Market Of Appius
Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament [1]
(Ἀππίου φόρον, Acts 28:15; Authorized VersionAppii Forum)
A town on the Via Appia , the usual resting-place for travellers from Home at the end of the first day’s journey, though Horace says of himself and his companion; ‘Hoc iter ignavi divisimus’ ( Sat . I. v. 5). The site of the town is marked by considerable ruins, near the modern railway station of Foro Appio , where the 43rd ancient milestone is still preserved. It was the northern terminus of a canal ( fossa ), which extended, parallel with the line of road, through the Pomptine marshes as far as the neighbourhood of Tarracina. Strabo says that travellers from the South usually sailed up the canal by night, ‘embarking in the evening, and landing in the morning to travel the rest of their journey by rood’ (v. iii. 6.) Pliny mentions Appii Forum among the municipal towns of Labium (iii. v. 9). Horace ( loc. cit. 4-15) sets down his vivid recollections of a place ‘crammed full of boatmen and extortionate tavern-keepers,’ where ‘the water was utterly bad,’ where at night ‘the slaves bantered the boatmen and the boatmen the slaves,’ where ‘troublesome mosquitoes and marsh frogs’ kept sleep from his eyes. St. Paul and St. Luke remembered it gratefully as the first of two places- Tres Tabernœ (see Three Taverns), 10 miles further north, being the other-whither brethren came from Rome to greet them and escort them on then way.
J. Strahan.
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible [2]
APPIUS, Market OF . A market-town (without city rights) on the Appian Way, 10 Roman miles from Tres Tabernœ (Three Taverns), near the modern railway station, Foro Appio. As the Appian Way was the main road from Rome to the south and east of the Roman Empire, it was traversed by nearly all travellers from or to those parts ( Acts 28:15 ).
A. Souter.
