Distance and Communication in the Roman Empire

DISTANCE AND COMMUNICATION in the Roman Empire TRAVEL UNDER FAVORABLE CIRCUMSTANCES, BY SEA STARTING DESTINATION DISTANCE TIME From Ostia to Africa 270 miles 2 days Ostia Gibraltar 935 miles 7 days Ostia Spain (northern) 510 miles 4 days Ostia Marseille 380 miles 3 days Messina (Sicily) Alexandria 830 miles 6, 7 days Puteoli Alexandria 1000 miles 9 days Corinth Puteoli 670 miles 4.5 days Rhegium Puteoli 175 miles 1.5 days Puteoli Tauromenium (Sicily) 205 miles 2.5 days Alexandria Ephesus 475 miles 4.5 days Carthage Syracuse 260 miles 2.5 days Carthage Gibraltar 820 miles 7 days Compare: Record Speeds, BY SEA, in the 16th century STARTING DESTINATION DISTANCE TIME Genoa Palamos, Spain . 5 days Messina Palamos, Spain . 6 days Rhodes Alexandria . 3 days Nicosia, Cyprus Constantinople . 14 days Lepanto Venice . 11 days Lepanto Naples . 17 days TRAVEL UNDER AVERAGE CIRCUMSTANCES, BY SEA STARTING DESTINATION DISTANCE TIME Epidamnus (Dyrrachium) Rome 600 miles 4.5 days Crete Egypt 310 miles 3, 4 days Rhodes Alexandria 325 miles 3.5 days Sea of Azov Rhodes 880 miles 9.5 days Byzantium Rhodes 445 miles 5 days Byzantium Gaza 855 miles 10 days Thessalonike Askalon 800 miles 12 days Compare: AVERAGE CIRCUMSTANCES, BY SEA, 16th century STARTING DESTINATION DISTANCE TIME Constantinople Alexandria 770 miles 14 days Hellespont Chios . 2 days Messina (Sicily) Alexandria 830 miles 9 days TRAVEL UNDER UNFAVORABLE CIRCUMSTANCES, BY SEA STARTING DESTINATION DISTANCE TIME Askalon Thessalonike 800 miles 13 days Rhodes Gaza 410 miles 7 days Rhodes Byzantium 445 miles 10 days Gaza Byzantium 855 miles 20 days Alexandria Marseille 1500 miles 30 days Puteoli Ostia 120 miles 2.5 days Sources • • Lionel Casson, Ships and Seamanship in the Ancient World (Princeton 1971) pp. 220 ff. Fernand Braudel, The Mediterranean . . . in the Time of Philip II (NY 1972) I, pp. 358 ff.