Mansio
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2008-06-21T18:07:08Z
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Fixing [[Wikipedia:Disambiguation pages with links|links to disambiguation pages]] using [[Project:AutoWikiBrowser|AWB]]
In the [[Roman Empire]], a '''mansio''' (from the [[Latin]] word ''mansus'' the perfect passive [[participle]] of ''manere'' "to remain" or "to stay") was an official stopping place on a [[Roman road]], or ''via'', maintained by the central government for the use of officials and those on official business whilst travelling.
==Background==
Ox-powered carts could travel about 8 miles per day, pedestrians a little more, and so each mansio was about 15 to 18 miles from the next one. There the official traveller found a complete [[villa]] dedicated to his refreshment. [[Passports]] were required for identification. Often cities, forts and the villas of provincial officials sustained them or sprang up around them.
The great roads, which were constructed first by the kings of Persia and afterwards by the Romans, were provided, at intervals corresponding to the length of a day's journey, with establishments of the same kind as the [[Caravanserai|khans]] or [[caravanserai|caravansera]]s which are still found in the East. There were 111 such stations on the road from [[Sardes]] to [[Susa]] ([[Herodotus]], ''The Histories'', V.52, 53, VI.118), their average distance from one another being something less than 20 English miles (32 km). The khan, erected at the station for the accommodation of travellers, is called by Herodotus {{lang|gr|κατάλυσις}} and {{lang|gr|καταγωγῆ}}. To stop for the night was {{lang|gr|καταλύειν}} (Xen. ''Anab.'' I.8; [[Claudius Aelianus|Aelianus]], V.H. I.32). As the ancient roads made by the kings of Persia are still followed to a considerable extent (Heeren, ''Ideen'', vol. I pt.ii pp193‑203, 713‑720), so also there is reason to believe that the modern khan, which is a square building, enclosing a large open court, surrounded by balconies with a series of doors entering into plain unfurnished apartments, and having a fountain in the center of the court, has been copied by uninterrupted custom from the Persic {{lang|gr|καταλύσις}}, and that, whether on occasion of the arrival of armies or of caravans, they have always served to afford a shelter during the night both to man and animal.<ref name="gra">{{GRA|Mansio}}</ref>
The Latin term ''mansio'' is derived from ''manere'', signifying to pass the night at a place in travelling. On the great Roman roads the ''mansiones'' were at the same distance from one another as on those of the Persian empire. They were originally called ''castra'', being probably mere places of encampment formed by making earthen entrenchments. In process of time they included, not only [[barrack]]s and magazines of provisions ([[horrea]]) for the troops, but commodious buildings adapted for the reception of travellers of all ranks, and even of the emperor himself, if he should have occasion to visit them. At those stations the [[cisiarii]] kept gigs for hire and for conveying government dispatches ([[Cisium]]; [[Essedum]]). The mansio was under the superintendence of an officer called ''[[mansionarius]]''.<ref name="gra"/>
Besides the post-stations at the end of each day's journey, there were on the Roman military ways others at convenient intervals, which were used merely to change horses or to take refreshment, and which were called ''[[mutationes]]'' ({{lang|gr|ἀλλαγαὶ}}). There were four or five mutationes to one mansio. The ''[[Itinerarium a Burdigala Hierusalem usque]]'', which is a road-book drawn up about the time of [[Constantine I]], mentions in order the mansiones from [[Bordeaux]] to [[Jerusalem]] with the intervening mutationes, and other more considerable places, which are called either [[civitates]], [[vici]], or [[castella]]. The number of leagues ([[leugae]]) or of miles between one place and another is also set down.<ref name="gra"/>
The word is likely to be the source of the English word '[[mansion]]', though their uses are entirely different.
==Examples==
===Britannia===
*[[Alfoldean]], [[Horsham]], [[Sussex]] ([[Time Team]] 2006 series)
*[[Chelmsford]]
*[[Dubris]]
*[[Godmanchester]], [http://www.godmanchester.net/history/roman%20mansio.htm Roman Mansio in Godmanchester]
*[[Letocetum|Wall]]
*[[Rutupiae]]
*[[Tripontium]]
===Other===
*[[Little St Bernard Pass]]
*[[Le Mesnil]]
*[[Three Taverns]]
*[[Via Augusta]]
==Other types of way stations==
Non-official travellers needed refreshment too, and at the same locations along the road.
===Cauponae===
A private system of [[caupona]]e were placed near the mansiones. They performed the same functions but were somewhat disreputable, as they were frequented by thieves and prostitutes. Graffiti decorate the walls of the few whose ruins have been found.
===Tabernae===
Genteel travellers needed something better than cauponae. In the early days of the viae, when little unofficial existed, houses placed near the road were required by law to offer hospitality on demand. Frequented houses no doubt became the first [[taberna]]e (Latin word ''[[taberna]]'' ('shed' or 'hut', from ''tabula'' 'board'), which were hostels, rather than the "[[tavern]]s" we know today. A 'tabernaculum' or small taberna was a portable place of worship for the Hebrews, thus producing the word [[tabernacle]].
As Rome grew, so did its tabernae, becoming more luxurious and acquiring good or bad reputations as the case may be. One of the best hotels was the Tabernae Caediciae at [[Mondragone|Sinuessa]] on the [[Via Appia]]. It had a large storage room containing barrels of wine, cheese and ham. Many cities of today grew up around a taberna complex, such as [[Rheinzabern]] in the Rhineland, and [[Saverne]] in [[Alsace]].
===Mutationes===
A third system of [[way station]]s serviced vehicles and animals: the [[mutatio]]nes ("changing stations"). They were located every 12-18 miles. In these complexes, the driver could purchase the services of wheelrights, cartwrights, and equarii medici, or veterinarians. Using these stations in chariot relays, the emperor [[Tiberius]] hastened 500 miles in 24 hours to join his brother, [[Nero Claudius Drusus|Drusus Germanicus]], who was dying of gangrene as a result of a fall from a horse.
==See also==
*[[Roman road#The Roman road system|Roman Road System]]
*[[Three Taverns]]
==External links==
{{wiktionary}}
*[http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/secondary/SMIGRA*/Mansio.html Mansio] from ''A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities'', John Murray, London, 1875.
==References==
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Roman Empire]]
[[Category:Ancient Rome]]
[[Category:Roman waystations| ]]
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