The importance of the ancient "Via Flaminia" is twofold. During the period of Roman expansion in the 3rd and 2nd centuries BCE, the Flaminia became, with the cheaper sea route, a main axis of transportation by which wheat from the Po valley supplied Rome and central Italy. During the period of Roman decline, the Flaminia was the main road leading into the heartland of Italy. It was taken by Julius Caesar at the beginning of the civil war, but also by various Germanic military forces and Byzantine generals. A number of major battles were therefore fought on or near the Via Flaminia, for example at Sentinum (near the modern Sassoferrato) and near Tadinum (the modern Gualdo Tadino). In the early Middle Ages, the road, controlled by the Eastern Roman Empire, was a civilizing influence, and accounted for much of what historians call the "Byzantine corridor".