established. Therefore, the Via Augusta facilitated the government and administration of the province of Baetica, as well as the movement of the armies when necessary.}}</ref> Subsequently, it became an important communications and trade route between the cities and provinces and the ports of the Mediterranean. The Via Augusta was still used by the Moors of southern Spain in the 10th century,<ref name="Aguilera1985">{{cite book|author=Federico Pallí Aguilera|title=La Vía Augusta en Cataluña|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2MUjAQAAIAAJ&q=%22utilizada%20en%20el%20siglo%20X%22|year=1985|publisher=Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona|isbn=978-84-7488-125-7|page=127}}</ref> who called it ''al-Racif''. Its route is currently followed by the [[N-340 road (Spain)|N-340 road]] and the [[A-7 highway (Spain)|A-7 highway]]. North of [[Tarragona]] there remains a Roman [[Triumphal arch]], the [[Arc de Berà]], around which the road divides. At [[Martorell]], the ancient Via crosses the river [[Llobregat]] on the [[Pont del Diable]],<ref name="Raventós1994">{{cite book|author=[[Xavier Dupré i Raventós]]|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WB1u-DzR0mQC&pg=PA248|title=L'arc romà de Berà: Hispania Citerior|publisher=Institut d'Estudis Catalans|year=1994|isbn=978-84-7283-274-9|location=|page=248}}</ref> which dates from the [[High Middle Ages]] (circa 1289) in its current form. At present, the N-IV N-420, N-340 and the Mediterranean Highway ( A-7, AP-7, A-70 ) follow the same itinerary in many sections as the Vía Augusta. In some sections of the current N-340, the Roman road was used until the 1920s, when they were paved during the dictatorship of [[Miguel Primo de Rivera|Primo de Rivera]].

==Background information==

The [[Roman Empire]] built roads extending to its far corners; once the Romans had conquered [[Hispania]] they began to build roads there as in their other territories. ''Hispania'', the Roman name for the Iberian Peninsula, included what is now Spain, Portugal, [[Andorra]], and the southernmost part of France.<ref>Simon Keay, "Recent Archaeological Work in Roman Iberia", The Journal of Roman Studies, 93 (2003): 146.</ref> When Augustus went to Spain between 16 and 13 BC, he saw the need for roads and ordered the construction of the Via Augusta, the longest and most important road in Hispania.<ref>S. J. Keay, Roman Spain, (California: University of California Press, 1988) 49.</ref><ref>''The Cambridge Ancient History'', Volume 10, ed. by Alan K. B, Edward C., Andrew L. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996) 454.</ref> The road passed from near the southern tip of present-day Spain on the Atlantic to the Mediterranean through the [[Guadalquivir]] valley and along the coast to the [[Col du Perthus|Coll de Pertús]] ([[Latin language|Latin]]:&nbsp;"''Pertusium''") pass in the [[Pyrenees]].<ref name="BowmanChamplin1996">{{cite book|author=Alföldy|editor1=Alan K. Bowman|editor2=Edward Champlin|editor3=Andrew William Lintott|title=The Cambridge ancient history: Augustan Empire, 43 B.C.–A.D. 69|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JZLW4-wba7UC&pg=PA454|year=1996|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-26430-3|page=454|chapter=13 c. Spain}}</ref><ref>Karen Eva Carr, ''Vandals to Visigoths: Rural Settlement Patterns in Early Medieval Spain'', (Chicago: University of Michigan Press, 2002), 146. {{ISBN?}}</ref>

