How long did it take to travel across the Roman Empire?
The map above is an Isochrone map which 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).
Data Scavenger Hunt
Find answers to the following questions using the visual above:
In approximately 200 CE/AD traveling from the center of the Roman Empire you could travel to the edge of the first dark green ring in 7 days. According to the map above, what was the maximum amount of days it would take to travel to the farthest part of modern day Italy.
List the maximum number of continents could you visit from the center of the Roman Empire in 35 days?
what was the maximum amount of days it would take to travel to the farthest part of modern day England?
What is the longest amount of time it would take to reach the furthest distance on the map in 1800?
What is the furthest you could get from Rome in 7 days?
Big Brain Questions
Answer these questions by yourself using your brain and the links below:
A direct flight from Rome to London via British Air takes approximately two hours and thirty minutes. roughly how much faster is the trip today than it was in 200 CE?
How do you imagine the speed of transportation in ancient Rome impacted the movement of its people and the expansion of its empire?
Spanning one-ninth of the earth's circumference across three continents, the Roman Empire ruled a quarter of humanity through complex networks of political power, military domination and economic exchange. Ancient Romans were extremely mobile people. Short distances were most often traveled on foot, longer distances, requiring a faster pace often involved carts and chariots pulled by animals, the longest distances were often undertaken by boat, which was faster but more dangerous. Why do you think Romans used water transportation for longer journeys?
Ancient Roman ships were not very fast and relied heavily on good winds and currents. The ships reached an average speed of about four or five miles per hour, therefore the journey from Rome to Narbonne took 3 days, to Corinth 5 days, to Rhodes 7 days and to Alexandria 10 days. Explain how modern transportation speeds would have impacted the economy of ancient Rome?
In 52 BCE Julius Caesar sent a letter from Britain to Cicero in Rome, which reached the addressee within 29 days. Make a claim about whether it is more important today for information or for people to travel quickly.
Write and Discuss
Take ten minutes to write about the question at the top of the page and then discuss with your classmates.
Act on your Learning
Julius Caesar has a Twitter account! Tweet to Julius Caesar at @Julius_Caesar to see how he’s doing.
Get Creative
Use this interactive map to chart travel to different parts of the Roman Empire. Share one of your journeys with your classmates.