The Appian Way is one of the earliest and strategically most important Roman roads of the ancient republic. It connected Rome to Brindisi, in southeast Italy, its importance is indicated by its common name, recorded by Statius: Appia longarum... regina viarum "the Appian Way the queen of the long roads" The road is named after Appius Claudius Caecus, the Roman censor who began and completed the first section as a military road to the south in 312 BC during the Samnite Wars. The Appian Way was a Roman road used as a main route for military supplies since its construction for that purpose in 312 BC; the Appian Way was the first long road built to transport troops outside the smaller region of greater Rome. The few roads outside the early city were Etruscan and went to Etruria. By the late Republic, the Romans had expanded over most of Italy and were masters of road construction, their roads began at Rome, where the master itinerarium, or list of destinations along the roads, was located, extended to the borders of their domain — hence the expression, "All roads lead to Rome".

Romans had an affinity for the people of Campania, like themselves, traced their backgrounds to the Etruscans. The Samnite Wars were instigated by the Samnites when Rome attempted to ally itself with the city of Capua in Campania; the Italic speakers in Latium had long ago been incorporated into the Roman state. They were responsible for changing Rome from a Etruscan to a Italic state. Dense populations of sovereign Samnites remained in the mountains north of Capua, just north of the Greek city of Neapolis. Around 343 BC, Rome and Capua attempted to form a first step toward a closer unity; the Samnites reacted with military force. Between Capua and Rome lay the Pontine Marshes, a swamp infested with malaria. A tortuous coastal road wound between Ostia at the mouth of the Neapolis; the Via Latina followed its ancient and scarcely more accessible path along the foothills of Monti Laziali and Monti Lepini, which are visible towering over the former marsh. In the First Samnite War the Romans found they could not support or resupply troops in the field against the Samnites across the marsh.

A revolt of the Latin League drained their resources further. They settled with Samnium; the Romans were only biding their time. The first answer was the colonia, a "cultivation" of settlers from Rome, who would maintain a permanent base of operations; the Second Samnite War erupted when Rome attempted to place a colony at Cales in 334 and again at Fregellae in 328 on the other side of the marshes. The Samnites, now a major power after defeating the Greeks of Tarentum, occupied Neapolis to try to ensure its loyalty; the Neapolitans appealed to Rome, which expelled the Samnites from Neapolis. In 312 BC, Appius Claudius Caecus became, he was of the gens Claudia, who were patricians descended from the Sabines taken into the early Roman state. He had been given the name of the founding ancestor of the gens, he was a populist. A man of inner perspicacity, in the years of success he was said to have lost his outer vision and thus acquired the name caecus, "blind". Without waiting to be told what to do by the Senate, Appius Claudius began bold public works to address the supply problem.

An aqueduct secured the water supply of the city of Rome. By far the best known project was the road, which ran across the Pontine Marshes to the coast northwest of Naples, where it turned north to Capua. On it, any number of fresh troops could be sped to the theatre of operations, supplies could be moved en masse to Roman bases without hindrance by either enemy or terrain, it is no surprise that, after his term as censor, Appius Claudius became consul twice, subsequently held other offices, was a respected consultant to the state during his years. The road achieved its purpose; the outcome of the Second Samnite War was at last favorable to Rome. In a series of blows the Romans reversed their fortunes, bringing Etruria to the table in 311 BC, the year of their revolt, Samnium in 304; the road was the main factor that allowed them to concentrate their forces with sufficient rapidity and to keep them adequately supplied, whereafter they became a formidable opponent. The main part of the Appian Way was started and finished in 312 BC.

The road began as a leveled dirt road upon which mortar were laid. Gravel was laid upon this, topped with tight fitting, interlocking stones to provide a flat surface; the historian Procopius said that the stones fit together so securely and that they appeared to have grown together rather than to have been fitted together. The road was cambered in the middle and had ditches on either side of the road which were protected by retaining walls; the road began in the Forum Romanum, passed through the Servian Wall at the porta Capena, went through a cutting in the clivus Martis, left the city. For this stretch of the road, the builders used the via Latina; the building of the Aurelian Wall centuries required the placing of another gate, the Porta Appia. Outside of Rome the new via Appia went through well-to-do suburbs along the via Norba, the ancient track to the Alban hills, where Norba was situated; the road at the time was a via a gravel road. The Romans built a high-quality road, with layers of cemented stone over a layer of small stones, drainage ditches on either side, low retaining walls on sunken portions, dirt pathways for sidewalks.

