Roman Roads: Complicating the Myth of Uniquely Central Rome

A new study published in Nature Communications is challenging the notion that “All roads lead to Rome.” The research analyzed approximately 190,000 miles of Roman roads across Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa. The team created an updated map to examine the Roman Empire’s road network.

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Tom Brughmans, the study’s lead researcher and classical archaeologist at Aarhus University in Denmark, found provincial capitals were pivotal in overland travel, not just Rome. Constantinople, now Istanbul, Turkey, became a central hub after becoming the imperial capital in the fourth century A.D.

Constantinople’s geographic location between Europe and Asia facilitated travel across the empire, thus disputing the old phrase coined after the empire’s fall.

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Brughmans emphasized the proverb’s medieval origins and cautioned against taking it literally. He noted the absence of routes directly connecting Roman Britain to Rome. He stated, “It is quite surprising how persistently this maxim has shaped popular understanding of Roman roads.” He prefers to view them as leading “to Rome and everywhere else.”

Taco Terpstra, history and classics professor at Northwestern University, argued that Rome’s significance as the empire’s center remains undiminished by these findings. He noted that Constantinople, initially a fishing village called Byzantium, gained prominence only when it became the capital.

Terpstra affirmed Rome’s role as the empire’s political, military, and ideological core, highlighting its population of a million compared to Alexandria’s half a million.

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Historical analysis showed roads in the vast empire were built as straight as technology and terrain allowed. Although intended initially for military purposes, these roads later acquired economic significance.

According to Terpstra, “The roads in the first instance were military infrastructure.” They facilitated swift troop movement post-conquest and played a vital economic role.

Despite their enduring legacy, Roman roads were secondary to maritime transportation, which offered more economical goods transport across the empire.