Do all roads lead to Rome? Researchers test the famous phrase

An international team of scientists used the digital atlas Itiner-e to analyze the ancient Roman road network and debunked the myth that all roads lead to Rome. The study showed that key land routes passed through Antioch, Ancyra, and Constantinople, not through the capital. The notion of perfectly straight Roman roads was also refuted.

An international team of scientists conducted a large-scale study of the ancient Roman road network using the latest digital atlas Itiner-e, which covers about 299,000 kilometers of roads. The analysis showed that the famous phrase "all roads lead to Rome" is a historical myth. During the peak of the empire in 117 AD, the most important land routes did not pass through the capital at all. The main artery stretched along the coast of North Africa and the Levant, passed through Antioch, approached Ancyra, and then crossed the border of Europe in Constantinople. Cities such as Antioch, Ancyra, Byzantium, and Corinth had a much more advantageous location for land communication. Even within Italy, the main transport axis ran along the coast of the Adriatic Sea, leaving Rome aside. The researchers also refuted the notion of perfectly straight Roman roads: the complex landscape forced engineers to adjust routes, and ancient roads were often less straight than modern highways. At the same time, many sections of Roman roads form the basis of current highways.