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Tracts of Via Egnatia, the mighty 1,100-kilometer road built by the Romans from Rome to Constantinople, have survived to the present day. Of political, strategic and commercial significance, it linked the Roman colonies of in the Balkans to the Adriatic. It carried trade, wayfarers and armies. The Western portion of the road deteriorated in late antiquity and again as Byzantium declined, but did better under the Ottoman Empire when the rulers made strong defences against the West a priority.
Via Egnatia is in the spotlight again as a modern road of the same name being built, parallel to the old road. Archaeologist Yiannis Lolos traced the route of the original Egnatia, working from sources such as the ancient geographer Strabo, milestones, and the writings of travellers. Photographs by Giorgos Gerolympos record the finds, from majestic monuments to a humorous tombstone for a pig run over in a third-century AD road accident.
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