Ancient Roman Highway Captivates Albania
Albania's Via Egnatia in Librazhd—a 2,000-year-old Roman highway to Constantinople—is drawing attention for its intact cobblestones amid wild landscapes. The ancient route has garnered 98 likes and 16 reposts on social media, highlighting growing interest in preserved Roman infrastructure.
- The highway was constructed between 146 and 120 BC under the orders of Gnaeus Egnatius, the Roman proconsul of Macedonia, and was the first Roman road built outside of Italy. - Stretching for about 1,120 kilometers, the route served as a strategic military and commercial artery connecting the Adriatic Sea with Byzantium (modern-day Istanbul), effectively linking Rome with the eastern part of its empire. - Historically, the road was traversed by major figures including Julius Caesar, Pompey, the Roman orator Cicero, and the Apostle Paul, who used it on his missionary journeys. - For centuries, it was a vital corridor for the Roman, Byzantine, and Ottoman empires, facilitating the movement of armies, crusaders, and merchants trading goods like silver, oil, and wine. - Less than one percent of the Via Egnatia's original paving survives, making the Albanian segments exceptionally rare. - While the Librazhd section is gaining positive attention, other parts of the road in Albania have faced threats; a section in Peqin was controversially paved with asphalt, and the Roman wall at the road's starting point in Durrës was damaged. - Modern initiatives like the Via Egnatia Foundation are working to preserve the route and develop it as a cultural corridor and hiking trail to promote sustainable tourism. - In neighboring Greece, the parallel modern Egnatia Odos highway has been constructed, and the country has invested €4.2 million in EU funding to create protective shelters and virtual reality experiences at its preserved sections of the ancient road.
