Expert: Maria - 12/31/2007

Question
Dear Maria,

Would you please help me understand:

"Milliario della Via Emilia"

I tried to look up "Milliario" in both my Italian and Latin dictionaries, but found no exact match.

(I saw this phrase written on a wall in the "Museum of Roman Civilization" when my wife and I last visited Rome.  I am very interested in ancient Rome and would really appreciate your help)

Thank you for your help.

Sincerely,  

Rich

Answer
Dear Rich,

first of all in the Italian  dictionary you can find  “miliario”  which is the usual  spelling instead of “milliario” with the double 'l'.

Anyway both MILIARIO and MILLIARIO derive from  Latin MILIARIUM /MILLIARIUM,  a neuter noun which means “milestone”(‘pietra miliare’ in Italian).

The milestones ( Latin ‘miliaria’/ ‘milliaria’  in the nominative plural) along the Roman roads were blocks or pillars of stone, usually inscribed with the distance expressed by a number plus the places between which the road extended and the name of the constructor of the road, or of the emperor to whose honour the work was dedicated.

Therefore  the expression "Milliario della Via Emilia", or more often “Miliario della via Emilia”, you saw in the “Museo della Civiltà Romana” at Rome, refers of course to a milestone along the Via Emilia ('Via Aemilia', in Latin), a  highroad which still exist  in Italy, constructed in 187 BC. by the consul Marcus  Aemilius Lepidus, from whom it took its name.

This  highroad  ran (and runs still today)  from  Ariminum(today Rimini)  to Placentia (today Piacenza), in the Italian region today called Emilia-Romagna.

To conclude, the Latin MILLIARIUM/ MILIARIUM (‘miliario’/'milliario' in Italian or ‘pietra miliare’) consisted of  1000 paces  of 5 feet each,  i.e. in Latin  MILLE PASSUUM ('M passus' in Latin /‘mille passi’ in Italian), the Roman mile.

All the best,
Maria