Tutte le strade portano a Roma, “All roads lead to Rome,” is a famous saying based on historical and archaeological facts: when our glorious ancestors built roads across their Empire, they all converged on one point, the Eternal City.
Via Cassia, Via Aurelia, Via Salaria, Via Appia, these are only some of the names of the many routes the Romans created across the peninsula and Europe: we learn about them in school, and many of us still travel on them daily, either to avoid getting jammed into traffic on the motorway or, if we have some time to spare, to enjoy the beauty of the landscape they run through – I’m looking at you, Via Aurelia on the Ligurian coast.
In Italy, these ancient Roman roads are well-known because some are still in use, especially along our coastal regions and around the capital. Importantly, we shouldn’t forget the same system was eventually put into place throughout the empire, which means that, at some stage in ancient history, Roman-built roads were running across the whole of Europe.
The Romans had created their viae principally for military reasons, to facilitate the movement of their army from one corner to the other of their vast empire and, of course, to improve communication and commerce, as we have all learned in school. However, recent research shows that there is more to these ancient roads than what they used to be: they may have been affecting the economy and wealth of Europe for millennia.
An international team from universities and research institutions in England, Denmark and Sweden superimposed the old maps of Roman roads to today’s geo-economic maps of the Old Continent and found out their presence remains synonymous with wealth and economic development.
The study has been published in the latest issue of the Journal of Comparative Economics and its findings have been divulged to the wider public by David Nield in an article for Science Alert. The analysis conducted by Dalgaard et al. shows that the areas served by the ancient Roman road network are among the wealthiest in Europe, a sign they helped create, through the centuries, a system of communication and trade which supported the development of a stronger economy.
University of Gothenburg’s Ola Olsson, one of the researchers involved in the original study, explained to Science Direct that, of course, these roads did change in time, as they were adapted to the necessities of the communities they served and modified through the centuries to ensure major cities were connected. Still, she continues, the relationship between modern wealth, economic development and the presence of Roman roads is striking, even in those regions where they are no longer in use nor visible to the naked eye, because eventually built upon in later centuries. Indeed, the link between ancient Roman routes and wealth isn’t exclusively related to those we can still travel today, but also to those which are just an archeological memory.
The first Roman roads date back to the 2nd century BC and were built, as we said, to facilitate the movement of troops. By the time the empire reached its apogee, in the 2nd century AD, there were some 50,000 miles of roads running through it, from Europe to North Africa and the Middle East.
So, how did the team develop this interesting study? They superimposed maps of ancient Roman roads to satellite images of today’s Europe, associating night-time light intensity with high economic and social activity. Then, they divided the images into a detailed grid to ensure an in-depth analysis of the emerging pattern: results were incredible. Olsson said to Science Alert that the study highlighted a “remarkable pattern of persistence” between the presence of old Roman roads and contemporary economic activity, even in the areas where the former are no longer existing. Of course, Olsson continues, some questions need to be answered: for instance, it still isn’t clear whether roads were build to connect already economically-developed areas, or if they directly contributed to their creation.
However, Olsson says that the key role of Roman roads in the growth of economic prosperity in Europe remains undisputed. In the end, she explains, most of the roads disappeared and centuries of wars, and political and economic changes offered plenty of opportunities to modify or reorganize routes, if deemed necessary. But it never happened, probably because of the continued economic relevance through the centuries of the areas they touched.
What we can gather from Olsson’s words and the research she carried out with her colleagues is that the connection between ancient Roman roads and economic and social development does, indeed, exists. And while further studies should be carried out to explore the matter in more depth, it is interesting to put in context what the team found already: whether the Romans built their roads to connect areas they considered “rich” and “with potential,” or economic wealth and development came as a consequence of their presence, the importance of our ancestors for the growth of Europe remains uncontested.
It’s right to say, then, that the Romans aren’t only at the heart of what Europe is culturally, but also of its economic expansion and wealth.
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