Overview
- Itiner-e launches with an interactive map and downloadable data at itiner-e.org following publication in Nature’s Scientific Data.
- The project, led by the University of Aarhus and co-directed by the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, synthesizes classical itineraries, miliaria, historical maps, and satellite and WWII/Corona aerial imagery.
- The network expands previous estimates from 188,555 kilometers to 299,171 kilometers, distinguishing 103,478 kilometers of main roads and 195,693 kilometers of secondary routes.
- Each segment carries a confidence rating—2.7% certain, 89.8% conjectural, 7.4% hypothetical—and the dataset is designed as a living resource open to community verification and additions.
- Coverage gains are strongest in the Iberian Peninsula, North Africa, the French plains, and the Peloponnese, enabling new studies on mobility, economies, religious diffusion, and ancient epidemics, with scholars noting that not all routes were necessarily contemporaneous.