Not all roads lead to Rome, researchers conclude in Nature
Although Rome was the political centre of the Roman Empire, geographically it lay closer to the edge of the road network than to its centre. That is the conclusion of an international team of researchers including Leiden archaeologist Eduardo Herrera Malatesta.
Researchers had never mapped the Roman road network in such detail before. The multidisciplinary team published their findings in Nature on 15 September. ‘We wanted to see whether the saying “all roads lead to Rome” is supported by the data’, says Herrera Malatesta. ‘It suggests that Rome lay at the centre of the road network, with all movement funnelling towards the capital. But when we analysed the entire Roman road network, that idea didn’t hold up.’
Edge of the empire
Rome was the political and economic heart of the empire for a long time, but it was not the geographical centre of the road network. In fact, it was closer to the edge of the empire. Many of the main routes connected provincial centres, rather than leading directly to Rome. Geographically Herrera Malatesta explains, the Italian peninsula functioned more as an offshoot of the continental network than as its centre. The connections between Asia and northern Europe ran to the north of Rome rather than through it, he says.
Byzantium more central
The researchers conclude that Byzantium – later known first as Constantinople and then Istanbul – occupied a more central position in the road network. Emperor Constantine declared Byzantium the capital of the Roman Empire in 330 AD. Rome had fallen into decline, while Byzantium’s location was highly strategic: it connected the European and Asian parts of the network around the Bosporus.
Herrera Malatesta, who specialises in geographic information systems, was responsible for the study’s methodological and spatial analysis. He worked on this with lead researchers Tom Brughmans of Aarhus University in Denmark and Adam Pažout of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona in Spain.
Sources
For the study, the team created a highly detailed digital reconstruction of the Roman road network. They built a database covering 300,000 kilometres of roads, combinint it with archaeological records, geographical data and satellite imagery. The team analysed road density, gradient and straightness, as well as which routes and cities occupied key positions within the network.
The findings show that the Romans were highly capable of large-scale planning, Herrera Malatesta emphasises. Across an entire continent, the Romans built infrastructure to organise and govern conquered territories.
Straight roads?
The team also found that the image of the perfectly straight Roman road does not always hold true. ‘Roman engineers certainly favoured straight roads where the terrain allowed, but in mountainous or more challenging terrain, they adapted to the landscape, resulting in more winding roads.’ The researchers were struck by the ingenuity with which the Romans overcame these constraints. They were skilled at devising solutions such as terracing, rock-cutting and retaining walls. As a result, roads avoided excessively steep gradients, allowing goods to be transported effectively.