Roads and Milestones

The Romans made their roads the skeleton of their Empire, having exceptionally well developed the technology and engineering of their construction, which was frequently due to the legions themselves. Conimbriga is located at an ideal point where the two main alternatives of the itinerary that connected Olisipo (Lisboa)and Bracara (Braga) almost touched. Therefore, the region is rich in the discovery of milestones, large stone columns with inscriptions recording the emperors under whose reigns the road had been constructed or improved and giving information about the distance at which it is located (counted in thousands of steps, therefore “mile”). In Conimbriga and its immediate area there are milestones from the emperors Caracalla (c. 212 AD), Decius (c. 250 AD), Tacitus (c. 275 AD), two for Constancius Clorus (c. 306 AD) and Galerius (c. 310 AD). The very old date of the roads that served this region being certain, these records prove the importance of the region during the Late Empire, that also is revealed in the construction of the late wall of Conimbriga.