{{Short description|Official stopping place on a Roman road}} {{Italics title}} thumb|300px|Foundation of Roman ''mansio'' at Eining, Germany 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.<ref name =erma>James W. Ermatinger "The Roman Empire, A Historical Encyclopedia" ABC-CLIO 2018 pp 272-273</ref>
==Background== thumb|Plan of the fort Százhalombatta-Dunafüred (Matrica, Hungary): ''mansio'' The roads which traversed the ancient world were later surveyed, developed and carefully maintained by the Romans, featuring purpose-built rest stops at regular intervals, known as ''castra''. Probably originally established as simple places of military encampment, in process of time they included barracks and magazines of provisions (''horrea'') for the troops. Over time the need arose for a more sophisticated form of shelter for travelling dignitaries and officials. The Latin term ''mansio'' is derived from ''manere'', signifying to pass the night at a place while travelling (the word is likely to be the source of the English word mansion, though their uses are entirely different).<ref name =erma /> These substantial structures, normally in the form of a villa, were dedicated to the travellers' rest and refreshment. Guests were expected to provide a passport to identify themselves. In many cases infrastructure to sustain them sprang up around the ''mansio'', but also the villas of provincial officials; forts and ultimately even cities.{{cn|date=August 2022}} Ox-drawn carts could travel about 30 km per day; pedestrians a little farther, so each ''mansio'' was about 25 to 30 km from the next.<ref name =erma /> At each ''mansio'' ''cisiarii'' kept gigs for hire and for conveying government dispatches (Cisium; Essedum). The ''Itinerarium Burdigalense'', which is a road book drawn up in 333, 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 or of miles between one place and another is also set down.<ref name="gra">{{Cite DGRA|wstitle=Mansio}}</ref>
New mansio locations continue to be discovered and yield archaeological elements, e.g. in July 2024 a ring with the inscription "Roma" was discovered at a mansio near Coriglia close to Orvieto.<ref>"Trovato un antico anello con la scritta Roma" la Repubblica July 26 2024.</ref>
==''Mansionarius'' or ''paramonarius''{{anchor|mansionarius}}== The ''mansio'' was under the superintendence of an officer called "''mansionarius''".<ref name="gra"/> As the bishops assumed control in the Christian West during the fifth and sixth centuries, the office of ''mansionarius'' developed new connotations. ''Mansionarius'' is inserted as a synonym of ''prosmonarius/paramonarius'' in canon 2 of the Fourth Ecumenical Council (451).<ref>''Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers'' Series II/Volume XIV/The Fourth Ecumenical Council/Canons/Canon II: "what was the function of a mansionarius? In Gregory the Great’s time he was a sacristan who had the duty of lighting the church (''Dial.,'' i. 5); and "ostiarium" in the Prisca implies the same idea. Tillemont, without deciding between the two Greek readings, thinks that the person intended had "some charge of what pertained to the church itself, perhaps like our present bedells" (xv. 694). So Fleury renders, “concièrge” (xxviij. 29); and Newman, reading “paramonarion,” takes a like view (note in Transl. of Fleury, vol. iii., p. 392). But Justellus (i. 91) derives ''paramonarius'' from μονή ''mansio'', a halting-place, so that the sense would be a manager of one of the church’s farms, a ''villicus'', or, as Bingham expresses it, "a bailiff" (iii. 3, 1). Beveridge agrees with Justellus, except in giving to μονή the sense of "monastery" (compare the use of μονή in Athanas., Apol. c. Arian, 67, where Valesius understands it as “a station” on a road, but others as “a monastery,” see Historical Writings of St. Athanasius, Introd., p. xliv.). Bingham also prefers this interpretation. Suicer takes it as required by “paramonarios” which he treats as the true reading: “prosmonarios” he thinks would have the sense of “sacristan.”"</ref>
==Examples==
===Britannia=== *Alfoldean, Slinfold, West Sussex (subject of a dig by archaeological television programme ''Time Team'', 2006 series),<ref name=Alfoldean_WA>{{cite web |url= https://www.wessexarch.co.uk/sites/default/files/59473_Alfoldean%20Horsham.pdf |title= Alfoldean, Slinfold, West Sussex: Archaeological Evaluation and Assessment of Results |author= <!--Not stated--> |date= April 2006 |publisher= Wessex Archaeology |access-date= 22 September 2020 |archive-date= 2 January 2021 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20210102102509/https://www.wessexarch.co.uk/sites/default/files/59473_Alfoldean%20Horsham.pdf |url-status= live }}</ref> one of a probable four ''mansiones'' on the route of Stane Street between London and Chichester<ref name=Alfoldean_NHLE>{{National Heritage List for England|num=1005838|desc=Alfoldean Roman site}}</ref> *Chelmsford *Cunetio, Mildenhall, Wiltshire (''Time Team'', 2010)<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.wessexarch.co.uk/blogs/time-team/2011/04/15/time-team-series-17-potted-history-cunetio-mildenhall-wiltshire |title= Time Team Series 17: Potted History (Cunetio, Mildenhall, Wiltshire) |author=<!--Not stated--> |date= 15 April 2011 |publisher= Wessex Archaeology |access-date= 30 January 2021 }}</ref> *Dubris *Godmanchester, [https://web.archive.org/web/20060710083338/http://www.godmanchester.net/history/roman%20mansio.htm Roman Mansio in Godmanchester] *Letocetum, Wall, Staffordshire *Rutupiae *Tripontium *Iping
===Other=== *Little St Bernard Pass * Le Mesnil *Storgosia *Tre Taverne *Via Augusta
==Other types of way stations== Non-official travellers needed refreshment too, and different grades of facilities were available, often at the same locations as the ''mansiones''.
===''Cauponae''=== A private system of ''cauponae'' 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''=== {{Main|Taberna}} Genteel travellers needed something better than ''cauponae''. In the early days of the ''viae'', when little unofficial travel existed, houses placed near the road were required by law to offer hospitality on demand. Frequented houses no doubt became the first tabernae (Latin word "''taberna''" ("shed" or "hut"; from ''tabula'', meaning "board"), which were hostels, rather than the "taverns" 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 hostels was the Tabernae Caediciae at 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 stations serviced vehicles and animals: the ''mutationes ''("changing stations") ({{Lang|el|ἀλλαγαὶ}}). In these complexes, the driver could purchase the services of wheelwrights, cartwrights, and ''equarii medici'', or veterinarians. Using these stations in chariot relays, the emperor Tiberius hastened 200 miles in 24 hours to join his brother, Drusus Germanicus,<ref>[http://la.wikisource.org/wiki/Naturalis_Historia/Liber_VII Naturalis Historia] by Gaius Plinius Secundus, Liber VII, 84.</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=pW9bAAAAQAAJ The General History of the Highways] by Nicolas Bergier, page 156.</ref> who was dying of gangrene as a result of a fall from a horse.
===''Stationes''===
''Stationes'' are mostly known though the Antonine Itinerary and may be similar to ''mansiones''.
==See also== *Roman Road System *Tre Taverne
==References== {{Reflist|2}}
==External links== {{wiktionary}} *[https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/secondary/SMIGRA*/Mansio.html Mansio] from ''A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities'', John Murray, London, 1875.
Category:Roman Empire Category:Roman waystations