Roman Milestone of Via Nova

No less than four are preserved in the parish of Santa María Madanela de Cerdeira. They were originally located in the Alto de Cerdeira (in the middle of the Via Nova, or Via XVIII of the Antonine Itinerary) and in recent times they were moved to the rest area of As Guístolas, on the road between A Pobra de Trives and San Xoán de Río.

These monoliths remind us of the passage through these lands of a Roman road many centuries old. Three of them have inscriptions engraved on them, but none of the four indicate how many miles it would be to the next ones, so it is considered that they served only to feed the ego of the Roman emperors.

Constantius Chlorus milestone
The Constantius Chlorus milestone stands 1.4 m tall with a diameter of 40 cm. Its inscription, now almost illegible, would read as follows:  ‘IMP(eratori) CAE(sari) / FLAV(i)O VA / LERIO CON / STANTIO / IN(victo) AVG(usto) P(io) / P(atri) P(atriae)’ (Reconstruction of abbreviations in brackets).

The inscription reads approximately ‘Emperor and Caesar/ Flavius Valerius Constantius Chlorus/Unconquereed Augustus Pious/ Father of the Country’. These titles of the Emperor, Augustus and Caesar indicate that this milestone was built between 305 and 306.

Carinus milestone
The Constantius Chlorus milestone stands at a height of 1.5 m with a diameter of 55 cm. The inscription reads: ‘(imperatori caesari) / M(arco) AVRELIO / CARIO I(nvicto) P(rincipi) P(atri) / P(atriae) P(ro)CONSVLI / CON / SVLI’ (Reconstruction of abbreviations in brackets).

The first line no longer exists, and was most likely removed to adapt the milestone as a column, but would have read ‘imperatori caesari’, as Marcus Aurelius Carinus was Caesar between 283 and 285. The inscription would thus read: ‘Emperor and Caesar/ Marcus Aurelius/ Carinus Unconquered Father/ of the Fatherland’.

Julian milestone
The milestone dedicated to Flavius Claudius Julianus stands 2.20 m high and has a diameter of 60 cm. Its inscription: ‘D(omino) N(ostro) / CLAVDIO IVLIANO / SEM(per) / AVG(usto)’, which roughly translates as: ‘Our unconquered/ Claudius Julianus/ forever Augustus’.

This milestone dates from between 361 and 363, when Julian was Roman Emperor of the West with the title of Augustus.

The blank milestone
The fourth Cerdeira milestone has no engraved inscription. It stands 1.60 metres high and has a hollow at the bottom, suggesting that it may have been part of another. Its regular shape seems to indicate that it is late.