In Roman urban planning, a decumanus was an east–west-oriented road in a Roman city or castrum (military camp).[1] The main decumanus of a particular city was the decumanus maximus, or most often simply "the decumanus".[2] In the rectangular street grid of the typical Roman city plan, the decumanus was crossed by the perpendicular cardo, a north–south street.
In a military camp, the decumanus connected the Porta Praetoria (closest to the enemy) to the Porta Decumana (away from the enemy).[3][4]
In the center – called groma – of a city or castrum, the decumanus maximus crossed the perpendicular cardo maximus, the primary north–south road. The forum was normally located close to this intersection of the decumanus maximus and the cardo maximus.
- ^ John E. Stambaugh (1 May 1988). The Ancient Roman City. JHU Press. pp. 283–. ISBN 978-0-8018-3692-3.
- ^ The City Walls of Pompeii: Perceptions and Expressions of a Monumental Boundary by Ivo van der Graaff, M.A. Dissertation. Graduate School of The University of Texas, p. 90
- ^ Christoph F. Konrad (2004). Augusto Augurio: Rerum Humanarum Et Divinarum Commentationes in Honorem Jerzy Linderski. Franz Steiner Verlag. pp. 126–. ISBN 978-3-515-08578-6.
- ^ Alan Kaiser (14 October 2011). Roman Urban Street Networks: Streets and the Organization of Space in Four Cities. Taylor & Francis. pp. 160–. ISBN 978-1-136-76006-8.