Via Militaris


Via Militaris or Via Diagonalis was an ancient Roman road, starting from Singidunum, passing by Danube coast to Viminacium, through Naissus, Serdica, Philippopolis, Adrianopolis, and reaching Constantinople. This road was connected with Via Egnatia by other roads: the road along the Axios River, the road from Serdica to Thessalonica along the Strymon River, and the road from Philippopolis to Philippi. During the Byzantine era it was also known as the Constantinople Road.

History

It was built in the 1st century AD. The length from Singidunum to Constantinople was 924 kilometres.
During the first European conquests of Ottoman Turks orta kol was following the Via Militaris. In the Middle Ages it was known in Serbian as the Imperial road or Morava road, while during the Ottoman period as the Constantinople or Tsarigrad road or Imperial road.

Archaeology

In May 2010, while work was done on the Pan-European Corridor X in Serbia, well-preserved remains of the road were excavated in Dimitrovgrad, Serbia. The eight-metre wide road was constructed from large blocks of stone and had two lanes.

Key towns

Ancient nameLocation
SingidunumBelgrade, Serbia
GratianaDobra, Serbia
ViminaciumKostolac, Serbia
NaissusNiš, Serbia
RemesianaBela Palanka, Serbia
SerdicaSofia, Bulgaria
PhilippopolisPlovdiv, Bulgaria
HadrianopolisEdirne, Turkey
ArcadiopolisLüleburgaz, Turkey
ByzantiumIstanbul, Turkey