174 The Imperial Government
thephysicalresilienceofthemessengers(nottospeakoftheefficiencyand
co-operativenessofthepersonssupplyinghorsesorvehicles),allthatisreally
certainisthatreportsofexceptionallyfastjourneysoverafewdaysbyhighly
motivatedindividualscanbenoguidetonormalspeeds;andthatthespeeds
actuallyachievedmusthavedroppedinproportiontothelengthofthejour-
neysundertaken.Fortherelativelyurgentmessageswithwhichwearecon-
cerned, the truth should lie somewhere between the 50 Roman miles per
dayestimatedbyRamsayastypical^65 andProcopius’assumption,relatingto
thedevelopedsystemofthelateEmpire,thatamessengercouldcoverten
times the normal daily distance for a traveller in a day, that is, about 200
miles.^66 OnthatbasismessengersgoingbylandfromAntiochtoRome,about
3,000 miles, are not likely to have taken less than a month, with a similar
period for the return journey. Much faster journeys were possible by sea,
of course—for instance, nine days from Puteoli to Alexandria.^67 Buteven
whereseacommunicationswererelevant,asbetweenRomeandSyria,they
wereacutelyunreliable:themessengersbringingathreateningletterfrom
GaiustoPetronius,alegatusofSyria,werestorm-boundforthreemonths,
and arrived twenty-seven days after later messengers carrying the news of
Gaius’death.^68 Moreoverseatravelbyofficialpassengersorgroups(likethe
escort which took a wholewinter to bring Paul and other prisoners from
JudaeatoRome)dependedontheavailabilityoftradingships.Evenemper-
orsoccasionallytravelledonmerchantships,andthereisnoclearevidence
oftheregularuseoftheimperialnavyfortransportingmessengers.^69 Inthis
connectionwemaynotetheevidenceofDig.45,1,122,1,ofanauticalloan
contractwhichallowed200daysforaroundtripfromBerytustoBrundi-
siumandback.
Thus, with the partial exception of the Rome-Alexandria voyage, the
Mediterranean did not provide a medium of speedy and reliable internal
communications for the Empire; the official voyages envisaged in theIm-
peratoris Augusti Itinerarium Maritimum^70 werecoastalorwentfromislandto
- Fordiscussionsoftheimperialcommunicationsystem,seeW.Riepl,DasNachrichten-
wesen des Altertums mit besonderer Rücksicht auf die Römer(1913),123–240;W.M.Ramsay,‘‘The
SpeedoftheRomanImperialPost,’’JRS15(1925):60;M.Amit,‘‘Lesmoyensdecommu-
nicationetladéfensedel’Empireromain,’’Parola del Passato20(1965):207. - Procopius,Hist. Arc.30,citedbyRiepl.(n.65),186.
- Pliny,NH19,3.
- Josephus,BJ2,10,5(203);Ant.18,8,9(305).
- C.G.Starr,The Roman Imperial Navy(1941),177–78.SeenowW.Eck,‘‘Tacitus,Ann.
4,27,1unddercursus publicusaufderAdria,’’SCI13(1994):60. - [SeeO.Cuntz,Itineraria RomanaI(1929).]