Navigation and Transportation in the Ancient World

Introduction

Transportation, the methods used by people to move themselves and their goods, is strongly dependent on technology. Starting with human locomotion and animal power, it evolved into the use of wheeled vehicles, ships, and, later, mechanically powered vehicles. In the infancy of new transportation systems, military applications often come first, followed by commercial adaptations. For example, the vessels that started as fighting galleys were also used as trading ships in early Mediterranean civilizations, and the war chariot was the fastest land vehicle in the days of Julius Caesar. Because of the need to communicate rapidly with garrisons and outposts, the Romans, among others, built roads of extremely high quality. As each means of transportation matures, military and commercial needs diverge. By 2000 b.c.e., many parts of the world contained relatively advanced civilizations in terms of technology and commerce.

Beginnings

The first pathways to cross the countryside were created by animals pushing aside vegetation and pounding the earth with their feet. Although animals could trample, they, unlike people, could not actively construct pathways other than by wearing down the vegetation; people, however, need both incentive and organizational support to create paths. The built path was a result of increased social and economic pressures exerted by a growing civilization. The first human pathways led to campsites, to food, and to water. As travel needs extended beyond the local area and trade increased, these “highways” became more sophisticated and included fords, passes, and planned routes through unsafe areas. Some existing routes can be traced back to 5000 b.c.e.

When the ground surface permits the use of some contrivance for hauling, people can drag more than they can carry. Human porterage, whether on head or back, survived for a very long time on the African continent because of endemic diseases affecting grass-eating animals such as the horse or mule.

The first new technology applied to transport was not the wheel but the provision of power. After the use of footpaths became widespread, the next innovation was the use of animals, initially as beasts of burden and subsequently for pulling sleds, carts, wagons, and carriages. For most of its history, the world’s roadway system has operated with domesticated animals as its sole source of power, beginning with the domestication of large animals in about 7000 b.c.e. until about a century ago. Cattle, donkeys, asses, dogs, goats, horses, mules, camels, elephants, buffaloes, llamas, reindeer, and yaks are some of the species used for transport. For example, the Asiatic elephant—as opposed to the African elephant—has long been captured and domesticated and used as transport in India and surrounding areas; its ability to handle enormous loads comes at the expense of an enormous appetite. The llama is confined to the sierras of South America and does not do well at low altitudes. Dogs are useful for transport in Arctic regions because their low weight enables them to run in packs over snow-covered ground pulling a load. The camel with its thirst-defying stomach, its capacity for thriving on semi-desert herbage, and its flat feet are ideal for desert sands. The ox was the most widely distributed of transport animals.

Fleet-footed runners were a favored way to deliver messages quickly. The Greeks were able to send messages 120 miles (193 kilometers) in a single day by using runners in a relay system. Similar speeds were reached by North American Indians running along the Iroquois Trail. The Incas, by running stages day and night—and six-minute miles—were able to double that.

Most likely, horse riding began in Russia in about 3000 b.c.e. and was introduced into Mesopotamia in 2000 b.c.e. It gained popularity at a slow pace and only began to appear frequently after 1000 b.c.e. The horse was initially used primarily for war rather than for transport. Throughout this period, the horse remained an expensive animal, and most riders used the much cheaper donkey and mule. The next developments in horse riding were the stirrup (India, about 200 b.c.e.), and the saddle, allowing the horse and rider to act as one. Saddles arrived in Europe in about 200 c.e. and stirrups in about 700 c.e. Horseshoes, uncommon in Roman times, became widespread by then. Just as the horse was important in Europe, the camel played a crucial role in trade in Arabia and Central Asia, being ideally suited for grasslands, steppes, and deserts. Humans have also been used as teams of bearers to carry other humans such as with the Roman litter.

A single horse and rider could routinely manage 35 to 50 miles (56 to 80 kilometers) a day. By periodically changing horses in a multistage system, the Persians under King Cyrus the Great in about 550 b.c.e. achieved 150 miles (241 kilometers) per day on their exclusive royal roadway. The Romans and Chinese were able to beat this. The Chinese record was about 250 miles (402 kilometers) per day.

When freight has to be moved, many parts of the human anatomy were gainfully employed and augmented with sticks, slings, and poles. Loads of 55 pounds (25 kilograms) per bearer over distances were feasible. When the loads to be carried demanded greater strength or power than could be supplied by humans, innovation resulted in the use of domesticated feed animals as beasts of burden. Wicker baskets were transferred from human shoulders to the backs of cattle, producing the first pack animals. Pack transport took a step forward in about 3500 b.c.e., when the domesticated donkey came out of Africa. There are records from 2000 b.c.e. of organized pack convoys operating in the Middle East. Horses could carry about one-third of their body weight in freight. Compared with horses, camels could carry much more and donkeys much less.

