Skip to content
  • Happy Health
  • Happy Mindset
  • Animal Wonders
  • About Us
    • Team
  • Subscribe
Menu
  • Happy Health
  • Happy Mindset
  • Animal Wonders
  • About Us
    • Team
  • Subscribe
Happy News

This Digital Project Lets You Travel Ancient Rome

A team of two dozen scientists have created Itiner-e, a spectacular digital road atlas of the Roman imperial world that functions just like Google Maps but for ancient highways that existed around the year 150 CE. This groundbreaking research project is the most expansive study on the topic to date, increasing the estimated length of the empire’s road system by over 60,000 miles and bringing the total mapped network to an astonishing 180,000 miles across more than 1 million square miles. The international team used archaeological and historical records, topographic maps, and satellite imagery to map roads stretching from Britain in the north to Morocco in the south, eastward to Syrian deserts, and throughout Turkey and Bulgaria.

At its height in the second century CE, the Roman Empire maintained 55 million people with a sophisticated network of stone, gravel, and sand highways that allowed travelers to move at 2.4 miles per hour thanks to their excellent condition. The digital atlas reveals that approximately one third of roads were highways while two thirds would be considered secondary roads today, with the precise locations of only 2.7 percent known with absolute certainty. Using Itiner-e, history enthusiasts can plan actual Roman road trips, like the 447 hour journey from Salamanca, Spain to northern Italy that would wind through the Pyrenees, past Toulouse along the Cote d’Azur, over the French Alps, and through Turin. This extraordinary digital project brings ancient history to life, allowing anyone to explore how Romans traveled their vast empire and proving that their engineering genius created transportation infrastructure that rivals our modern systems.

PrevPreviousDad’s Front Yard Food Pantry Goes Viral
NextAfter Decade Of Service This Beloved Vendor Gets Holiday MiracleNext

Recent Articles

Happy News

Communities Across America Are Banning AI Data Centers And The Number Just Jumped From 8 To 78

May 10, 2026

According to the U.S. Data Center Moratorium Tracker, communities across the country have been pushing back against the rapid expansion of AI data centers with growing success, with the number of active bans and moratoriums jumping from just 8 in May 2025 to 78 today, including 50 active restrictions and

Read More
Happy News

An Alaska Animal Shelter Lets You Borrow A Dog For 48 Hours And It Is Leading To More Adoptions

May 10, 2026

The Anchorage Animal Care and Control shelter in Alaska launched a program in spring 2025 called Tails on Trails that has since become one of the most talked-about shelter initiatives in the country, pairing volunteers with a shelter dog for 48 hours and sending them out to explore the trails

Read More
Happy News

Scientists Gave Monkeys A Reward-Free Video Game And They Played Nearly 100 Rounds Anyway

May 10, 2026

Researchers at Kyoto University’s Institute for the Evolutionary Origins of Human Behavior set out to test whether curiosity in Japanese macaques follows the same pattern observed in humans, and what they found should resonate with anyone who has ever gone down a late-night internet rabbit hole for no practical reason

Read More
« Previous Next »
  • Privacy Notice
  • Accessibility Notice
  • Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information
  • Unsubscribe
  • Terms and Conditions
  • Privacy Policy
  • Privacy Notice
  • Accessibility Notice
  • Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information
  • Unsubscribe
  • Terms and Conditions
  • Privacy Policy
Copyright © 2026 HappyNews.