One of history’s most famous sayings about Rome may be wrong, new study suggests

Roman roads were built as straight as available technology and surrounding terrain allowed, according to a historian and expert.(Culture Club/Getty Images)

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Constantinople’s location betweenEurope and Asiamade it exceptionally central to travel across the empire, according to the researchers.

Therefore, the phrase “all roads lead to Rome” — coined centuries after the Roman Empire fell — may not reveal the whole story.

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� noting that none of the roads inRoman Britainactually led to Rome.

“Rome is the center of the empire.This is where power lies.”

“It is quite surprising how persistently this maxim has shaped popular understanding of Roman roads,” he said.

“It’s fair to say our study complicates the proverb,” Brughmans added.“I prefer to say, ‘All roads lead to Rome and everywhere else.'”

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Taco Terpstra, a professor ofTerpstra, who was not involved in the research, noted that Constantinople “was only created as such in the fourth century.”

The findings offer new context for the age-old saying, “All roads lead to Rome.”(Ivan Romano/Getty Images)

“Before that, it was a sleepy fishing towncalled Byzantium,”he said.“So, we have to be careful a little bit about what time period we’re looking at.”

He added, “But once Constantinople becomes de facto the capital of the empire, it is clear that it attracts a lot of overland connectivity.”

Rome did remain the center of political, military and ideological power for centuries, Terpstra said.

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“Rome is the center of the empire.This is where power lies,” he said, noting that the empire’ssecond-largest city, Alexandria,dwarfed in comparison with roughly half Rome’s population.

Roman roads have stood the test of time and remain a remarkable example of ancient engineering.Above is a picture of the Appian Way outside of Rome.(Antonio Masiello/Getty Images)

“This is where the emperor is.This is where the Senate is.… [It was the] largest city in the empire, a million inhabitants.”

The study also examined another hallmark ofRoman engineering: the remarkable straightness of its roads, though difficult terrain often forced routes to deviate from a direct path.

The roads were “about as straight as the Romans could make them” given the technology available at the time, Terpstra said.

The roads initially served a military purpose, the professor added.They allowed troops to move quickly through conquered territory before also taking on an important economic role.

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“The roads in the first instance, and it’s often forgotten, were military infrastructure,” he said.“These were in the first place, after the conquest, intended to move troops quickly.”

Rome remained a major center of political, military and ideological power for centuries despite the existence of other important transportation hubs.(Emanuele Cremaschi/Getty Images)

And although Roman roads have stood the test of time and remain a marvel of ancient engineering, Terpstra said they were secondary tomaritime transportationacross the empire — which was far cheaper when it came to transporting goods.

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“The main transportation network of the Roman Empire is maritime,” he said.“That is really where the major connectivity lies.”