From remote antiquity, there has been a contrast between the working animals used in different countries, often related to climatic and ecological factors. A pair of oxen could be fed much more cheaply on inferior fodder of a kind available in areas of Greece and Italy where the pasture was not adequate to support horses. The oxen could pull a heavier load than horses of comparable size, but their progress was slower, not a key issue in ancient transportation. The speed and mobility of horses was more important in cavalry battle tactics. The oxen could serve as food when their working life was over.

Sleighs on snow and ice require very little haulage force and therefore need a simpler technology and less power, as reflected in the common use of dog teams in northern countries. There is evidence of sleighs (on snow and ice) in use in 6000 b.c.e. and sleds (on dry land) in 5000 b.c.e.

Early vehicles and roads

The wheel was invented in Mesopotamia in about 5000 b.c.e., probably as an adjunct to the sled. The next important stage was the use of an axle to join two wheels together and thereby provide increased stability and load capacity. By about 3000 b.c.e., a variety of vehicles in ancient Mesopotamia and northern Iran had begun to make practical use of the solid wheel. The first were two-wheeled-frame carts. The two-wheeled chariot with a single harness pole, pulled by donkeylike onagers, was developed in Sumer in about 2800 b.c.e. Cumbersome four-wheeled wagons, requiring oxen for haulage power, followed in about 2500 b.c.e. The wooden running surfaces of the heavy wheels had a short life; to solve this, leather tire coverings were introduced in about 2500 b.c.e. and protruding copper nails in about 2000 b.c.e. By this time, wheeled vehicles had become common throughout the Middle East and had arrived in Europe.

The Chinese developed the wheelbarrow, a convenient device for moving goods and even people relatively short distances, in the first century b.c.e. This concept did not occur in Europe until well into the Middle Ages.

The Celts invented the spoked wheel with curved wooden rims, substantially reducing the weight to allow lighter, faster vehicles. Primitive hauling harnesses appeared, and the horse became established as an animal for hauling as well as for riding. The horse and light chariot provided a popular but expensive 20-mile-per-hour (32-kilometer-per-hour) military vehicle. In a major advance, the Celts developed the shrink fitting of iron tires in about 400 b.c.e. Steerable wagon axles were achieved in about 500 b.c.e. Harnessing animals in file became common by about 100 b.c.e. and dramatically increased payload size. The use of wheeled vehicles gave rise to a whole new set of roadway needs because the vehicles were wider and heavier than a human or ridden horse or a beast of burden.

The horse, the mainstay of all transport in medieval and later times, played an insignificant part in Greek and Roman transport. Its place was taken for light transport by the mule and for heavy transport by oxen. More common than wheeled vehicles were the human porter or the donkey or mule with a pair of baskets affixed. The Greeks and Romans did not make any very important advances in vehicle design; however, Celtic wagonmakers in France and Germany in the early centuries c.e. developed their designs to a highly sophisticated level. Almost every type of wagon in the classical world was originally designed to be drawn by two animals, attached by yoke and pole; there is evidence that the ox-drawn vehicle came well before the horse-drawn.

Before 1000 b.c.e., the people of north China were making use of two-wheeled carts and war chariots on land. Carts pulled by people or animals were the dominant form of local transportation in addition to wheelbarrows. Large carts using three or four animals became common throughout China. For more distant transportation, caravans of animals came into general use in the first and second centuries c.e.

The Americas were different. Before the arrival of the Europeans, the Indians lacked horses, oxen, and most other beasts of burden used in other parts of the world. Andean Indians did use alpacas and llamas for light loads, however. The Plains tribes used dogs. The wheel was never developed. Trails were for walking, running, carrying, and dragging.

Towns and cities arose to meet social needs, for joint defense, to minimize travel, and to facilitate trade and manufacture. Given the above general factors, towns were typically sited at river crossings, defensible locations, ports, crossroads, the navigable limits of rivers, and other sites with geographic advantages. When trade was more dominant than defense issues, the economics of transport strongly favored the movement of freight on water rather than on land, so productive development occurred adjacent to harbors and rivers.

The earliest cities had a web of narrow streets, all less than 8 feet (2.4 meters) in width and barely permitting passage of a pack animal, let alone a wheeled vehicle. Cities were typically an irregular entanglement of streets, houses, and blocks. The randomness of the network was a useful tool in defending the city against invaders who had penetrated the outside wall. Some cities had ordered arrangements of streets, such as the ancient Middle Eastern cities of Ashur and Nineveh; King Nabopolassar in Babylonia built a long, straight processional avenue. Hippodamus of Miletus, the first recognized town planner, introduced Greek cities to the use of wide, straight streets. The Greeks and Romans built walled cities with a rectangular street grid. The Chinese also used a rectangular pattern.