The Via Augusta linked [[Hispania Baetica]] in the south with the north of Hispania. The still extant Alcantarilla bridge, a double arched stone bridge over the River Salado in [[Utrera]], about {{convert|32|km|mi}} south of Seville,<ref name="Sparrow1920">{{cite book|author=Walter Shaw Sparrow|title=A Book of Bridges|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aZ1BAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA30|year=1920|publisher=John Lane Company|page=30}}</ref> has an inscription on the [[Starling (structure)|cutwater]] of one of its pilings indicating that it was on the Via Augusta.  The Romans built a fifteen-arched bridge over the River Baetis (the [[Guadalquivir]]) at [[Andújar]] on the Augustan road.<ref name="Ranera1863">{{cite book|author=Alejandro Gómez Ranera|title=Compendio de la historia de España, desde su origen hasta el reinado de Doña Isabel II y año de 1862...|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kW_mm0ICMt8C&pg=RA1-PA143|year=1863|publisher=Imp. de Alejandro Gómez Fuentenebro|page=143}}</ref><ref name="Society1977">{{cite book|author=Anglo-Spanish Society|title=Quarterly Review|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IS7jAAAAMAAJ&q=%22Roman%20bridge%20of%2015%20arches%22|year=1977|page=34}}</ref><ref name="UC/IHA1994">{{cite book|author1=Universidad de Córdoba (Spain). Departamento de Historia Moderna, Contemporánea y de América|author2=Instituto de Historia de Andalucía|title=Historia antigua: actas del II Congreso de Historia de Andalucía, Córdoba 1991|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gBJpAAAAMAAJ&q=%22del%20R%C3%ADo-And%C3%BAjar%22|year=1994|publisher=Junta de Andalucía, Consejería de Cultura y Medio Ambiente|isbn=978-84-7959-050-5|page=456}}</ref><ref name="Fernández2003">{{cite book|author=Leonardo Fernández Troyano (Ingénieur civil)|title=Bridge Engineering: A Global Perspective|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0u5G8E3uPUAC&pg=PA106|year=2003|publisher=Thomas Telford|isbn=978-0-7277-3215-6|page=106}}</ref> In the second half of the 1st century, with the social stability brought by the ''[[Pax Romana]]'', the Roman city of [[History of Carmona, Spain#Roman Empire|Carmo]], now [[Carmona, Spain|Carmona]], became a major crossroads on the Via Augusta and an important outpost in the Roman empire.

Several cities have traces of the roadbed, which roughly follows that of the current AP-7 motorway. There is a fairly long visible stretch in the municipality of [[El Perelló]], in the province of [[Tarragona]]. The [[Arc de Berà]] is located on the section that passed just south of the city. The strategic position of Roman Barcelona (''Barcino'') on a spur road of the Via Augusta allowed the city's commercial and economic development.<ref name="MonfortDuran2009">{{cite book|author1=Cèsar Carreras Monfort|author2=Josep Guitart i Duran|title=Barcino I: marques i terrisseries d'àmfores al pla de Barcelona|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=skV87Cxz9xsC&pg=PA77|year=2009|publisher=Institut d'Estudis Catalans|isbn=978-84-92583-45-4|page=77}}</ref><ref>[[Avienius]], Or. Mar. 520: ''Et Barcilonum aoena sedes ditium''.)</ref> In Barcelona, the ancient Via Augusta corresponds to one of the main avenues, also called "Via Augusta", in  the Sarrià-Sant Gervasi district, which connects the [[Avinguda Diagonal]]  with the Vallvidrera tunnels, passing through Plaça Molina. A large part of line 6 of the  [[Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat de Catalunya|Generalitat of Catalonia Railways]] passes underneath the Via Augusta roadbed.

[[File:Arco romano de Cabanes.jpg|thumb|Arch of Cabanes]]
The Roman [[Arch of Cabanes]], in the flat area known as ''Pla de l'arc'', {{convert|19|km|mi}} northwest of [[Castellón de la Plana|Castellón]] in the [[Valencian Country]], crosses the Via Augusta,<ref>{{cite book|author=A. l. Frothingham|title=American Journal of Archaeology|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xX1JAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA174|series=Second|volume=10|year=1915|publisher=Macmillan Company|page=174|chapter=The Roman Territorial Arch}}</ref> which followed the inland valley in the province. This arch is now located in a roundabout of the CV-157 that still retains a certain resemblance to the appearance of the ancient Roman roads due to the rows of trees lining both sides of the highway, although the original route of the Via Augusta, which today is marked in many regions as a livestock route, does not always coincide with the current roads. However, the CV-157 road does not follow the southwest–northeast orientation that the Via Augusta followed in almost all its route, but rather west–east. This is because, as in other regions of Spain (e.g., Barcelona, Cabanes, and Tarragona), the Via Augusta crossed sparsely populated areas, generally along interior valleys parallel to the coast, so that almost all the Roman cities, especially those on the coast, were reached by secondary roads perpendicular to the Via Augusta. Branches used for military purposes also ran to the interior.<ref name="Vives2015">{{cite book|author=Jaime Vicens Vives|title=Economic History of Spain|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=i1DWCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA73|year= 2015|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=978-1-4008-7956-4|page=73}}</ref>

