Historic roads

Historic roads are existing or once existent travel routes of historic significance. They typically cover great distances.

The Silk Road was a network of trade routes between China and the Mediterranean. It spanned the modern countries of Syria, Iran, Pakistan and India.

Except for Roman roads, European pathways were rarely in good shape and depended on the topology and geography of the region. In the early Middle Ages, people often preferred to travel along elevated drainage divides to lower down. This was due to thick forests and other natural obstacles in valleys.

Antsanvia (from the Latin antiana via, old road) was a trade road that ran from Mainz to Thuringia. Due to wide visibility from the Rhön mountains, places along the road became sites for hilltop castles in the Middle Ages. An example is Hauneck Castle (Burg Hauneck) on the Stoppelsberg, the ruins of which are still visible. It served to oversee and protect traffic on Antsanvia and protect the villages in the Haune Valley.

Elisabethenstraße ran from the district of Mainz-Kastel through Hofheim am Taunus to Oppidum Nida and into Wetterau.

The Old Salt Route or Alte Salzstraße (Hanseatic League) was a salt trade route from Lüneburg to Lübeck.

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