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The first two centuries of the Christian era were great days for a traveler, writes historian Lionel Casson: “He could make his way from the shores of the Euphrates to the border between England and Scotland without crossing a foreign frontier.… He could sail through any waters without fear of pirates, thanks to the emperor’s patrol squadrons. A planned network of good roads gave him access to all major centers, and the through routes were policed well enough for him to ride them with relatively little fear of bandits.”

Because of the Pax Romana (Roman Peace) of Emperor Augustus (27 B.C. – A.D. 14), such conditions prevailed when Paul traveled the Roman world. The Stoic philosopher Epictetus (d. about 135) declared, “There are neither wars nor battles, nor great robberies nor piracies, but we may travel at all hours, and sail from east to west.”

New Testament archaeologist W.M. Ramsay concludes, “The Roman roads were probably at their best during the first century after Augustus had put an end to war and disorder.… Thus St. Paul traveled in the best and safest period.”

What would it have been like to travel with Paul during this unique era of ancient history?

By the time of Emperor Diocletian (c. A.D. 300), the Romans had built a marvelous network of over 53,000 miles of roads throughout the Empire, primarily for military purposes. They were generally 10 to 12 feet wide and models of road construction. Plutarch writes about one official’s work:

“The roads were carried through the country in a perfectly straight line, and were paved with hewn stone and reinforced with banks of tight-rammed sand. Depressions were filled up, all intersecting torrents or ravines were bridged, and both sides were of equal and corresponding height, so that the work presented everywhere an even and beautiful appearance. Besides all this, he measured off all the roads by miles … and planted stone pillars as distance markers.”

The Roman mile (a word derived from mille passus, “thousand paces”) was one thousand five-foot paces, or about 95 yards shorter than our mile. Mile markers—inscribed stone columns five to six feet tall—marked distances.

During his first missionary journey, after he crossed inland from the southern coast of Turkey, Paul used the Via Sebaste, a road built under Augustus in 6 B.C., which connected six military colonies, including Antioch in Pisidia. Much of his other travels in Galatia and Phrygia, however, were on unpaved tracks.

During his second missionary journey, after landing at Neapolis, Paul took the Via Egnatia from Philippi to Thessalonica. This major highway was built by the Romans after they had taken over Macedonia in 148 B.C. It spanned Greece and was eventually extended east beyond Philippi to Byzantium. Paul left this road when he went south to Berea, but he must have taken it later when he evangelized Illyricum (Yugoslavia; see Rom. 15:19).

After landing at Puteoli, Italy, Paul traveled the most famous Roman road, the Via Appia, the road from Rome to points south, which had been built in the third century B.C.

On such sturdy roads, soldiers could march four miles per hour, and on forced marches, five miles per hour. The average traveler walked three miles per hour for about seven hours a day—or about 20 miles per day. For example, Peter’s trip from Joppa to Caesarea, a distance of 40 miles, took two days (Acts 10:23–24). Paul traveled from Troas to Assos on foot, a distance of about 20 miles (Acts 20:13–14), so it probably took him a day.

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