A new study challenges the saying "all roads lead to Rome," suggesting that several Roman cities outside the capital were more connected by road during antiquity. According to a paper in Nature Communications, major cities like Antioch, Ancyra (modern-day Ankara), Byzantium (modern-day Istanbul), and Corinth in Greece were better positioned for land travel than Rome itself. These findings come from a digital map of nearly 186,000 miles (300,000 kilometers) of Roman roads, part of a project called "Itiner-e." At its peak in A.D. 117, the Roman Empire spanned nearly 2.1 million square miles (5.5 million square kilometers), covering much of Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa. The study analyzed how well cities were integrated into this vast road network. Researchers found that the most important overland route in the empire bypassed Rome, passing through North Africa, the Levantine coast, Antioch, near Ankara, and then crossing into Europe through Constantinople (modern-day Istanbul). From there, it moved through the Po Valley, Milan, and into France, according to co-author Tom Brughmans, a professor of classical archaeology at Aarhus University in Denmark. Other cities thrived on their strategic locations. For example, Corinth was well connected because it linked the Greek Peloponnesian Peninsula to the rest of Greece. Similarly, Ancyra was a key transportation hub in Anatolia. Rome, however, was not as central to the road network as these cities. Its position on the Italian Peninsula is described as an "appendix" to the empire's road system, with Rome located "halfway down this appendix." The study found that the most central road in Italy followed the Adriatic coast, avoiding Rome altogether. Roman roads were often straight when the terrain allowed, but not as straight as modern roads. Unlike today's roads, which are built with advanced surveying and construction techniques to minimize turns and maximize speed, Roman roads adapted to the landscape. However, the study emphasizes that road travel was not the only form of transport in the Roman Empire. Rome's strategic location made it a major hub for sea and river transport, with its central position in the Mediterranean placing it at the intersection of major shipping lanes. Thus, while Rome may not have been the most connected by road, it remained a vital center for maritime and riverine trade.