The Via Augusta is documented and referenced in two central places in [[Valencia]]: the first is next to the [[Valencia Cathedral]] in the Almoina Archaeological Centre, which houses archaeological excavations made between 1985 and 2005 that revealed [[stratigraphy|stratigraphic]] layers representing successive eras of the city's history,<ref name="Fernández-Navajas2013">{{cite journal |author1=Ángel Fernández-Navajas |author2=Paloma Merello |author3=Pedro Beltrán |author4=Fernando-Juan García-Diego |title=Multivariate Thermo-Hygrometric Characterisation of the Archaeological Site of Plaza de l'Almoina (Valencia, Spain) for Preventive Conservation |journal=Sensors |date=29 July 2013 |volume=13 |issue=8 |page=9731 |doi=10.3390/s130809729|pmid=23899937 |pmc=3812577 |bibcode=2013Senso..13.9729F |doi-access=free }}</ref> and the second place is next to the old [[Palace of the Borgias]], now the [[Corts Valencianes|Valencian Parliament]]. A few tens of metres of the pavement of the road can be found in the Almoina Museum, as well as remains of six [[Corinthian Order]] columns of the Temple of the Nymphs (''Templo de las Ninfas'') from the same period,<ref name="Rosado1995">{{cite book|author=Helena Bonet Rosado|title=El Tossal de Sant Miquel de Llíria: la antigua Edeta y su territorio|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=C_UgAQAAMAAJ&q=%22Templo%20de%20las%20Ninfas%22|year=1995|publisher=Diputación de Valencia, Servicio de Investigación Prehistórica|isbn=978-84-7795-981-6|page=498}}</ref><ref name="Cavadas2014">{{cite book|author=José Manuel da Rocha Cavadas|title=A Primeira Partida do Mundo|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MRnLBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA64|year= 2014|publisher=Obrapropia Editorial|isbn=978-84-15453-37-6|page=64}}</ref> a stone well, and remains of Visigothic and Arab houses. There are also milestones in San Vicente street (the city exit to the south) and in the Alameda de Valencia (the city [[esplanade]]).

[[File:Columna museo lc.JPG|100px|thumb|The San Vicente Ferrer Column of Caesar Augustus]]

The city of [[Lorca, Spain|Lorca]] (known as ''Eliocroca'' in Roman times) in the [[Region of Murcia|province of Murcia]] has several vestiges of the Via Augusta, including two Roman columns, the [[Vincent Ferrer|San Vicente Ferrer]] and the Baldazos milestones (La Hoya), respectively, of Emperor Augustus (8–7 BC) and Emperor [[Constantius Chlorus]], preserved in the Archaeological Museum of Lorca (Museo Arqueológico de Lorca). The milestone of Constantius Chlorus was found in 1929 at Baldazos, in the Diputación of La Hoya, six km from Lorca.<ref name="Asensio1989">{{cite book|author=Sebastián F. Ramallo Asensio|title=La documentación arqueológica|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Rl1lv6Ivi6wC&pg=PA69|year=1989|publisher=EDITUM|isbn=978-84-7684-178-5|page=69}}</ref>  During Roman times this hamlet was a ''[[mansio]]'',<ref>Latin: from ''mansus'' (the perfect passive participle of ''manere'', 'to remain" or "to stay"), an official stopping place on a road, maintained by the central government for the use of officials and those on official business whilst travelling.</ref> or official stopping place.  Another milestone, the El Hornillo milestone, was found by a citizen on 5 February 2013 in the course of the River [[Guadalentín]], upstream from Lorca;<ref name="EP2013">{{cite news |title=Descubierta en Lorca una columna miliaria romana de la época del emperador Octavio Augusto |url=https://www.europapress.es/murcia/noticia-descubierta-lorca-columna-miliaria-romana-epoca-emperador-octavio-augusto-20130212173941.html |access-date=16 May 2019 |work=Europa Press |agency=Europa Press |date=12 February 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130212174732/http://www.europapress.es/murcia/noticia-descubierta-lorca-columna-miliaria-romana-epoca-emperador-octavio-augusto-20130212173941.html |archive-date=February 12, 2013}}</ref><ref name="RodríguezGarcía2014">{{cite journal |author1=El descubrimiento de un nuevo miliario en el Hornillo, Lorca (Murcia) Andrés Martínez Rodríguez |author2=Juana Ponce García |title=El descubrimiento de un nuevo miliario en el Hornillo, Lorca (Murcia) |journal=Alberca: Revista de la Asociación de Amigos del Museo Arqueológico de Lorca |date=2014 |volume=12 |page=67 |url= http://www.amigosdelmuseoarqueologicodelorca.com/alberca/pdf/alberca12/05_12.pdf |issn=1697-2708}}</ref> Like the San Vicente Ferrer column, this column dates to the reign of Caesar Augustus; it is currently on display in the vestibule of the Museo Arqueológico de Lorca (MUAL).<ref name="MUAL2019">{{cite web |title="Las de comunicación romanas a su paso por Lorca" |url=http://www.museoarqueologico.lorca.es/zaguan.html |website=www.museoarqueologico.lorca.es |publisher=Museo Arqueológico de Lorca |access-date=16 May 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190516033435/http://www.museoarqueologico.lorca.es/zaguan.html |archive-date=16 May 2019 |date=2019}}</ref>

