Larger Roman road network revealed

A new high-resolution digital map of the Roman Empire’s road
network – built from archaeological, historical, and satellite data –
has expanded its length by more than 100,000 kilometres

New map – named
Itiner-e – includes
299,171km of roads –
an increase from previous
estimate of 188,555km

Augustus,
founder
of Roman
Empire


ROMAN EMPIRE ROAD MAP
Year: ~150 AD
Pop: 55 million
Area: 4,000,000 sq km

Previously
known roads

New roads
mapped

Iberian
Peninsula

Rome
Greece
North Africa

1,000km
620 miles

Increase attributed to
greater coverage of roads
in Iberian Peninsula, Greece,
and North Africa, and to adaptation
of previously proposed routes to
better reflect geographical realities

ITINER-E

Main roads
103,478km (34.6%)

Secondary roads
195,693km (65.4%)

*Digital Atlas of Roman and Medieval
Civilizations road dataset (DARMC)

Itiner-e map is available on
https://itiner-e.org/


Source: Nature 
Picture: Justin Benttinen
© GRAPHIC NEWS