New Study Maps Roman Empire Roads, Highlights Constantinople's Central Role

A team of scholars examined roughly 190,000 miles of Roman roads, revealing that the empire’s transportation web extended from the Moroccan and Arabian deserts to Scotland and the Atlantic coast. Their findings indicate that the Golden Milestone in the Roman Forum did not mark the true geographic centre; instead, Constantinople, founded by Constantine, proved most central for empire-wide travel. The research highlights the durability of Roman construction techniques and the correlation between ancient routes and modern highways, such as the Via Augusta aligning with Spain’s N-340 motorway.

Provincial capitals like Ankara, London and Corinth were positioned to facilitate administration and tax collection. The authors argue that this infrastructure enabled the spread of goods, ideas and even pathogens across a continent-sized area for over two millennia.