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F.H.C. Birch/Sonia Halliday Photographs

Countless travelers, among them Prisca and Aquila, have worn smooth the paving stones of the Appian Way (Via Appia). The Roman censor Appius Claudius Caecus began construction of this famous road in 312 B.C., originally for the purpose of connecting Rome to Capua, more than 100 miles to the southeast. When the emperor Claudius expelled some Jews from Rome, about 41 A.D., Prisca and Aquila probably walked the Appian Way to Brindisi, 360 miles away, the most likely port from which they could take a ship to Corinth. Their choice of Corinth may have been influenced by the prospect of customers for their tents during the Isthmian games, a major athletic contest held outside Corinth in May or June.