Tolosa's on the Via Aquitania
June 8, 2017 10:13 PM Subscribe
I so want to do a story or game set in an alternate world where people still take the ancient, but still functioning, Roman subway system.
posted by happyroach at 11:08 PM on June 8, 2017 [7 favorites]
posted by happyroach at 11:08 PM on June 8, 2017 [7 favorites]
Wow this map really makes a few things clear. The incomplete route around the Black Sea jumps out at me, looks like there's a whole local history there.
posted by magentaisafuncolortobe at 11:54 PM on June 8, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by magentaisafuncolortobe at 11:54 PM on June 8, 2017 [1 favorite]
Interactive map of the Roman road system previously.
posted by Blasdelb at 12:58 AM on June 9, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by Blasdelb at 12:58 AM on June 9, 2017 [2 favorites]
“Hurry, get on board, it's comin' / Listen to those rails a-thrumming / All aboard, get on the ‘B’ train
Soon you will be in Luguvalium.”
posted by LeLiLo at 1:14 AM on June 9, 2017 [1 favorite]
Soon you will be in Luguvalium.”
posted by LeLiLo at 1:14 AM on June 9, 2017 [1 favorite]
I love this so much. Smart of the creator to include the link to pay him for a high-quality PDF -- the first thing I thought when I saw the map was that I wanted it as a poster. Now he has my money and soon I will have ancient Rome on my wall. It even convinced me to resurrect my paypal account!
posted by katemonster at 4:56 AM on June 9, 2017 [3 favorites]
posted by katemonster at 4:56 AM on June 9, 2017 [3 favorites]
magentaisafuncolortobe: The incomplete route around the Black Sea jumps out at me, looks like there's a whole local history there.
Maybe something to do with the Caucasus Mountains, too?
posted by clawsoon at 5:52 AM on June 9, 2017 [3 favorites]
Maybe something to do with the Caucasus Mountains, too?
posted by clawsoon at 5:52 AM on June 9, 2017 [3 favorites]
Trigger Warning: Rabbit hole that could cause you to lose multiple hours or days following links. When you emerge blinking into the sunlight you'll probably be planning a trip to visit a road that no longer exists.
posted by blue_beetle at 6:54 AM on June 9, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by blue_beetle at 6:54 AM on June 9, 2017 [1 favorite]
I so want to do a story or game set in an alternate world where people still take the ancient, but still functioning, Roman subway system.
You can get an idea of what that would be like if you come to New York.
posted by Sangermaine at 8:00 AM on June 9, 2017 [2 favorites]
You can get an idea of what that would be like if you come to New York.
posted by Sangermaine at 8:00 AM on June 9, 2017 [2 favorites]
Google Translate tells me "beck" is "nutus" in Latin... so can we credit this design to Henricus Nutus?
posted by ricochet biscuit at 8:45 AM on June 9, 2017
posted by ricochet biscuit at 8:45 AM on June 9, 2017
THAT IS SO COOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
posted by supermedusa at 9:30 AM on June 9, 2017
posted by supermedusa at 9:30 AM on June 9, 2017
this could be a crazy version of Ticket to Ride!
posted by supermedusa at 9:31 AM on June 9, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by supermedusa at 9:31 AM on June 9, 2017 [2 favorites]
I never make my connection when I transfer from Via Popilia to Via Valeria.
posted by Splunge at 9:34 AM on June 9, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by Splunge at 9:34 AM on June 9, 2017 [1 favorite]
Wow this map really makes a few things clear. The incomplete route around the Black Sea jumps out at me, looks like there's a whole local history there.
It's interesting to compare to a more traditional map that's trying to represent almost the same thing, at least as far as the Black Sea coast goes. I have to imagine closing that gap would have been very difficult given how far that area is from Roman centers of power, how resistant it still is today to rule by distant centralized governments, and how valuable it traditionally was as a source of people to enslave, which is usually something that was done to people just outside whatever one considers one's borders to be rather than within them.
posted by Copronymus at 10:26 AM on June 9, 2017
It's interesting to compare to a more traditional map that's trying to represent almost the same thing, at least as far as the Black Sea coast goes. I have to imagine closing that gap would have been very difficult given how far that area is from Roman centers of power, how resistant it still is today to rule by distant centralized governments, and how valuable it traditionally was as a source of people to enslave, which is usually something that was done to people just outside whatever one considers one's borders to be rather than within them.
posted by Copronymus at 10:26 AM on June 9, 2017
I have to imagine closing that gap would have been very difficult given how far that area is from Roman centers of power, how resistant it still is today to rule by distant centralized governments
Mithridates country.
posted by thelonius at 11:49 AM on June 9, 2017 [1 favorite]
Mithridates country.
posted by thelonius at 11:49 AM on June 9, 2017 [1 favorite]
This map is interesting, but only one mode of Roman transport-and not even the most paramount! The empire was spread thinly around the Mediterranean for a reason-sea power. No one was taking these roads to get grain to Italy from Egypt. There was no road around the Black Sea (nor would there ever be!) because folks were getting to and occasionally exercising sovereignty over the old Greek city-states by boat.
It's interesting that this map includes Meroë and Ctesiphon (the latter of which the Romans briefly held once in a while, the former...I think a column reached Napata once?) but excludes the genreational forays into what is now Scotland, Germany, and the Fezzan. They didn't really incorporate any of those areas into the road network, though, so they'd be easy to ignore.
posted by Earthtopus at 11:53 AM on June 9, 2017 [3 favorites]
It's interesting that this map includes Meroë and Ctesiphon (the latter of which the Romans briefly held once in a while, the former...I think a column reached Napata once?) but excludes the genreational forays into what is now Scotland, Germany, and the Fezzan. They didn't really incorporate any of those areas into the road network, though, so they'd be easy to ignore.
posted by Earthtopus at 11:53 AM on June 9, 2017 [3 favorites]
(the route extensions to Crete, across the Bosphorus, the Pillars of Hercules, and the English channel indirectly address this, I suppose)
posted by Earthtopus at 11:56 AM on June 9, 2017
posted by Earthtopus at 11:56 AM on June 9, 2017
Travel Time from Ancient Rome "shows how long it would have taken someone to travel from Rome to the farthest reaches of the Roman Empire at its peak (roughly 200 CE/AD)."
posted by kirkaracha at 2:44 PM on June 9, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by kirkaracha at 2:44 PM on June 9, 2017 [2 favorites]
Attention passengers, we are currently experiencing a delay on Via Agrippina I as a result of *schhhhhfs* on track *fffffffshssshhh* Magister Militum Stilicho *skshhhh* limitanei are on scene.
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 4:07 PM on June 9, 2017 [3 favorites]
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 4:07 PM on June 9, 2017 [3 favorites]
« Older Why is it better to pay people to build a tank... | Offering a nuanced view of people living within... Newer »
This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 11:00 PM on June 8, 2017 [6 favorites]