made entirely of gilded bronze, while others believe only the inscribed letters were gilded bronze. Probable dimensions for the structure include a height of , and a diameter of (column only) or if including the alleged base (i.e. the carved marble fragments labeled "Milliarium Aureum" in the Roman Forum). The problem of the inscription Ancient sources never directly say what was inscribed on the Milliarium Aureum, so every idea one may have about the inscription must be considered a modern inference based on the typical form, structure and function of Roman milestones. The main hypotheses about the inscription suggest that it included: Nothing, except for the name and title of the Emperor. The names of the most important cities of Italy and of the Roman Empire in 20 BCE, with the distances of these from Rome. According to a vague sentence by Pliny the Elder (Naturalis Historia, 3.66), the distances in Roman miles were measured starting from the city gates and not from the location of the Milliarium (thus with a difference of ca. 1 mile): Via Appia from Porta Capena (to Brundisium, Greece and the Oriental Provinces); Via Salaria and Via Nomentana from Porta Collina and Via Flaminia (to Northern Italy, Raetia, Noricum, Pannonia and Illyricum); Via Aurelia (to the Galliae and Hispaniae); Via Ostiensis (to Ostia and the main harbours of Corsica and Sardinia, Sicilia and Africa). The names of the roads out of Rome and the men of praetorian rank Augustus had made curatores viarum to see to their upkeep, based on Cassius Dio's account of the erection of the monument. The problem of the marble fragments labeled "Milliarium Aureum" The ca. 3-m diameter marble fragments labeled "Milliarium Aureum" with an anthemion frieze decoration have long been considered part of the base of the monument. However, there is no direct evidence for this, considering as well that the diameter of this base seems to be too large for a standard milliarium. According to Richardson, the ruins labeled "Milliarium Aureum" can be considered pertinent only if the column of the monument was of a colossal scale, of almost 3 m diameter and not 1.15 m: Still less credible is that the carved stone members labelled Milliarium Aureum at the northwest end of the Forum Romanum today actually belonged to the base of that monument. The frieze decorated with an anthemion belongs relatively high on a building, and both