Mansio

[1] The roads which traversed the Ancient World were later surveyed, developed and carefully maintained by the Romans, featuring purpose-built rest stops at regular intervals, known as castra.

Probably originally established as simple places of military encampment, in process of time they included barracks and magazines of provisions (horrea) for the troops.

In many cases infrastructure to sustain them sprang up around the mansio, but also the villas of provincial officials; forts and ultimately even cities.

The Itinerarium Burdigalense, which is a road book drawn up in 333, mentions in order the mansiones from Bordeaux to Jerusalem with the intervening mutationes, and other, more considerable places, which are called either civitates, vici, or castella.

In the early days of the viae, when little unofficial travel existed, houses placed near the road were required by law to offer hospitality on demand.

Using these stations in chariot relays, the emperor Tiberius hastened 200 miles in 24 hours to join his brother, Drusus Germanicus,[8][9] who was dying of gangrene as a result of a fall from a horse.