Cologne

A Roman milestone was found at the side of the road near Greinstraße. Milestones, stone pillars two to three metres high, are primarily used to measure distance. However, they also serve as symbols of Roman rule and, with their inscriptions, as instruments of imperial propaganda. They mark the roads on which they are erected as property of the Roman Empire. Today, more than 4,000 are known, but that is still less than 10 per cent of the milestones that were once erected along the long-distance roads of the Roman Empire.

The inscription on the milestone on Luxemburger Straße does not state the distance to Cologne in Roman miles (1 mile = approx. 1.5 kilometres), but in Gallic leagues (1 league = 2.2 kilometres). The league is a unit of distance that was in use in Gaul and Germania from the 3rd century AD onwards. The stone was erected during the reign of Emperors Constantius and Maximianus (293–305 AD), probably as a sign of the renewal of the road surface.

A cast of the league stone stands in the foyer of the district court in the Cologne Justice Centre on Luxemburger Straße. The original is on display in the Romano-Germanic Museum in Cologne.