See Roman Empire roads drawn as subway lines

The Roman Empire was gigantic: By the first century of the Christian era, it had approximately 80, 000 kilometers of roads, which ran from Brittany (now England) to Persia (Iran). It is no wonder that around this time the expression “all roads lead to Rome” emerged; after all, this was the “capital of the world”.

Many of the Roman roads are still used today, so US cartographer Alexandr Trubetskoy decided to update the map to a more modern layout. The subways specialize in using a cleaner and straighter look in their representations, regardless of route deviations - you can check out some examples here.

Trubetskoy worked more than 50 hours on the project, analyzing the routes and cities through which the Roman roads passed. Some have official names, such as the Appian Way, which linked Rome and Capua and was built around the 3rd century BC. However, other routes had a name invented by the cartographer, in a clear poetic license.

Other historical details magnify the work: the letters “SPQR” meant that the routes belonged to the Senate and the Roman people, appearing to this day in various structures of the time; that's why Trubestkoy used them in one corner of his map. Beside this acronym appears "Quattuorviri Viarum Curandarum", to symbolize that the roads were under the control of four magistrates responsible for their maintenance.

The boy, who studies at the University of Chicago, also signed the name and placed the year in the right corner of the map, but he wrote “2017” in Roman numerals - namely, “MMXVII”. For comparison, see the actual route layout:

***

Did you know that Curious Mega is also on Instagram? Click here to follow us and stay on top of exclusive curiosities!