An international research team from universities and research centers in Denmark, Belgium, Spain, Sweden, Britain, Turkey, Italy, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic and France has compiled a new high-resolution digital dataset and map of the road network across the Roman Empire around the year 150 AD.
The research findings increase the known length of the Empire's network by more than 100,0000 kilometers.
At its height, in the second century AD, the Roman Empire included over 55 million people. Its complete road network, however, remains incompletely mapped.
The researchers created the Itiner-e dataset using archaeological and historical data, modern and ancient maps and satellite images.
The data set includes 299,171 kilometers of roads, while previous estimates spoke of 188,555 kilometers. The proposed road network covers almost four million square kilometers.
The researchers attribute this increase to higher road coverage in the Iberian Peninsula, Greece and northern Africa, and to the adaptation of previously proposed road routes to better suit the terrain's morphology.
Of the road network, 103,478 kilometers (34.6%) are classified as main roads and 195,693 kilometers (65.4%) as secondary roads. However, the authors clarify that the exact location is known with certainty for only 2.7% of the roads, while 89.8% are less precise and 7.4% hypothetical.
According to the researchers, there are gaps in current knowledge of the road network, yet Itiner-e is the most detailed and comprehensive openly accessible digitization of the roads of the Roman Empire.
The research was published in the journal Scientific Data.
