A new analysis of nearly 300,000 kilometers of ancient roads has found that Byzantium (Greek: Βυζάντιον), later known as Constantinople, occupied a more important position than Rome as a major hub for land travel across the Roman Empire. The findings challenge the familiar saying that “all roads lead to Rome” and show how the city connected major routes between Europe and Asia.
The city was known as Byzantium for much of the period covered by the study. Emperor Constantine refounded it as Constantinople in A.D. 330. Today, it is Istanbul.
The study, led by Adam Pažout, used the most comprehensive digital reconstruction of Roman roads produced to date. Researchers analyzed 299,171 kilometers, or about 186,000 miles, of routes across Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. The work provides a detailed look at the vast Roman road network that connected cities, military centers and provinces.
Researchers measured how important individual roads and cities were for movement across the network. They calculated travel times and identified routes that frequently appeared on the shortest journeys between different points.
Byzantium connected Europe and Asia
Byzantium emerged as one of the most strategically placed cities in the entire land network. Its location on the Bosporus allowed it to connect roads in Europe with those in Asia Minor. Researchers included an ancient ferry crossing over the Bosporus in their model. Another crossing at the Dardanelles provided a second connection between the two continents.
The city also stood at the eastern end of the Via Egnatia, a major ancient route linking Rome and Byzantium. The analysis found that Byzantium, Antioch, Ancyra and Corinth were better positioned than Rome as intermediaries for land travel across the empire. Rome remained an important center within the Italian Peninsula. However, it did not lie on the Italian road with the highest measure of network importance.
“All roads lead to Rome”? Not quite.
A new study mapping 186,000 miles of Roman roads finds that Byzantium, later Constantinople, was a key hub for land travel across the empire, connecting Europe and Asia in ways Rome did not. pic.twitter.com/ArG4rzWxVb
— Tom Marvolo Riddle (@tom_riddle2025) September 16, 2026
Researchers stressed that the finding applies to land transportation. Ships and navigable rivers carried large numbers of people and goods over longer distances. Including maritime connections would likely increase Rome’s importance because of its central Mediterranean position.
Roman roads followed the landscape
The study also challenges another popular image of Roman engineering: that Roman roads were almost always straight. Researchers found that engineers favored direct routes when terrain allowed. Roads across flatter parts of Western Europe, North Africa and central Anatolia were generally straighter. Mountain roads often followed valleys and passes and became more winding.
About 90.6% of the roads studied had maximum gradients below 16%, putting them within the possible range for wheeled transport. Major corridors also followed natural features such as the Rhine, Danube and Po valleys. Coastlines, military frontiers and the location of established settlements further shaped the network.
Provincial capitals served as regional centers
The findings show that Roman roads were not simply organized around a single center. Provincial capitals often occupied important positions within their own road networks. Thirty-five capitals ranked in the highest category for at least one measure of network centrality.
Some provinces had roads centered on a major city. Others depended on long corridors shaped by rivers or coastlines. Several had more widely distributed networks with multiple important routes.
Byzantium’s geographic advantage became even more significant centuries after many of these roads were established. Constantine made Constantinople his new imperial capital in A.D. 330, placing the seat of imperial power at a crossroads already well positioned between Europe and Asia.
Researchers caution that surviving evidence for Roman roads remains incomplete and varies by region. Their reconstruction also most strongly represents the network from roughly the second through fourth centuries A.D.
Still, the findings offer a more complex picture of movement across the Roman world. When it came to travel by land, Rome was not necessarily the empire’s most important crossroads. Byzantium occupied a particularly powerful position connecting its European and Asian road networks.
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