New map reveals lost roads of the Roman Empire

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/new-high-resolution-map-transforms-what-we-know-about-roman-roads-and-the-roman-empire/
https://itiner-e.org/

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41597-025-06140-z

Comments

dangMay 23, 2026, 11:08 PM
Related. Others?

Itiner-e: the Google Maps of Roman Roads - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45864341 - Nov 2025 (42 comments)

Also:

Roman Roads (2017) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40597216 - June 2024 (157 comments)

Subway-style maps of roads of the Roman Empire - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23781879 - July 2020 (27 comments)

'Lost' Roads of Ancient Rome Discovered with 3D Laser Scanners - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11094744 - Feb 2016 (5 comments)

syxMay 23, 2026, 10:35 PM
Link to the actual atlas built by the group [1]

[1] https://itiner-e.org/

alsetmusicMay 24, 2026, 3:19 AM
This is one of my favorite categories of articles: a significant expansion of our understanding of the past. History is so exciting and it's a horrible shame that the experience of high school history classes teaches students the opposite. I wish more HS teachers knew how to make the subject engaging.

On this in particular, someone linked to a map of the roads of the Roman Empire created in the style of modern transportation maps (think subways) a few years ago. I paid five bucks (I think, might have been more) for a high quality version of the file suitable for printing. I have a giant print of it framed on the wall. It's one of my favorite things because it's such a clever crossover of historical timelines.

The person I paid for it (blog owner) was surprised that I found it. They thought that they had removed it from their blog and asked me how I got to it so it could be removed. I didn't check to confirm, just letting you know you likely can't get the file anymore and I didn't create it so I won't share it. Sorry for teasing it when you can't get your own. It's pretty great.

Edit: spelling / tense

bookofjoeMay 25, 2026, 1:25 PM
>The person I paid for it (blog owner) was surprised that I found it. They thought that they had removed it from their blog and asked me how I got to it so it could be removed.

I would have been flattered someone liked it enough to pay for it rather than removing it.

julian_tMay 24, 2026, 9:35 PM
Maybe something like this? https://www.visualcapitalist.com/roman-empires-roads-map/
PeterStuerMay 24, 2026, 8:27 AM
Is it only the major roads? It does not seem to include the secondary, but stiil substantial, Roman roads, at least not for my area.
suddenlybananasMay 24, 2026, 8:42 AM
A lot of the roads are basically pure speculation. If you zoom in anywhere in the south of France, the roads are just the local highways (yes some highways are repurposed from the Roman roads but the order is backwards here; there's a highway thus there is a Roman road)
coolcoder613May 24, 2026, 6:32 AM
https://archive.md/8jQ6G
cladopaMay 23, 2026, 10:55 PM
oh man, what a horrible infographic.

Please listen to Isaac Moreno Gallo. 99% of the Roman Roads had no big stones on it. Only near big cities you have the stone pavement, basically in the cemetery that was outside town alongside the road.

People with very little idea about engineering wrote the textbooks of the past and some of the wrong ideas are transmitted even today.

pigeonsMay 25, 2026, 6:57 PM
"All roads lead to Rome."
reaperducerMay 23, 2026, 11:19 PM
If they're mapped, by definition, they're not lost.
lukanMay 24, 2026, 12:31 AM
Having knowledge in theory, somewhere and having knowledge avaiable where people can access it, is not the same thing.

In other words, maybe unneccesary pedantry?

NooneAtAll3May 24, 2026, 1:16 AM
I mean... they are lost no more