Turkish cities of Istanbul and Ankara were more important than Rome as links between overland routes in parts of the Roman Empire’s road network, an international study of nearly 299,000 kilometers of ancient roads has found.
The study, published in Nature Communications, identified Byzantium and Ancyra, now Istanbul and Ankara, alongside Antiochia, now Antakya in southern Türkiye, and Corinth in Greece as key junctions. Queen Mary University of London data science lecturer Matteo Mazzamurro said the team measured how many links each city had, how easily travelers could reach other places and how often routes passed through it.
Byzantium linked Europe and Asia, giving it an advantage in overland travel even as Rome remained a major Mediterranean hub, Aarhus University associate professor of classical archaeology Tom Brughmans said. The saying “All roads lead to Rome” dates to the Middle Ages and was symbolic, he said.
Ancyra, the capital of the Roman province of Galatia, stood on one of its most central roads. Its position helped channel east-west traffic across Anatolia nearly two millennia before Ankara became the capital of modern Türkiye.
Many roads along the Rhine, Danube and Euphrates frontiers served military needs, Autonomous University of Barcelona researcher Adam Pazout said. In eastern Anatolia, some routes in the Taurus Mountains reached about 2,000 meters, linking frontier units in sparsely settled areas. It remains unclear whether provincial capitals owed their centrality to geography or planning, he said.
Istanbul University history professor Hamdi Şahin, who contributed data from mountainous Cilicia in southern Türkiye, said researchers use milestones, historical texts and surviving paved roads to trace routes. Türkiye yields 400 to 500 new inscriptions a year, including milestones and other road evidence, he said.
Roman roads carried troops, goods, people and ideas across Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. Some modern roads still follow those routes, particularly around long-established population centers. The public Itiner-e map lets users explore ancient roads and settlements.
