The Appian Way was one of the most important Roman roads of the ancient republic. It connected Rome to Brindisi, Apulia, in southeast Italy. The road is named after Appius Claudius Caecus, who completed the first section as a military road to the south in 312 BC during the Samnite Wars. "On both sides are tombs and monuments, that of Caecilia Metella in the middle distance. In the foreground the third milestone." Scanned steel engraving from "A Pictorial History of the World's Greatest Nations" (Author, Charlotte M. Yonge - Engraver, A.H. Payne - Publisher, Selmer Hess [NY] - 1882).