The Antonine Itinerary is a collection of routes crossing every region in the Roman Empire, from Britannia to Byzantium. Its purpose has been the subject of various interpretations, perhaps as a testimony of the Roman mail system or a record of a series of imperial journeys. T
his important document, which has come to us in book format, is presented as a detailed map of the territories that the Romans had conquered between the 1st and 4th centuries AD.
In this vast representation, where nine different routes are indicated for Sicily, including the miles that ran between the starting point, intermediate stages and arrival point, the post station of Philosophiana, or its mansio, appears twice, both in the route A Traiecto Lilybeo, i.e. from Messina to Marsala, and in the Item A Catina Agrigentum, which connects Catania to Agrigento.
An examination of the itineraries, especially the second one, which seems to be a variant of the first, shows an evident connection between the road network and the sea trade routes, also fuelled by the role that, in the late empire, the Villa del Casale had taken on with its vast latifundium.
The arrival of grain from Africa to the ports of Agrigento and Lilybaeum through the Antonine Itinerary underlines the economic importance of Philosophiana.
