Appii Forum in the Bible Encyclopedia - ISBE

ap'-i-i fo'-rum, transliteration of Lat; APPIUS ap'-i-us, MARKET OF (Revised Version) (Appiou phoron): Appi Forum (Cicero ad Att. 2.10; Suetonius Tib. 2: Appii Forum; Vulgate Revised Verson: Forum Appi; Horace Satires i.5; Pliny, Nat. Hist., iii.64; xiv.61; CIL, X, 6824), or Market of Appius, was a town situated at the forty-third milestone on the Appian Road (39 1/2 English miles from Rome, a single day's journey for energetic travelers) according to the imperial itineraries (Ant., 108; Hierosol. 611; Geog. Rav. 4.34). Its existence probably dates from the time of Appius Claudius Caecus (Suet. Tib. 2; compare Mommsen, Rom. Forsch., I, 308), who laid out the famous highway from Rome to Capua in 312 BC. In the 1st century it had the rank of a municipality (Pliny, iii.64). Its importance as a highway station is due chiefly to the canal which ran by the side of the road from there to within a short distance of Tarracina (at the sixty- second milestone), affording an alternative means of conveyance (Strabo v.3.6). It was customary to cover this section of the journey, passing through the Pontine Marshes, by night in canal boats drawn by mules. Horace (Sat. i.5) offers a lively picture of the discomforts of the trip, mentioning the importunate inn-keepers and intolerable drinking water at Appii Forum, the gnats and frogs which were enemies to repose, and the exasperating procrastination of the muleteer. The Christian brethren in Rome went out along the Appian Road to welcome the apostle Paul upon hearing of his arrival at Puteoli. One party awaited him at Three Taverns while another proceeded as far as Appii Forum Acts 28:15).