The Column of San Vicente Ferrer, dating to the reign of Caesar Augustus (CIL II 4937) is inscribed:
{{blockquote|IMP. Caesar. DIVI. F. / AVGVSTUS. CONS. XI / TRIBVNIC. POTEST. XVI / IMP. XIIII. PONTIFEX. /  MAX / M. P.  XXVIII.}}

This is the abbreviated form of:

{{blockquote|IMPERATOR CAESAR DIVI FILIVS / AGVSTVS CONSVL XI / TRIBVNICIA POTESTATE XVI / IMPERATOR XIIII PONTIFEX. / MAXIMVS / MILLE PASSVS XXVIII}}

The inscription translated to English reads:

{{quote|Emperor Caesar Augustus, son of the Divine, Consul for the 11th time, his 16th year of tribunal power, General in 14 campaigns and [[Pontifex Maximus|Chief High Priest]], mile 28 [from Carthago Nova ([[Cartagena, Spain|Cartagena]]) towards Eliocroca (Lorca}]<ref name="Asensio1989" />}}

==History==

The Via Augusta was the great imperial road of Spain, and as a continuation of the ''Vias'' [[Via Julia Augusta|Julia Augusta]], [[Via Aemilia|Aemilia]], and [[Via Flaminia|Flaminia]], it formed a major link in a chain of roads connecting Rome with the Atlantic Ocean.<ref name="Laing1909">{{cite book|author=Gordon Jennings Laing|title=Roman Milestones and the Capita Viarum|url=https://archive.org/details/jstor-282673|year=1909|page=[https://archive.org/details/jstor-282673/page/n16 30]|publisher=Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association}}</ref>  Its usage allowed the development of cities such as Valentia (Valencia), Saguntum ([[Sagunto]]), Lucentum ([[Alicante]]), Saetabis ([[Xàtiva]]), and Ilici ([[Elche]]).<ref name="Valenciana2019">{{cite web |title=Recuperation Project for the Via Augusta in the Valencia community |url=http://www.habitatge.gva.es/documents/20088661/20089512/Catalogo_ingles/0e12edb6-c89a-4490-8698-2fe0a91a0837 |publisher=Generalitat Valenciana |access-date=19 May 2019 |page=5}}</ref> The Roman road engineers naturally considered the surrounding environment and the slope of the land when determining the course of the road, taking into account the existing old [[Iberians|Iberian]] roads as well. The average width was between four and six metres, although there are some sections that were ten or fourteen metres wide. The sidewalks (''margines'' or ''crepidines''), built only near the cities, were between three and ten metres wide on each side.<ref name="Staccioli2003">{{cite book|author=Romolo Augusto Staccioli|title=The Roads of the Romans|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7Nq25uJOP1oC&pg=PA108|year=2003|publisher=Getty Publications|isbn=978-0-89236-732-0|page=108}}</ref>

