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VIA NOVA

a street constructed by Caracalla, which ran parallel to the via Appia, along the front of the THERMAE ANTONINIANAE (q.v.), which he built (Aur. Victor Caes. 21: aucta urbs magno accessu viae novae; Hist. Aug. Carac. 9: viam novam munivit, quae est sub eius thermis). It is shown on Forma Urbis, 3, as about 30 metres wide, while the via Appia is hardly one-third of this width. It is mentioned in a Christian inscription (CIL vi. 9684). It can obviously have nothing to do with the via Nova mentioned by Frontinus (see HORTI ASINIANI).1

1 It has been conjectured that it may simply refer to the VICUS SULPICIUS (q.v.) as a new road ' (Hist. Aug. cit. ed. Loeb), but this vicus had already been in existence for a long period previously.

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