Study Reveals Roman Roads Were Far Less Straight Than Believed.
A new study finds Roman roads were less straight and less focused on Rome than popular accounts suggest. The analysis, published in Nature Communications, covers roughly 190,000 miles of routes across Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa.
- 186,411 miles of road data came from Itiner-e, the largest Roman road map yet built.
- Constantinople, not Rome, was the more central node for empire-wide overland travel.
- Least-straight roads clustered in southeastern Europe's mountains; flatlands produced the straightest.
- Spain's Via Augusta shares its route with the modern N-340 motorway, one documented overlap.
Why it matters: Roman roads were the first continental-scale transport network in human history, according to lead researcher Tom Brughmans of Aarhus University. They moved soldiers, trade goods, disease, and ideas — but were used most heavily for everyday local travel between farms and markets.
- Provincial capitals such as Ankara, London, and Corinth were better positioned within regional networks, aiding tax collection and administration.
- Many roads remained in use through the medieval period, until railroads and modern highways displaced them.
How 5 sources split on this story
Where they split: Coverage agrees on the findings; Gizmodo frames them as myth-busting, while wire and tabloid outlets frame them as marvels affirming Roman engineering.
Center coverage, 3 sources: The center frames the findings as an impressive affirmation of Roman engineering and administrative sophistication, leading with researchers' direct quotes.
Left coverage, 1 sources: The left frames the study as overturning overconfident popular myths, emphasizing what scholars still do not know and the database's acknowledged gaps.
Right coverage, 1 sources: The right leads with the surprise that Roman roads were less straight than assumed, foregrounding the British road legacy and practical details of construction.
What’s next: Brughmans says the Itiner-e map still undercounts the total network; more roads remain to be documented.
- Researchers plan to use the database to explore how the network shaped societies over two millennia.
- How much larger is the full Roman road network beyond the 190,000 miles already mapped?
- Which modern roads trace Roman routes beyond the examples already identified?