Ausonius Way: the old Roman road

The route along the ridge of Hunsrück, as well as a number of other ridge paths in the region, date back to Bronze Age but could actually have much earlier origins. The rapid development of connecting roads during the Roman occupation (58 BC - 402 AD) is historically well documented. Shortly after their conquest of the region, the Romans rebuilt all the existing trade routes as "stone roads", cutting straight across the landscape, which were marked by milestones and guarded by watchtowers at regular intervals. The network of the overland routes was complemented by supplementary or 'vicinal' roads. The result was permanent roads with a very complex structure, made up of multiple layers, whose ingenious composition has remained intact for many centuries. All the transportation routes were, according to Roman standards, about 5 or 6 meters wide, so that two carts could easily pass each other. There were also road maps on which the most important stages were marked. An impressive example of one such road map has been handed down to us in the form of the Tabula Peutingeriana. It comes from Reichenau Cloister on an island by the same name in the lower part of Bodensee (so named after the learned Konrad Peutinger, 1465-1547). As the main axis of Hunsrück, used by armies and as a trade route, Via Ausonia connected the regions of Mainz (Moguntiacum) and Bingen (Bingium) to the imperial city of Trier (Augusta Treverorum) in Late Antiquity.