Forum Appius - Clickable Map of the Roman Empire - First Century AD

Forum Appius
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Forum Appius (Appii Forum): small Italian town (`forum' =market); Acts 28. 15

Acts 28:15 - And from thence, when the brethren heard of us, they came to meet us as far as Appii forum, and The three taverns: whom when Paul saw, he thanked God, and took courage.

The Ancient Forum Appius Appii, in Latium, on the Appia Via, in the midst of the Pomptine marshes, forty-three miles southeast of Rome, founded by the censor Appius Claudius when he made the Appia Via. Here the Christians from Rome met the apostle Paul. - Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities. New York. Harper and Brothers.

Forum Appius Forum Appii an ancient post station on the Via Appia, 43 miles (69 km) southeast of Rome, founded, no doubt, by the original constructor of the road. Horace mentions it as the usual halt at the end of the first days journey from Rome, and describes it as full of boatmen and cheating innkeepers. The presence of the former was because it was the starting-point of a canal which ran parallel to the road through the Pontine Marshes, and was used instead of it at the time of Strabo and Horace (see Appian way). It is mentioned also as a halting place in the account of Paul's journey to Rome (Acts xxviii. 15). Under Nerva and Trajan the road was repaired; one inscription records expressly the paving with silex (replacing the former gravelling) of the section from Tripontium, 4 miles (6 km) northwest, to Forum Appii; the bridge near Tripontium was similarly repaired, and that at Forum Appii, though it bears no inscription, is of the same style. Only scanty relics of antiquity have been found here; a post station was placed here by Pope Pius VI when the Via Appia was reconstructed. - Wikipedia

Forum Appius FORUM APPII
FORUM APPII (Φόρον Ἀππίου: Eth. Foroappiensis), a town on the Appian Way, distant 43 miles from Rome. We learn from Horace that it was the usual resting-place for travellers at the end of the first day's journey from Rome, though he himself and his companion thought fit to divide the distance. (Sat. 1.5. 3--6.) It was here, also, that it was customary for travellers on the Appian Way to embark on a canal that extended from thence parallel with the line of road to the immediate neighbourhood of Tarracina. (Hor. l.c.; Strab. v. p.233.) Hence it became, as Horace describes it, a town of boatmen and innkeepers,--�Differtum nautis cauponibus atque malignis.�

It is mentioned also by Cicero (Cic. Att. 2.10), as well as in the journey of St. Paul to Rome (Act. Apost. 28.15), as one of the usual halting-places on the Appian Way: on both occasions in conjunction with Tres Tabernae, which was the next stage in going to Rome, ten miles nearer the city (Itin. Ant. p. 107; Itin. Hier. p. 611). Its situation, in the midst of the marshes, sufficiently accounts for the badness of the water complained of by Horace.

It is probable from its name that Forum Appii was founded by Appius Claudius Caecus, who first constructed the celebrated road which so long bore his name; and the place appears to have always continued under the patronage of his family. (Suet. Tib. 2.) It seems to have grown up into a considerable town, which, under the Roman empire, enjoyed municipal privileges, and is mentioned by Pliny among the municipal towns of Latium. (Plin. Nat. 3.5. s. 9.; Orell. Inscr. 780.) There are now no inhabitants on the spot; but the site is clearly marked by considerable ruins on each side of the Appian Way, as well as by the 43rd milestone, which is still preserved, at a spot distant four miles from the place still called Treponti, the ancient Tripontium or Tripuntium. (Chaupy, Maison d'Horace, vol. iii. pp. 387--452; Pratilli, Via Appia, pp. 99,100.) [VIA APPIA] - Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography, William Smith, LLD, Ed.