Southward Road

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The Southward Road was a road in Ithilien.

Course[edit | edit source]

The Southward Road ran from the Black Gate southwards through the narrow strip of land between the mountains of the Ephel Dúath and the river Anduin.[1][2]

The road had been constructed a long time ago and ran southwards in a straight and level course, sometimes cutting through the slopes of hillsides or across streams on stone bridges in the form of a wide shapely arch until at last it became a straight country cart-road.[3]

Just north of the Cross-roads the Southward Road wound its way near the feet of the Ephel Dúath until it descended to the Cross-roads of the Fallen King, where it met the road that went from Osgiliath to Minas Morgul.[4]

It is not known if the name Southward Road was another name for the North Road[5] of Ithilien or for the Harad Road, which means South Road[note 1] or if the name Southward Road was only used for a part of the road, which continued under the name Harad Road or South Road after the Cross-roads[6][7][note 2] or after a point lying further to the south, such as after the Crossings of Poros.[8][9][10][11]

Notes

  1. The Sindarin word Harad means "south" (ref. Parma Eldalamberon, Issue 17, entry S harad, p. 88).
  2. The road that runs from the Morannon to the Cross-roads and then on to the river Poros is unnamed on the General Map of Middle-earth, the Map of Rohan, Gondor, and Mordor and on the map of The West of Middle-earth at the End of the Third Age. On those maps only the part of the road south of the river Poros is named Harad Road. The part of the road that runs from the Cross-roads in Ithilien south towards the river Poros is named Harad Road and South Road on the Map of a part of Gondor and on the map of Minas Morghul and the Cross-roads, respectively, which were drawn by J.R.R. Tolkien during the writing of The Lord of the Rings.

References