Roman road network on the Itiner-e map
This is the route
A new comprehensive map of Roman roads has increased the known size of the empire's land transport network by almost 60 percent – and it's accessible to everyone. explore online.
The project, called Itiner-e, combines topographic maps, satellite imagery and centuries-old historical records in what its creators say is the first open dataset of its kind.
“It came out of a huge disappointment,” says Tom Brugmans at Aarhus University in Denmark. “This is the most mysterious topic in Roman archeology. We even have proverbs that say: 'All roads lead to Rome'. So why can't I download all the Roman roads? Where are they?”
Brugmans and his colleagues combined data from a large body of research and traced more realistic paths for previously known routes to create a map of the road network as it might have looked around 150 AD. They also assigned the location of each road segment a credibility rating based on the quality of the source.
According to them, the total length of the road network at that time was about 299,171 kilometers – much more than the previous estimate of 188,555 kilometers given by Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World.
The dataset also shows that while we have good evidence of the start and end of many roads, only 2.8 percent of the network's length can be determined accurately – within 50 meters in the mountains and 200 meters in the plains.
Roman roads through mountain passes leading to Delphi in Ancient Greece.
This is the route
For Brugmans, this reflects how difficult it can be to get funding to excavate entire Roman roads, meaning that much of the work simply wasn't done. Major roads have also been built many times throughout history, so it can be difficult to find the original path.
Although Roman roads are famous for being straight, it is a myth that they were always straight, he says. Katherine Fletcher from Manchester Metropolitan University in the UK, who was not involved in the study. “The direct route was not always cheap or practical, especially in mountainous areas,” she says. “Often where there was an existing route, the Romans adapted it rather than rebuilding it.”
Greater knowledge of the Roman road network could potentially help us understand many important events in European history. The advent of early Christianity, mass migration and continent-wide pandemics are all phenomena that were influenced by the Roman road system, says Brugmans.
Despite their importance, roads are often overlooked because they are not as glamorous as amphitheaters and gladiators, says Fletcher. “[It’s like that] famous scene in Monty Python– she says, – where they talk about what the Romans did for us, and say: “And the roads… Well, obviously, the roads!” Roads go without saying.”
Embark on an exciting journey where history and archeology come to life through Mount Vesuvius and the ruins of Pompeii and Herculaneum. Topics:
Historic Herculaneum – discovery of Vesuvius, Pompeii and ancient Naples
