We do not know the details, but we can imagine that Epaphroditus arrived in Rome tired from his journey. He probably traveled along the Via Egnatia, a Roman road that traversed Macedonia. He could have crossed the Adriatic to the “heel” of the Italian peninsula and then gone up the Appian Way to Rome. It was a tiring journey (750 miles [1,200 km] one way) that likely took more than a month.—See box on page 29.

The Discomforts of the Journey

These days a journey between two important European cities, similar to that undertaken by Epaphroditus, might not take great effort. The trip could be comfortably completed in a jet airliner in an hour or two. It was a completely different story to make such a journey in the first century. Back then, moving from place to place meant discomfort. A traveler on foot could cover between 18 and 22 miles [30-35 km] a day, while exposing himself to the weather and various dangers, including “highwaymen.”—2 Corinthians 11:26.

What about the overnight stops and supplies of provisions?

Historian Michelangelo Cagiano de Azevedo points out that along the Roman roads, “there were mansiones, full-fledged hotels, with stores, stables, and accommodations for their staff; between two successive mansiones, there were a number of mutationes, or stopover points, where one could change horses or vehicles and find supplies.” These taverns had a terrible reputation since they were frequented by the lowest of social classes. Besides robbing travelers, innkeepers often supplemented their takings with earnings from prostitutes. The Latin satiric poet Juvenal commented that any who found themselves constrained to stay in a tavern of that kind may have found themselves “lying cheek-by-jowl beside a cut-throat, in the company of bargees, thieves, and runaway slaves, beside hangmen and coffin-makers . . . One cup serves for everybody; no one has a bed to himself, nor a table apart from the rest.” Other ancient writers lamented the bad water and the rooms, which were overcrowded, dirty, humid, and flea-infested.