Meilensteine, Straßen und das Verkehrsnetz der Provinz Karia

The study of transportation infrastructure is a key component of the historical-geographical research of the Tabula Imperii Byzantini. For the province of Caria, milestones – dating from the first to sixth centuries AD – comprise, with the Tabula Peutingeriana and certain written sources (Hierocles, diocesan lists), the best material available for the reconstruction of the road network. Here these milestones are analyzed and evaluated alongside other pieces of achaeological evidence, such as bridges and old road fragments. For Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages regional connections are examined in light of physical geography and the historical record for roads where no milestones existed. On this basis, eight roads are reconstructed and described, among them the Coastal Road and another route through the interior, running from Asia in the north to Lycia in the south. Other roads here discussed connected the metropolis of Aphrodisias (Staurupolis) with the major population centres of the province of Caria, such as Miletus, Mylasa and Halicarnassus. A map depicts the entire network visually; and descriptions are complemented by numerous illustrations.