Appian Way
Roman highway from Rome, Italy, to Brundisium 312 BC
The Appian Way, also known by its Latin and Italian name,
Via Appia, is one of the earliest and strategically most important Roman roads of the ancient republic. It connected Rome to Brindisi, in southeast Italy. Its importance is indicated by its common name, recorded by Statius, of Appia longarum... regina viarum ('the Appian Way, the queen of the long roads'). The road is named after Appius Claudius Caecus, the Roman censor who, during the Samnite Wars, began and completed the first section as a military road to the south in 312 BC.
In July 2024, the Appian Way entered the UNESCO World Heritage List.
Origins
Development
The Appian Way was a Roman road that the Republic used as a main route for military supplies for its conquest of southern Italy in 312 BC and for improvements in communication.
The Appian Way — essential to the Romans — was the first long road built specifically to transport troops outside the smaller region of greater Rome. The few roads outside the early city were Etruscan and went mainly to Etruria.
The Samnite Wars
Romans had an affinity for the people of Campania, who, like themselves, traced their backgrounds to the Etruscans. The Samnite Wars were instigated by the Samnites when Rome attempted to ally itself with the city of Capua in Campania.
“Appian Way” enters the record as roman highway from Rome, Italy, to Brundisium 312 BC. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Appian, Roman and highway can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 13, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q189417. Authority coordinates are 41.841, 12.533. 1 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2024.
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This entry incorporates text from “Appian Way” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.