About the Via Maris
The Via Maris is a Roman road about 295 km long in the Itiner-e atlas of ancient roads. It is mapped as 8 separate segments and crosses Egypt and Palestine. The longest stretch, 227 km (77%), is in Egypt. 3 Roman places lie along it, from Raphia to Pelusium.
None of the Via Maris is classed as certain: almost all of it is conjectured, so the line on the map is a best estimate of the course rather than a surveyed route.
- 295 kmlength
- 8segments
- 3Roman places
- 2countries
How sure are we where it ran?
| How certain | Length (km) | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Certain | 0 | 0% |
| Conjectured | 295 | 100% |
| Hypothetical | 0 | 0% |
Certain: well documented, mapped to within about 50 to 200 m. Conjectured: known road, course less precisely documented. Hypothetical: route not pinned down, or existence uncertain.
Where the Via Maris goes
| Country | Length (km) |
|---|---|
| Egypt | 227 |
| Palestine | 2.8 |
Roman places along the Via Maris
In order along the route, from Raphia to Pelusium. Names are the Roman ones from the Pleiades gazetteer.
- Raphia
- Rhinocolura
- Pelusium
Modern towns near the route
These towns and cities are within about 4 km of the road, in route order.
- Rafaḩ (Palestinian Territories)
- Rafaḩ (Egypt)
- Ash Shaykh Zuwayd (Egypt)
- Arīsh (Egypt)
- Bi’r al ‘Abd (Egypt)
Source
Road name as recorded in the Itinerary field of Itiner-e (version 2024 1.3, doi:10.5281/zenodo.17122148). Sources most often cited by its 8 segments (segments citing each in brackets): [1] Paprocki 2019 (8): Paprocki, Maciej (2019). Roads in the deserts of Roman Egypt : analysis, atlas, commentary. Oxbow Books, Oxford and Philadelphia.. Route lines: Itiner-e, CC BY 4.0. See all data sources and licences.
Keep exploring
Other named roads in Egypt
- Via Hadriana (853 km)
- Hodos Myshormitike (188 km)