The milestones

Unlike other Roman roads, direct proof of the existence of the Via Claudia Augusta is found in two very important milestones probably laid in the spirit of commemoration. The milestones provide exhaustive testimony as to the name of the road, its date of completion, who ordered its construction, its total length and the very rare fact of its “precedent”. The information is so exhaustive that it creates some problems in identifying its exact route; while the northernmost reference point of the road is accepted as being the area on the Danube near Augusta, each milestone gives a different indication of the southern end: the Po River, near the present-day Ostiglia, in the stone found in Rablà/Rabland (South Tyrol), and Altino (Venice), at that time, a major harbour on the Adriatic, in the milestone of Cesiomaggiore (Belluno, Italy).

The archaeological investigations have led historians to identify a bifurcation of the Via Claudia Augusta to Trento, and a single course from Trento to Bavaria.

Here are the inscriptions on the two milestones:

Milestone of Rablà/Rabland, near Merano/Meran (South Tyrol), discovered in 1552 and now held at the Civic Museum in Bolzano/Bozen (a copy remains at the original site)

Ti[berius] Claudius Caesar
Augustus German[icus]
Pont[ifex] max[imus] trib[unicia] pot[estate] VI
con[n]s[ul] desig[natus] III imp[erator] XI p[ater] p[atrie]
[vi]am Claudiam Augustam
quam Drusus pater Alpibus
bello patefactis derexserat
 munit a flumine Pado at
[f]lumen Danuvium per [milia]
 p[assuum] CC[CL]

 

Translation:
“Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, Pontefix maximus, bestowed the tribunicia potestas for the sixth time, designated consul for the fourth time, Emperor for the eleventh, father of the fatherland, fortified the via Claudia Augusta, that his father Drusus - opening the Alps with the war – had traced, from the Po River to the Danube River for 350 miles...”.

Milestone of Cesiomaggiore at Feltre (Belluno), discovered in 1786 and held on site at the 18th century Villa Tauro alle Centenère

Ti[berius] Claudius Drusi f[ilius]
Caesar Augustus Germa
nicus pontifex maxu
mus tribunicia potesta
te VI co[n]s[ul]  IV imp[erator] XI p[ater] p[atrie]
censor viam Claudiam
Augustam quam Drusus
pater Alpibus bello pate
factis derex[e]rat munit ab
Altino usque ad flumen
Danuvium m[ilia] p[assuum] CCCL

 

Translation:
“Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, son of Drusus, Pontefix maximus, bestowed the tribunicia potestas for the sixth time, designated consul for the fourth time, Emperor for the eleventh, father of the fatherland, censor, fortified the via Claudia Augusta, that his father Drusus - opening the Alps with the war – had laid, from Altino to the Danube River for 350 miles...”.