All roads may lead to Rome, but some are much smoother than others.
A new interactive map of the Roman Empire that
includes roads, rivers and hundreds of sea routes allows users to calculate the
travel time and costs for traversing the ancient empire. The project, called
ORBIS, is allowing researchers to probe standing hypotheses and develop new
ones concerning the economic, social, military and political dynamics of an
empire that had a profound and enduring influence on western civilization. The
map, based on years of scholarship and new calculations, is organized around
751 sites in an area of about 4 million square miles.
These sites were either prominent settlements
or landmarks considered significant for traversing an empire that in its time
spanned one-ninth of the Earth’s circumference and touched three continents.
There are 814 road segments for a total length of 84,631 kilometers and 28,272
kilometers of navigable rivers and canals. The map even incorporates data on
the strength and direction of wind and ocean currents, parameters that change
drastically when a route is estimated for winter rather than summer. Different
modes of travel are also included, making it possible to calculate trip time
whether traveling by civilian river boat, military river boat, wagon or rapid
marching.
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