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A paved Roman road (said to be an invention of the Carthaginians) for horses, carriages, and foot passengers, both in town and country; especially such roads as formed a main channel of communication from one district to another. Roman roads were constructed with the greatest regard for durability and convenience; they consisted of a carriageway paved with polygonal blocks of lava, imbedded in a substratum formed by three layers of different materials (the lowest of small stones or gravel, the next of rubble, and the upper one a bed of fragments of brick and pottery mixed with cement); there was a raised footway on each side flanked with curbstones. (Harris, 1977)