Starting from Coll de Pertús pass in the Pyrenees, the Via Augusta ran south and southwest to the upper reaches of the River Baetis, and from that area on through Baetica to Gades. From the point where the road crossed the Baetis, however, a new system began. The river in that region formed the boundary between Baetica and Tarraconensis, and there a bridge with an arch, the ''Ianus Augusti'', was erected in honor of Augustus. From this arch all the rest of the milestones on the way to Gades were numbered.<ref name="Powell2016">{{cite book|author=Lindsay Powell|title=Augustus at War: The Struggle for the Pax Augusta|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OcOIDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT110|year=2016|publisher=Pen & Sword Books|isbn=978-1-4738-9005-3|page=110}}</ref>

Milestones were placed on the edge of Roman roads to indicate distances between ''capitas'' (starting points), at a distance of a thousand paces between the milestones (a pace was a Roman double step called a ''mille passum'') equivalent to a Roman mile, i.e., 1.480 metres, hence its name. The milestones were cylindrical stone columns of granite or sandstone between 2 and 3 metres high and 50 to 80&nbsp;cm in diameter, set on a square base.<ref name="RamageRamage2008">{{cite book|author1=Nancy H. Ramage|author2=Andrew Ramage|title=The British Museum Concise Introduction to Ancient Rome|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=maETAQAAIAAJ&q=%22granite,%20limestone%22|year=2008|publisher=University of Michigan Press|isbn=978-0-472-03245-7|page=54}}</ref> They were inscribed with information referring to the road: the name of the builder or restorer, the name of the nearest station and the distance, and sometimes the point of departure (''caput viae'') or of arrival (''terminus viae'').<ref name="Marzà2003"/>

===Construction of the road network===
[[File:Iberia 17BC.svg|thumb|Administrative divisions of Hispania in 17 BC with the capital of each province and of each conventus]]
The construction of the Via Augusta was undertaken within the context of the administrative reorganisation of the provinces of Hispania initiated by Augustus. The immediate precedent of this roadbuilding project was the network of roads, the [[Via Agrippa]], built in [[Gaul]] under the supervision of [[Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa]] at Augustus' command in 20-19 BC. [[Strabo]] (IV, 6, 11) alludes to Agrippa's laying out of the roadways.<ref name="Dueck2017">{{cite book|author=Tønnes Bekker-Nielsen|editor=Daniela Dueck|title=The Routledge Companion to Strabo|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tDolDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA129|year=2017|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-1-317-44586-9|pages=129–130|chapter=Strabo's Roads}}</ref><ref name="Roller2018">{{cite book|author=Duane W. Roller|title=A Historical and Topographical Guide to the Geography of Strabo|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cFZoDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA211|year= 2018|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1-316-85315-3|page=211}}</ref> Agrippa then went to Hispania in 19-18 BC to personally direct the [[Cantabrian Wars|war against the Cantabrians]] in the north of the peninsula; Augustus himself returned to Hispania and remained for a period between 16 and 13 BC doing administrative work.<ref name="BowmanChamplin451">{{cite book|author1=Alan K. Bowman|author2=Edward Champlin|title=The Cambridge Ancient History|year= 1996|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JZLW4-wba7UC&pg=PA451|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-26430-3|page=451}}</ref> He and his advisors set about devising an ambitious programme to restructure the administration of the territory, its primary objectives being the establishment of new cities, the construction of roads connecting them, and the distribution of large areas of land to be parcelled out among veteran professional soldiers.<ref name="Arasa20009">{{cite journal |author1=Ferran Arasa |title=La vía Augusta en el País Valenciano |journal=Anas |date=2008–2009 |volume=21-22 |page=344 |url=https://www.academia.edu/2533639 |access-date=17 May 2019 |location=Mérida |issn=1130-1929}}</ref>

