The study, published Sept. 15 in the journal Nature Communications, analyzed roughly 190,000 miles of Roman roads spanning Europe, the Middle East and North Africa.
asserted
study → publish → Europe
The team combined existing data to create a new map of the Roman Empire’s road network and analyze its structure on an empire-wide scale.
asserted
team → combine → scale
The study’s lead researcher, Tom Brughmans, a classical archaeologist at Aarhus University in Denmark, and his colleagues found that Rome was not uniquely central to the empire’s road network, with provincial capitals playing key roles in overland travel.
asserted
capitals → find → travel
Constantinople, now known as Istanbul, Turkey, emerged as a far more central hub for overland travel after Emperor Constantine made it the imperial capital in the fourth century AD.
asserted
it → know → AD
Constantinople’s location between Europe and Asia made it exceptionally central to travel across the empire, according to the researchers.
uncertain
it → make → researchers
Therefore, the phrase “all roads lead to Rome” — coined centuries after the Roman Empire fell — may not reveal the whole story.
uncertain
Empire → lead → story
Brughmans told Fox News Digital that the proverb, which he described as medieval in origin, should not be taken literally — noting that none of the roads in Roman Britain actually led to Rome.
asserted
none → tell → Rome
“It is quite surprising how persistently this maxim has shaped popular understanding of Roman roads,” he said.
“It’s fair to say our study complicates the proverb,” Brughmans added.
asserted
Brughmans → shape → proverb
I prefer to say, ‘All roads lead to Rome and everywhere else.'
asserted
roads → prefer → Rome
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asserted
Report → start → news
Taco Terpstra, a professor of history and classics at Northwestern University in Illinois, told Fox News Digital the findings don’t diminish Rome’s importance as the center of the empire — nor do the study’s authors argue otherwise.
asserted
authors → tell → empire
Terpstra, who was not involved in the research, noted that Constantinople “was only created as such in the fourth century.”
asserted
Constantinople → involve → century
“Before that, it was a sleepy fishing town called Byzantium,” he said.
asserted
he → call → that
“So, we have to be careful a little bit about what time period we’re looking at.”
asserted
we → have → period
He added, “But once Constantinople becomes de facto the capital of the empire, it is clear that it attracts a lot of overland connectivity.”
asserted
it → add → connectivity
Rome did remain the center of political, military and ideological power for centuries, Terpstra said.
asserted
Terpstra → remain → centuries
This is where power lies,” he said, noting that the empire’s second-largest city, Alexandria, dwarfed in comparison with roughly half Rome’s population.
asserted
city → lie → population
The study also examined another hallmark of Roman engineering: the remarkable straightness of its roads, though difficult terrain often forced routes to deviate from a direct path.
asserted
terrain → examine → path
The roads were “about as straight as the Romans could make them” given the technology available at the time, Terpstra said.
uncertain
Terpstra → make → time
The roads initially served a military purpose, the professor added.
asserted
professor → serve → purpose
They allowed troops to move quickly through conquered territory before also taking on an important economic role.
asserted
troops → allow → role
“The roads in the first instance, and it’s often forgotten, were military infrastructure,” he said.
asserted
he → forget → instance
“These were in the first place, after the conquest, intended to move troops quickly.
asserted
These → intend → troops
And although Roman roads have stood the test of time and remain a marvel of ancient engineering, Terpstra said they were secondary to maritime transportation across the empire — which was far cheaper when it came to transporting goods.
asserted
it → stand → goods
“The main transportation network of the Roman Empire is maritime,” he said.
asserted
he → say → Empire
“That is really where the major connectivity lies.”
asserted
connectivity → lie → ?
The Aporia
