About the Via Belgica
The Via Belgica is a Roman road about 262 km long in the Itiner-e atlas of ancient roads. It is mapped as 54 separate segments and crosses Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands and France. The longest stretch, 140 km (53%), is in Belgium. 11 Roman places lie along it, from Ara Ubiorum to Bagacum.
The Via Belgica is better documented than most: 71% of the length is classed as certain, and 24% is conjectured and 5% is hypothetical.
- 262 kmlength
- 54segments
- 11Roman places
- 4countries
How sure are we where it ran?
| How certain | Length (km) | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Certain | 185 | 71% |
| Conjectured | 63.1 | 24% |
| Hypothetical | 13.2 | 5% |
Certain: well documented, mapped to within about 50 to 200 m. Conjectured: known road, course less precisely documented. Hypothetical: route not pinned down, or existence uncertain.
Where the Via Belgica goes
| Country | Length (km) |
|---|---|
| Belgium | 140 |
| Germany | 66.4 |
| Netherlands | 47.3 |
| France | 8.1 |
Roman places along the Via Belgica
In order along the route, from Ara Ubiorum to Bagacum. Names are the Roman ones from the Pleiades gazetteer.
- Ara Ubiorum
- Bergheim-Quadrath
- Tiberiacum?
- Iuliacum
- Rimburg
- Coriovallum
- Traiectus?
- Atuatuca
- Taviers
- Sauvenière
- Bagacum
Modern towns near the route
These towns and cities are within about 4 km of the road, in route order.
- Altstadt Sud (Germany)
- Kalk (Germany)
- Altstadt Nord (Germany)
- Nippes (Germany)
- Köln (Germany)
- Neustadt/Süd (Germany)
- Neustadt/Nord (Germany)
- Neuehrenfeld (Germany)
- Bilderstöckchen (Germany)
- Frechen (Germany)
- Bergheim (Germany)
- Elsdorf (Germany)
- Jülich (Germany)
- Baesweiler (Germany)
- Übach-Palenberg (Germany)
- Kerkrade (Netherlands)
- Heerlen (Netherlands)
- Maastricht (Netherlands)
- Riemst (Belgium)
- Tongeren (Belgium)
- Gembloux (Belgium)
- Pont-à-Celles (Belgium)
- Courcelles (Belgium)
- Morlanwelz-Mariemont (Belgium)
- Binche (Belgium)
Source
Road name as recorded in the Itinerary field of Itiner-e (version 2024 1.3, doi:10.5281/zenodo.17122148). Sources most often cited by its 54 segments (segments citing each in brackets): [1] van Aken 1999 (21): short reference only, not listed in the Itiner-e bibliography file. [2] Demey 2003 (19): Demey, Dieter (2003). De Romeinse weg van Boulogne-sur-Mer naar Keulen, Provincie Limburg: een archeologisch onderzoek. RAAP Archeologisch Adviesbureau, Amsterdam. [3] https://www.erlebnisraum-roemerstrasse.de/fileadmin/redakteur/Das_Projekt/VIA_PG_2014_WEB_2.pdf (13): short reference only, not listed in the Itiner-e bibliography file.. Route lines: Itiner-e, CC BY 4.0. See all data sources and licences.