Ships

Transport by water usually requires less effort than travel by land. The earliest type of boat was the raft, made of grass, logs, bundles of reeds, or light materials held together that float even when burdened with a load. Rafts were used by people ranging from the early Egyptians on the Nile to the Incas on Lake Titicaca. Other early boats were made of skins on a frame, shaped bark, or hollowed-out logs. Native Indians in Brazil used both dugout canoes and sailing craft called jangadas.

The birchbark canoe, birchbark pieces joined together on a wooden frame, common among the American Indians and Inuit, seems flimsy. However, per pound of its own weight, it can safely carry a much greater weight than any other craft and survive rougher water. It enabled people to reach places impossible to access by other means.

People of the Pacific Islands developed a number of remarkable dugout canoes, some of which can carry as many as sixty people. Although the basic boat was a canoe, addition of a prow, stern, side planks, and a log outrigger increased its capacity and stability. Double hulls were joined by decking to create a seagoing transport. The Polynesians, for example, crossed great expanses of ocean with this type of vessel. In about 400 c.e., their navigators had made the 2,300-mile (3,700-kilometer) trip across the open Pacific from the Marquesas Islands to Hawaii. The inhabitants of the Society Islands made extremely sophisticated canoes with elevated prows and sterns and with sails as well as paddles.

Many city sites of trading peoples were chosen because a good anchorage was available nearby. Much import and export trade was carried by sea, overland transport being slow and costly. Rowed galley-style shipping required a nightly landfall for rest; longer nonstop journeys required the development of sails.

For example, naval supremacy in the Aegean was what enabled Athens to dominate that area for the greater part of the fifth century b.c.e. The Greeks had a preoccupation with the sea and ships, while the Romans were not really a seafaring people until forced into that role. Ostia, Rome’s port, was insignificant until major harborworks were completed in the mid-first century c.e., by which time Rome had become dependent on overseas grain. Only at the start of the Punic Wars (264-146 b.c.e.), when the Romans had to face a major sea power, did they build their first fleet of warships.

Greek and Roman merchant ships, except for quite small ones, were normally under sail. Warships used sails on long voyages or while cruising on patrol, but in battle conditions or during a battle alert, they cut down the weight by leaving mast and sail ashore and relied entirely on rowers.

The shape and size of the hull varied greatly, according to the function to be served by the boat; two basic types can be described as long ship and round ship. The long ship was essentially a warship or pirate vessel, designed for rowing at high speed in action, though sails could be carried for cruising or long voyages. The round ship was a merchant vessel for sailing only, apart from the smallest ones that were rowed on rivers or in harbors. Design issues involved placement of rowers and placement of sails. The most striking contrast between ancient and modern sailing boats is the sail itself. Until late antiquity (fourth century c.e.), almost every vessel in the Greek and Roman world had a square sail set at right angles to the hull, unlike the fore-and-aft rig, in line with the keel, today’s more effective arrangement. Ropes controlled the sails. An ordinary, smallish merchantman had a cargo capacity of 120 to 150 tons (108-136 metric tons) with 60-foot (18-meter) length; ships capable of carrying 400 to 500 tons ( 362-453 metric tons) were by no means uncommon.

The Phoenicians, Greeks, and Romans were able to navigate the oceans in vessels equipped with sails and with one to three banks of oars; and it was by means of these crafts that they established and maintained their colonies.

China, with its vastness, looked to water for its transportation needs. The Chinese joined two canoes with planking to form a raft and then built up the sides. This developed into the junk, a flat-bottomed sailing vessel with a high stern and four-cornered sails used in the China Seas. The design provided seaworthiness and structural rigidity, plus the ability to be beached in shallow water. Chinese shipbuilders contrived a watertight box extending through to the deck, allowing a controllable rudder to be placed on the centerline for convenient sailing. The rudder was developed in China in the first century c.e. or earlier, yet the idea did not make it to the West until the Middle Ages.

By 1500 b.c.e., peninsular India was engaging in extensive maritime trade with Africa and Arabia. The discovery of regular winds allowed a straight course across the Arabian Sea. Sanskrit documents talk of ship design. One surviving piece talks about suitability of various woods for shipbuilding and classification of ships based on their size, length, and even cabin position. One type of ship for sea voyages had a long and narrow hull, while a second type had a higher hull. Sextant and compass were used.