With the complete subjugation of Hispania, Augustus determined to lay out a proper road system  like that which Agrippa had built in Gaul, and the basic network appears to have been completed in his reign. He repaired and relaid the coastal road from Tarraco (the imperial headquarters during his residence, Augustus made it the capital of ''Hispania Tarraconensis''), through Valentia to Carthago Nova (Cartagena), as well as the road through the Baetis valley by way of Corduba and [[Hispalis]] to Gades itself, and in this section a large number of milestones bearing his name have been found.<ref name="Charlesworth2016">{{cite book|author=M. P. Charlesworth|title=Trade-Routes and Commerce of the Roman Empire|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.282446|edition=2nd|year= 2016|orig-year=1926|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1-316-62005-2|page=[https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.282446/page/n171 152]}}</ref>

The isolation of Hispania from the rest of the Mediterranean world was a circumstance addressed by the building of Augustus' road network. The itineraries and milestones, as well as traces of the ancient roads, suggest that this was an intensive project. There were four important routes between the [[Conventus iuridicus|conventus capitals]] of Bracara Augusta ([[Braga]]) and Asturica Augusta ([[Astorga, Spain|Astorga]]), the third hub of the system being the conventus capital Lucus Augusti ([[Lugo]]).<ref name="Jones2012">{{cite journal |author1=R. F. J. Jones |title=The Roman Military Occupation of North-West Spain |journal=Journal of Roman Studies |date=24 September 2012 |volume=66 |page=46 |doi=10.2307/299779 |publisher=Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies|jstor=299779 }}</ref> Caesaraugusta ([[Zaragoza]]) and Carthago Nova were conventus capital cities that were also crossroads and the terminuses (''capita'') of roads.<ref name="Laing1909"/>

Augustus ordered the building of the road from Caesaraugusta to Tarragona, passing through Ilerda (Lerida) and Huesca. Domitian extended the road from Caesaraugusta to Olispo (Lisbon), by way of Toletum ([[Toledo, Spain|Toledo]]) and Augusta Emerita. The latter city was the starting point of the [[Vía de la Plata|road]] (later the so-called "silver way"), which passed northward through [[Helmantica|Salamanca]] to [[Zamora, Spain|Oceloduri]].<ref name="Viu1852">{{cite book|author=José de Viu|title=Extremadura: Colección de sus Inscripciones y Monumentos|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=t6feD7Aqz18C&pg=PA398|year=1852|publisher=P. Montero|page=398}}</ref> There it met the road following the course of the [[Ebro]] and then into the region of north-central Hispania. Asturica Augusta, the ''terminus'' of the "silver route", was an important junction, where the highways to Lusitania and the Cantabrian coast intersected. It later became the celebrated pilgrimage road to [[Santiago de Compostela]]. In the south, Emerita and Gades were connected by the Hispalis road. In Hispalis the road joined the branch of the Via Augusta which started in [[Acci]] (also Accitum) and veered inland to Corduba, Astigi (Écija), and Carmo. This was the main layout of the Roman road system in Hispania; together with the network of localised roads, they covered about {{convert|21,000|km|mi|abbr=on}}.<ref name="O'Callaghan2013" />

Milestones indicate the roads laid out by Augustus from Bracara to Asturica through Lucus Augusti, from Caesaraugusta to Juliobriga ([[Reinosa]]), from Emerita ([[Mérida, Spain|Mérida]]) to Hispalis ([[Seville]]), penetrating the rich mining district of the Montes Mariani, and  from Carthago Nova to Castulo ([[Cazorla, Andalusia|Cazorla]]), another mining region.<ref name="Chevallier1976">{{cite book|author=Raymond Chevallier|title=Roman Roads|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UWRoAAAAMAAJ&q=%22Juliobriga%22|year=1976|publisher=Batsford|page=157|isbn=9780713430394}}</ref> There was a road built by him from [[Lleida|Ilerda]] to Caesaraugusta, crossing the [[Ebro]] by a wooden bridge according to Strabo, and apparently one from Aesuris to [[Pax Julia]], up the course of the river [[Guadiana|Anas]]. Augustus had surrounded Hispania with a great circle of roads, with one or two branches reaching inland. In contrast to Gaul, where Agrippa had laid out four or five roads radiating from a central hub, here there was the perimeter of a wheel, so to speak, and it was the task of succeeding emperors to fill in the spokes and build more direct cross-country routes.<ref name="Charlesworth2016" />

