In many respects, we are heirs to ancient Roman cultural achievements. Abstract legal systems, architecture or philosophy - the achievements of our ancient ancestors shaped European culture just as much as their ideas for the efficient management of traffic and trade.

Roman milestones—those ancient road markers—are a pretty cool relic of how the Romans got around and kept their massive empire connected. Known as miliaria, these stone pillars popped up along their famous roads, starting around the 3rd century BC. They really hit their stride under political leaders like Gaius Sempronius Gracchus and peaked during the imperial era. Think of them as the GPS of antiquity - except instead of satellites, you had a rock telling you how many mille passus (about 1.48 km each) you were from Rome or the next big city.

How many were there? Hard to calculate the number exactly, but historians estimate around 6,000 have been found across the old Roman turf - from Britain to North Africa and beyond. That’s just the ones we’ve dug up; tons more probably got repurposed as medieval building blocks or just lost to time. They marked a road network that stretched roughly 85,000 km at its peak around 110 AD! We’re talking major highways like the Via Appia (Rome to Brindisi) and Via Claudia Augusta (Italy to Bavaria), all laid out with military precision.

Travel times? Depends on how you rolled. A legion on foot could cover 20-30 km a day, while a messenger on horseback might blitz 100 km if the road was decent and the relays were tight. For the average trader or pilgrim with a cart, though, you’re looking at a slog—maybe 15-25 km daily, depending on weather, bandits, or a busted wheel. The milestones helped keep everyone on track, literally, by spacing out distances and often name-dropping the emperor who built or fixed the road - like a stone billboard for Roman PR.

What’s wild is how these things doubled as propaganda. Beyond distances, they’d carve in praise for the likes of Trajan or Septimius Severus, flexing imperial muscle while guiding travelers. Some provinces even used leugae (about 2.22 km) instead of miles, showing how Rome flexed its system to fit local traditions (like integrating local gods to the roman pantheon). Anyway, next time you’re on a highway, think of those milestones - proof the Romans knew how to network, long before the internet.