History

From 312 BCE military road to Christian burial ground to Papal administrative route to UNESCO heritage (312 BCE Appius Claudius Caecus censor Roman Republic first section Rome Capua 212 km 268 BCE extended Capua Tarentum 241 BCE extended Tarentum Brundisium complete 540 km 2nd century BCE most important road in Roman Republic used for military expeditions south Samnite Wars Pyrrhic Wars Punic Wars 71 BCE Spartacus slave revolt crushed by Crassus 6000 crucified slaves displayed on crosses along entire Via Appia from Capua to Rome as deterrent 44 BCE Julius Caesar assassinated Ides March March 15 44 BCE his body transported along Via Appia 31 BCE Augustus reorganized road network Via Appia became official state road maintained by imperial curatores viarum 2nd century CE Christian catacombs begin developing along Via Appia south of Rome burial outside city walls required by Roman law Christian communities bought land along the Appia for underground burial sites Catacombs San Callisto 2nd century CE largest Christian catacomb Rome 20 km underground tunnels 500,000 burials 16 popes buried there 3rd century CE Catacombs San Sebastiano adjacent Callisto earliest documented use word catacomb from Latin kata kymbas near the hollows referring to depression in terrain 313 CE Edict of Milan Christianity legalized Constantine 4th century CE Via Appia became pilgrimage route catacombs visited by pilgrims 6th 7th century CE underground burial ceased incursions barbarians flooding catacombs 795 CE Pope Hadrian I repaired catacombs route 11th 15th CE Papal States Via Appia used for armies supplies pilgrim routes 18th CE 1784 CE Pope Pius VI first systematic archaeological excavation Via Appia region 1850s CE Luigi Canina restoration archaeologist systematic study classification milestones 1988 CE Regional Park Via Appia Antica established 2024 CE UNESCO WHS inscription reference 1816 serial nomination 540 km entire route 52 associated monuments: the Spartacus crucifixion on the Via Appia (the most brutal deterrent in Roman history, displayed on the road for years): in 71 BCE, after Marcus Licinius Crassus defeated Spartacus’s slave army of 70,000 in the Battle of the Siler River, approximately 6,000 captured slaves were crucified on wooden crosses planted along the 540 km of the Via Appia from Capua (where the revolt began in 73 BCE) to Rome; the crosses remained standing for years as a deterrent; Roman law did not require the removal of crucified bodies — decomposition on the cross was part of the punishment; the crucified bodies of 6,000 people lined the road from Capua to Rome for at least 1-3 years (sources vary); the Via Appia was the busiest road in Italy — every traveller, merchant, soldier, and pilgrim between Rome and the south saw the crosses; it is the most extreme display of deterrence in documented Roman history)).