The Via Augusta was originally a [[Via Militaris|''via militaris'']], i.e., a military road built by [[Legionary|legionaries]] of the [[Roman army]]; these units constructed a substantial part of the road network, especially at the beginning of the empire. These roads remained strategically important, but their main purpose was for general communications, as shown by an inscription on a fragmentary milestone found near Corduba (Córdoba). Here, in the year 90, [[Domitian]] ordered the restoration of the Via Augusta, which had fallen into disrepair. This section of the road was designated a ''via miltaris'', according to the inscription:

{{blockquote|VIAM AVGVSTAM MILITAREM / VETVSTATE CORRVPTAM RESTITVIT.<ref name="BruunEdmondson2014">{{cite book|author1=Christer Bruun|author2=Jonathan Edmondson|title=The Oxford Handbook of Roman Epigraphy|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=O3DDBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA653|year= 2014|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-971442-1|page=653}}</ref>}}

In English:

{{blockquote|He restored the via militaris Augusta, which had become dilapidated through old age.<ref name="BruunEdmondson2014" />}}

==Cities through which the Via Augusta passed==
[[file:Sagunt. Via Augusta 2.JPG|thumb|Traces of the road in ancient ''Gades'' (Cádiz)]]
* ''Gades'' ([[Cádiz]])
* ''Ad Portus'' ([[El Puerto de Santa María]])
* ''Asta Regia'' ([[Jerez de la Frontera|Jerez de la Frontera (Mesas de Asta)]])
* ''Ugia'' [[Utrera|(Torre Alocaz), Utrera]]
* ''[[Orippo]]'' ([[Dos Hermanas]])
* ''Hispalis'' ([[Seville#Early periods|Seville]])
* ''Carmona'' ([[History of Carmona, Spain#Roman Empire|Carmona]])
* ''Obucla u Obúlcula [[Fuentes de Andalucía|Fuentes de Andalucía (La Monclova)]])
* ''Colonia Augusta Firma Astigi'' ([[Écija]])
* ''Adaras'' ([[La Carlota, Spain|La Carlota]])
* ''Corduba'' ([[Córdoba (Spain)|Córdoba]])
* ''Iliturgi'' ([[Mengíbar]], where it crossed the [[Betis River]] on the Bridge of Andújar ([[Guadalquivir]])
* ''Isturgi'' ([[Andújar]])
* ''Castulo'' ([[Linares (Jaén)|Linares]])
* ''Mentesa Oretana'' ([[Villanueva de la Fuente]])
* ''Saltigi'' ([[Chinchilla de Monte-Aragón]])
* ''[[Libisosa]]'' ([[Lezuza]])
* ''Ad Ello'' ([[Elda]])
* ''Carthago Nova'' ([[Cartagena (Spain)|Cartagena]])
* ''Eliocroca'' ([[Lorca (Spain)|Lorca]])
* ''Sucro'' ([[Albalat de la Ribera]])
* ''Saetabis'' ([[Xàtiva]])
* ''Valentia'' ([[Valencia]])
* ''Saguntum'' ([[Sagunt]])
* ''Intybilis'' ([[La Jana]])
* ''Dertosa'' ([[Tortosa]])
* ''Tarraco'' ([[Tarragona]])
* ''Barcino'' ([[Barcelona]])
* ''Baetulo'' ([[Badalona]])
* ''Aquis Vocontis'' ([[Caldes de Malavella]])
* ''Gerunda'' ([[Girona]])
* ''Narbo Martius'' ([[Narbonne]]), [[France]]

==References==
{{hatnote|This article incorporates information translated from the [[:es:Vía Augusta|equivalent article]] on the [[:es:Wikipedia:Website|Spanish Wikipedia]]}}

{{Reflist}}

{{Augustus}}
{{List of Roman roads}}

{{Coord missing|Spain}}

[[Category:Roman roads in Spain|Augusta, Via]]
[[Category:Buildings and structures completed in the 1st century BC]]
[[Category:0s BC establishments in the Roman Empire]]
[[Category:Augustus]]