Roads and Routes in Northwestern and Adjoining Parts of Central Asia Minor: From the Romans to Byzantium, with Some Remarks on their Fate during the Ottoman Period up to the 17th Century

Abstract

The paper examines the development of roads in northwestern (and parts of Central) Asia Minor from the Roman to the Byzantine period, pointing also to some changes in the Turkish period until about the 17th century. There was a remarkable continuity regarding the main routes of long distance traffic, but these routes could change in detail, corresponding to different military and economic focuses and needs. Design and building techniques of the roads changed, depending on the economic resources the state was able to spend and above all on the change from wagons and carts to pack animals. Neglect of the wide, paved long-distance roads of the Roman imperial period at the end of antiquity was linked to the gradual decrease of vehicular traffic in Asia Minor. By the sixth century AD, travel and transport relied on mounts and pack animals, except for some short-distance trans-portation on simple oxcarts. Roads were adapted to these means of transport and became narrower and stepped at steep passages. From the seventh century onwards, following the loss of the eastern provinces and during the nearly annual Arab invasions of Anatolia, the Byzantines chose routes that were partly different from the main routes of the Roman period and Late Antiquity, but which mostly were also inherited from their Roman predecessors. The main routes through Asia Minor were generally maintained in an acceptable order, but very few really new roads were built. After the Seljuk conquests roads became insecure again. The main lines of communication did not change, at least not in regions under Byzantine control. The Ottomans took over most of the roads used by the Byzantines for their military campaigns and for trade. It seems, however, that they were readier to build at least a limited number of entirely new roads. Their building techniques more or less followed the examples of their Byzantine predecessors.