Archaeological Museum of Bologna

Milestone from Via Aemilia.

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Milestones were columns set along Roman roads to indicate the distance already covered or the miles yet to be travelled. The simplest have only the numeral indicating the miles (a milium corresponds to about 1478 metres) that separated the starting point of the road from the stone. In some cases, the name of the magistrate responsible for building or restoring the road was also listed. This one has the name of the consul Marcus Aemilius Lepidus, who had the Via Aemilia built (187 BC), and the indication of the distance from Rome (268 miles, approximately 378 kilometres); the distance between modern-day Castel San Pietro and Bologna (15 miles) is also indicated on the right.

Provenance: Castel San Pietro (Bologna)
Datation: 187 BC
Inventory #: 19093