Whatzit?

[MurphOnMillerAve]

Stone - yes.
Keeping others company, in a way, yes....

I feel like I've seen this before...is this a Roman road? The blocks are set far enough apart that the wheels of a chariot will pass through...

Correct?

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Stone - yes.
Keeping others company, in a way, yes....

I feel like I've seen this before...is this a Roman road? The blocks are set far enough apart that the wheels of a chariot will pass through...

Correct?

So what's their purpose then?

[MurphOnMillerAve]

Their purpose was to allow pedestrians to cross over what, at times, could be effluence and horse-droppings. Also, as Healey stated, the spaces among the blocks allowed for the passage of chariot wheels along the roadway.

This is in Pompeii.

[MurphOnMillerAve]

...some looked like this....

[Roy]

Well, that was suitable for a Jeopardy Tournament of Champions Final Jeopardy question...

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Their purpose was to allow pedestrians to cross over what, at times, could be effluence and horse-droppings.

Good to have a safe passage over what was an open sewer // roadway.

[MurphOnMillerAve]

Well, that was suitable for a Jeopardy Tournament of Champions Final Jeopardy question...

Thanks, Roy, I appreciate your approval.

[MurphOnMillerAve]

Their purpose was to allow pedestrians to cross over what, at times, could be effluence and horse-droppings.

Good to have a safe passage over what was an open sewer // roadway.

Apparently so. Of course, once nearby Vesuvius let go, none of it mattered, huh.

It was wonderful teaching there, albeit for a short while. We actually went on mini-digs, since at that time (late 60's) Pompeii was largely uncovered, as yet.

[Roy]

Note the wheel grooves end. Gets me wondering if they were built into the road.

[webenda]

"Have I not seen with my own eyes how for two hundred years at least the pavements were not repaired! – how ruts five and even ten inches deep were worn into the thick flagstones by the chariot-wheels of generations of swindled tax-payers? … I wish I knew the name of the last one that held office in Pompeii so that I could give him a blast. I speak with feeling on this subject, because I caught my foot in one of those ruts, and the sadness that came over me when I saw the first poor skeleton, with ashes and lava sticking to it, was tempered by the reflection that may be that party was the Street Commissioner."
--Mark Twain

[webenda]

Note the wheel grooves end. Gets me wondering if they were built into the road.

"In some places, ruts were purposely cut into narrow streets to help guide carts between the stones. In other places no ruts were found in the streets so so maybe the street was closed to wheeled traffic."

https://global.oup.com/academic/product ... s&lang=en&
https://www.forbes.com/sites/drsarahbon ... c0033b7b5b
https://www.amusingplanet.com/2015/03/c ... mpeii.html

[MurphOnMillerAve]

Note the wheel grooves end. Gets me wondering if they were built into the road.

In some places, ruts were purposely cut into narrow streets to help guide carts between the stones. In other places no ruts were found in the streets so so maybe the street was closed to wheeled traffic.

That's the first I've heard anybody make sense of that phenomenon. And that includes instructors on-site who gave tours of Pompeii.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Note the wheel grooves end. Gets me wondering if they were built into the road.

"In some places, ruts were purposely cut into narrow streets to help guide carts between the stones. In other places no ruts were found in the streets so so maybe the street was closed to wheeled traffic."

Or maybe those were private streets?

[MurphOnMillerAve]

Note the wheel grooves end. Gets me wondering if they were built into the road.

"In some places, ruts were purposely cut into narrow streets to help guide carts between the stones. In other places no ruts were found in the streets so so maybe the street was closed to wheeled traffic."

Or maybe those were private streets?

Interesting. I have never heard of such a concept there, nor in Ancient Rome itself. Can you elaborate from personal observations or what you have learned about such streets in the Roman Empire, Rufus?

[Rufus T. Firefly]

"In some places, ruts were purposely cut into narrow streets to help guide carts between the stones. In other places no ruts were found in the streets so so maybe the street was closed to wheeled traffic."

Or maybe those were private streets?

Interesting. I have never heard of such a concept there, nor in Ancient Rome itself. Can you elaborate from personal observations or what you have learned about such streets in the Roman Empire, Rufus?

Neither have I, but there are few survivors of the Roman Empire to ask now. Given that it seems whenever & wherever we have folks with money and power, they like to have their own private communities and roads. I don't think that the Romans were any different.