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Famous historical saying about Rome may be wrong, new study suggests
nypost.com • • world
Key Points:
- A new study analyzing 190,000 miles of Roman roads across Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa challenges the saying “All roads lead to Rome,” revealing that provincial capitals also played crucial roles in the network.
- Constantinople (modern Istanbul) emerged as a more central hub for overland travel after becoming the imperial capital in the fourth century AD, due to its strategic location between Europe and Asia.
- The phrase “all roads lead to Rome,” which originated in the medieval period, does not accurately reflect the complexity of the Roman road system, as many roads did not directly connect to Rome.
- Experts emphasize that Rome remained the political, military, and ideological center of the empire for centuries, despite Constantinople’s later prominence in the road network.
- Roman roads were primarily built for military purposes to enable rapid troop movement, and although they were engineering marvels, maritime transport was generally more economical for moving goods across the empire.