The via Appia is beli

Accidents and incidents involving the Ilyushin Il-18 Data from:Aviation Safety Network Il-18 7 May A Soviet Air Force Il-18A crashed near Sheremetyevo Airport after an engine failed while on a test flight, killing all 10 on board in the first loss of an Il-18. The aircraft was operating for Aviatsionnaya Krasnoznamyonnaya Diviziya Osobogo Naznacheniya. 2 September Aeroflot Flight 249, an Il-18B, from Vnukovo Airport was written off after suffering structural damage in a cumulonimbus cloud while flying over Voronezh Region. 27 April An Aeroflot/Ural Il-18A, CCCP-75648, crashed on landing at Koltsovo Airport while on a training flight due to crew error, killing one of five crew on board. 17 August Aeroflot Flight 36, an Il-18B, crashed near Tarasovich, Kiev Oblast due to loss of control following an in-flight fire, killing all 34 passengers and crew on board. 26 December An Aeroflot/Ulyanovsk Flight School Il-18A lost control and crashed near Vostochny Airport en route from Kuybyshev Airport while on a training flight due to tail icing, killing all 17 passengers and crew on board.

28 March ČSA Flight 511, an Il-18V, crashed near Bavaria in West Germany. All 52 passengers and crew on board were killed. 22 June An Aeroflot/Moscow Il-18B, CCCP-75672, en route from Vnukovo Airport to Adler/Sochi Airport, suffered a generator failure on no.3 engine and subsequent fire, force-landing in a field near Bogoroditsk, Tula Oblast with no casualties among the 97 occupants. 12 July ČSA Flight 511, an Il-18V, crashed near Casablanca, killing all 72 on board. 28 July An Il-18V of MAP Plant No. 30 crashed at Tretyakovo Airport during a pre-delivery test flight for Aeroflot due to engine failure. 13 August An Aeroflot/Ulyanovsk Flight School Il-18B, CCCP-75653 overshot the runway in poor visibility at Riga Central Airport, with no casualties. 17 December Aeroflot Flight 245, an Il-18B, went into a dive and crashed near Chebotovka, Rostov Oblast after the flight engineer accidentally deployed the flaps, killing all 59 passengers and crew on board. 31 December An Aeroflot/Armenia Il-18V crashed near Mineralnye Vody Airport while attempting a go-around during a charter flight, killing 32 of 119 on board.

The aircraft was one of two sent to pick up people, stranded at Tbilisi due to bad weather. 24 February A TAROM Il-18V landed in the sea off Paphos, after all 4 engines failed due to fuel filter icing. 23 November Malev Hungarian Airlines Flight 355, an Il-18V stalled for reasons unknown and crashed near Le Bourget Airport, killing all 21 passengers and crew on board. 29 November An Aeroflot/Moscow Ilyushin Il-18V, CCCP-75843, was reported to have crashed on this date, with no further information available. 26 February An Aeroflot/Polar Il-18V force-landed on the ice of the Shelikhov Gulf near Bukhta Yemlinskaya due to double engine failure, killing all 10 passengers and crew on board. 5 March Aeroflot Flight 191, an Il-18V, crashed short of the runway at Ashgabat Airport due to poor visibility caused by a dust storm, killing 12 of 54 on board. 4 April Aeroflot Flight 25, an Il-18V, crashed near Urakhcha, Tatarstan after the propeller pitch control mechanism on an engine malfunctioned, killing all 67 passengers and crew on board.

10 November An Aeroflot/Uzbekistan Il-18B, CCCP-75686, crashed on landing at Kuibyshev Airport en route from Tashkent due to pilot error. 2 July An Aeroflot/Moscow Il-18B was written off at Krasnodar Airport. 3 August An Aeroflot/Far East Il-18V was written off after landing short and the undercarriage collapsing at Magadan Airport. 2 September Aeroflot Flight 721, an Il-18V, struck a hillside near Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk Airport after the crew descended too soon, killing 87 of 93 on board. 19 October A Soviet Air Force Il-18V struck Mount Avala while on approach to Batajnica Air Base, killing all 33 passengers and crew on board. 4 January Aeroflot Flight 20, an Il-18B, crashed short of the runway at Alma-Ata Airport in poor visibility, killing 64 of 103 on board. 23 December An Aeroflot/Moscow Il-18B suffered severe structural damage near Magadan, whilst en route, after a dive from 8,000 m. 27 March A Cubana Il-18B from Santiago-Antonio Maceo Airport to José Martí International Airport was hijacked by the flight engineer, demanding to be flown to Florida.

Two people were killed during the incident. 7 July A Cubana Il-18 flying from Antonio Maceo Airport to José Martí International Airport, was hijacked by 9 hijackers, including the pilot, flown to Jamaica. 10 July A Cubana Ilyushin Il-18V made a forced landing at Cienfuegos due to multiple engine failure, killing two of 93 on board. 27 August Aeroflot

The Iglesia de Santo Tomé is a church located in the historical center of the city of Toledo, was founded after the reconquest of this city by King Alfonso VI of León. It appears quoted in the 12th century, as constructed on the site of an old mosque of the 11th century; this mosque, together with other mosques in the city, were used as Christian churches without major changes, since in the taking of the city there was no destruction of buildings. However, at the beginning of the 14th century, being in a ruinous state the church was rebuilt in charge of Gonzalo Ruiz de Toledo, Lord of Orgaz, the old minaret of the mosque was transformed into a bell tower in Mudéjar style, its fame is due to the fact that it contains the painting The Burial of the Count of Orgaz by El Greco, which can be seen by accessing the back of church. The building consists of three naves with crossing, covered by polygonal apse. In order to construct the greater chapel, with mixture of Mudéjar and Gothic, the Lord of Orgaz ordered to demolish the old head and elevate the central dome in form of Rub el Hizb with the nerves painted.

