gradually dissipated over time. The Via Egnatia, one of the great arterial
highways of the Roman Empire, which began at Dyrrachion on the
Adriatic coast, extending across the Pindhos range to Thessalonika on
the Thermaic Gulf, and thence parallel with the Aegean shoreline,
eventually joined up with Byzantion. It was conceived in the aftermath
of experiences during the Second Macedonian War against Perseus’
father, Philip V, when Roman troops had trouble moving overland in
the mountainous terrain of Pindhos, although the main period of con-
struction probably began in the third quarter of the second centurybc.
The chief purpose of the road was therefore to convey troops quickly and
easily from Italy or the Adriatic coast into the Balkans. Once the road
had been built, it reconfigured human dynamics within the continental
area. With the extension of Roman power in Illyria, and up to the
Danube in thefirst centurybc, the principal theatre of military oper-
ations moved northwards, while administrative and commercial traffic
dominated the Via Egnatia. Italian and Roman merchants,negotiatores,
and civic officials, whose names proclaim their high social standing, are
documented in cities positioned along the road, such as Edessa, Herak-
leia Lynkestis, Beroia, and Philippi. There appears to be a direct connec-
tion between the route of the Via Egnatia and these social networks.^13
Fig. 1.1.Dion, Macedonia: sanctuary of Isis, second centuryad. Dion wasfirst
identified for modern scholarly purposes by Colonel William Leake during a
reconnoitre in 1806, when he noted the city’s fortifications and various still-
visible monuments. Léon Heuzey followed in 1855 and 1861. Giorgios Sotiriadis
began systematic excavation on behalf of the University of Thessaloniki in 1928,
which still sponsors current investigations.
(^13) Walbank 1985 and 2002b; Fasolo 2003; Lolos 2009; cf. also Sève 2005.
Introduction 9