Rome wasn’t built in a day… and neither was Alexandr Trubetskoy’s recreation of the ancient empire’s road network in transit map form. The detailed illustration includes most of the major roads and cities (circa 125 AD), along with a few additions (and subtractions) to make it more appealing to the eye.
A self-confessed “geography and data nerd”, Trubetskoy wasn’t able to include every road Rome had to offer and had to take a few “liberties” when information wasn’t available to fill in the gaps.
Also putting a crimp on things was the fact roads weren’t always the preferred way of travel back then, as the creator notes:
…no sane Roman would use only roads where sea travel is available. Sailing was much cheaper and faster — a combination of horse and sailboat would get you from Rome to Byzantium in about 25 days, Rome to Carthage in 4-5 days. Check out ORBIS if you want to play around with a “Google Maps” for Ancient Rome.
If you’re a stickler for details, Trubetskoy lists the tweaks he made on his website. Alternatively, if you like the look of the map, you can grab it as a printed poster.
[Alexandr Trubetskoy, via Colossal]