How often do you think about the Roman Empire?For a team of international researchers who went all in and mapped the ancient Roman road system, the answer — truly — is every day. And now, anyone can dive into the newly created visualization tool, which includes 100,000 kilometers (about 62,000 miles) of freshly identified routes, and virtually explore how ancient Romans traveled.At its peak, the Roman Empire stretched from modern-day Britain to Egypt and Syria, and its impressive network of roads contributed to its successful expansion. The astonishing map, which lays out the Roman road system around AD 150, spans over 300,000 kilometers (about 186,000 miles) — enough to circle Earth more than seven times, Dr. Pau de Soto, coauthor of the study describing the tool, said in an email. He is a professor in the department of ancient and medieval history at the Autonomous University of Barcelona in Spain.Fragment of a Roman milestone erected along the road Via Nova in Jordan. – Adam Pažout/Itiner-eThe expansive map can help support future research that explores the influence Roman roads had on connectivity and migration as well as disease transmission, and the long-term effects these events had on the empire, experts say.Travel as an ancient RomanOx carts or pack animals transport food over roads that connected farms to cities in an image provided by Itiner-e and taken from an animation. – Itiner-e/Artas Media/MINERVAThose living during the Roman Empire had many different modes of transportation: Egyptians mainly relied on camels, while people in other areas of the empire rode horseback or traveled via carts and pack mules. Sometimes they used chariots or simply walked, said Dr. Catherine Fletcher, a professor of history at Manchester Metropolitan University in the UK and author of the book “The Roads to Rome: A History of Imperial Expansion.”AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementIn some areas, the roads were paved, while away from civilization they were topped with a layer of small stones. It’s still possible to walk down some of these roads, such as the Appian Way leading into Rome, she added.“This dataset brings together a huge range of research to give a bigger and more comprehensive picture of the Roman road network than we’ve had before. It also shows just how much we still don’t know about the roads, despite their fame,” said Fletcher, who was not involved with the new study.“The visualisations will be a great help for writers or filmmakers looking to imagine how trips across the Roman …