In ancient times, navigation was based on observing landmarks along the coast and the position of the Sun and the stars. In the absence of a well-developed system of celestial navigation, long voyages out of sight of land were not very feasible. For many centuries, practical navigators oriented themselves based on meteorological clues such as wind direction. With the reliance on winds to get to the destination, narrow seas afforded intermediate stops for refuge as well as ease in navigation. The Baltic, the Mediterranean, the Persian Gulf, the Bay of Bengal, and the South China Sea are among those fitting this category. Skilled mariners used astrolabes, which measured altitudes of celestial bodies and determined their position and motions, to find latitude, longitude, and time of day.

Traditional navigators of the Central Caroline Islands developed a sizable body of lore for voyaging up to several hundred miles among the tiny islands and atolls of Micronesia. They had to commit to memory knowledge of stars, sailing directions, landmarks, and reading the waves and clouds to find currents and predict weather. The stars were used as a reference system for determining direction.

By comparison to sea transport, land transport was less important in the classical world. Any large community that could not support itself through foodstuffs grown locally or raw materials produced locally depended on importation by sea, particularly in the Mediterranean area, although Western Europe was less sea-dependent. Elsewhere, geography determined which was transport method was best.

Roads

The basic roadmaking dilemma is that natural material soft enough to be formed into a smooth surface is rarely strong enough to bear the weight of a loaded vehicle. Some of the earliest roads were stone-paved streets in Ur in about 4000 b.c.e., corduroy roads in England in 4000 b.c.e., and brick paving in India in 3000 b.c.e. Flagstones for paving local streets became feasible by 2000 b.c.e. In 670 b.c.e., Assyrian king Esarhaddon ordered that roads should be laid out throughout his kingdom to facilitate trade and commerce. In the centuries just before the common era, the Assyrian, Persian, Indian, and Chinese road systems expanded so that by 100 b.c.e., the Silk Road and its connections had become an active trade route between China and the Mediterranean.

With the possible exception of the Chinese, all ancient roadmaking efforts pale into insignificance beside the roads, bridges, and tunnels of the Romans. These were a remarkable achievement, providing travel times across Europe, Asia Minor, and northern Africa that were not to be appreciably exceeded until the coming of the train two millennia later. As were the Persians before them, the Romans were very conscious of the military, economic, and administrative advantages of a good road system. The Romans brought together the lime-cement and masonry of the Greeks, the cement of the Etruscans, the pavements of the Carthaginians, and the surveying techniques of the Egyptians and developed the innovation of adding gravel to the mortar to make concrete. Beginning in 312 b.c.e., Rome built the first of its major roads, the Appian Way, a gravel road wide enough for two carriages abreast or a legion of soldiers to march in their customary six-abreast pattern. At its peak in 200 c.e., the network involved 50,000 miles (about 80,500 kilometers) of first-class roads—completely ringing the Mediterranean and running from Britain to Asia Minor. The Romans built a magnificent road structure but had relatively poor vehicles and riding equipment; in contrast, some of the barbarians had no road infrastructure, but good vehicles and riding equipment.

The use of wheeled vehicles gave rise to a whole new set of needs because the vehicles were wider and heavier than a human, a ridden horse, or a beast of burden. Many countries set standards. The Chinese emperor Shi Huangdi in 221 b.c.e. standardized the gauge of chariot wheels at a “double pace” (about 5 feet, or 1.5 meters) and determined standard road widths from that. Some places even had load limits; the earliest recorded value dates from the Romans in 50 b.c.e.

An extensive road system existed in ancient China, including a few paved roads and some major early bridges. The system was created in the Western Zhou Dynasty (1066-771 b.c.e.); traces are still visible. Chinese road development occurred mainly after 220 b.c.e., particularly during the reign of Emperor Shi Huangdi, who built post roads all over the empire. The Chinese road system peaked during the Tang Dynasty (618-907 c.e.) and then declined.

Indian road construction was quite advanced by 2000 b.c.e. with growing use of brick-paved streets, subsurface drainage, and bitumen as mortar for the better sections. Literature from 1500 b.c.e. made reference to “great roads.” However, other parts were of inferior quality. Goods were transported mainly in caravans of oxen and donkeys, but only in the dry seasons as the rains created impossible travel conditions. Coastal and river shipping were clearly cheaper than overland transport.

The collapse of the Roman Empire meant the decline of Europe’s transportation system. After the Romans, only small pockets of wagon technology continued to flourish; carts were largely restricted to farm and local travel and were only occasionally used for long-distance travel. During the days of the empire, a journey from Italy to Britain took several days through a settled country over good roads. By the late sixth century c.e., the journey took weeks through territories full of unmaintained roads, thick with thieves, marauders, and abandoned lands.

Bibliography

Georgano, G. N. Transportation Through the Ages. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1972.

Landels, J. G. Engineering in the Ancient World. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1978.

Lay, M.G. Ways of the World. New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 1992.