On the side of the gospel, near the high altar, a door leads to the entrance of the bell-tower and from there it can be climbed by means of a staircase. It has the church in its chapels, two baroque reredos, one plateresque and a baptismal font of the 16th century, it highlights an image of the Virgin Mary of 12th century and the reredos with Ionic elements of the greater chapel of the 19th century, that replaced an earlier churrigueresque one, in this reredos is in its central part a painting, "The unbelief of St. Thomas", by the painter Vicente López Portaña." At the feet of the nave corresponding to the side of the Epistle, in the so-called Chapel of the Conception is buried by his own request in his will, Gonzalo Ruiz de Toledo, mayor of Toledo, benefactor of this temple and dead in 1323. According to a legend, in its burial appeared Saint Stephen and Augustine of Hippo to place it in his burial, the mentioned miracle is the one, represented on his tomb, the painting "Burial of the Count of Orgaz" made by El Greco in 1584 by order of which it was in that time parish priest of the church Andrés Núñez de Toledo, which for this occasion did the reforms constituted the creation of a new quadrangular plan covered by a half-domed vault and on the walls to adore four half-point arches, inside one of them was placed a gravestone engraved with the explanation of the miracle and on top of it, adapting itself to the arc of the wall, the painting.

The inscription of the epitaph in Latin and gold letters on black marble was performed by Alvar Gómez de Castro. D. V. et P. Támetsi properas, Siste Paululum Viator, et antiquam urbis nostre historiam paucis accipe. Dñs. Gonsalvus Ruiz á Toleto Orgacii Oppidi Dñs. Castelle major Notarius, inter caetera sue pietatis monumenta, Thomae Apostoli, quam vides aedem, ubi sé testamento jussit condi, olim augustam et malesartam, laxiori spatio, pecunia sua instaurandam curavit, additis multis, cum argenteis tum aureis donariis. Dum eum humare Sacerdotes parant, ¡ecce res admiranda et insolita! Divus Estéphanus et Augustinus caelo delapsi propis manibus hic speliernunt. ¿Que causa hos Divos impulerit? Quoniam longum est, Agustinianos Sodales non longa est via: roga. Obiit anno Xpi. M. CCC. XII. Caelestium gratum animum audisti: Audi jam mortalium inconstantiam. Eclesie hujus Curioni et Ministris, tum etiam Parroquie pauperibus arietes 2, gallignas 16, vini uteres 2, lignorum vecturas 2, nummos quos nostri Morapetinos vocant 800 ab Orgatiis Quotannis percipiendos idem Gonsalvus testamento legabit.

Illi, ob temporis diuturnitarem,rem obscuram fore sperantes, cum duobus ab hinc annis pium pendere tributum recusarent, Pintiani conventus sentencia convicti sunt. Anno Ch. M. DLXX. Andrea Nonio Matritano hujus Petro Rusio Durone Economo; the old minaret rebuilt in the 14th century by the lord of Orgaz, is of square plan, in what can be called Toledan Mudéjar, with masonry and brick well preserved and based on the one of the Iglesia de San Román of the same city. The tower contains incrustations of glazed ceramics and in its two upper bodies, double bell, groups of two and three windows open and between these two floors a frieze decoration of blind archery with lobulated arches and separated by small columns of glazed clay; the crowning is made with a kind of string of "sawtooth". Next to a twinned window of the tower on the second floor, is embedded a Visigothic plate-niche of white marble with scallop and cross patada adorned with the letters Alpha and Omega and studied as a similar piece to the prototype realized in the workshops of Mérida, that would have extended its influence in those of Toledo.

The church is opened on a daily basis to allow the public to view the painting. An entrance fee is charged. Demetrio ernández González. Gonzalo Ruiz de Toledo, Lord of Orgaz:. Toledo: Theological Institute San Ildefonso. ISBN 978-84-93253585. Manuel González Simancas. Toledo: Its Monuments and Ornamental Art. Valladolid: Maxtor. ISBN 84-9761-148-9. Eduardo Mariátegui. Chronicle of the province of Toledo. Madrid: Ronchi y Compañía. Sixto Ramón Parro. Toledo in the hand or historical-artistic description of the magnificent cathedral and other famous monuments: tome II. Toledo: Imprenta y Librería Severiano López Fando. Description of the Iglesia de Santo Tomé in toledomonumental.com Photos and history in Maravillas Ocultas de España Iglesia de Santo Tomé in Arte Viaje. Consulted: June 19, 2011