A new method for locating Roman transport infrastructure

Abstract

Roman cities and roads, once correctly identified, can be appropriately conserved. Moreover, the correct identification of Roman transport routes will vindicate the accuracy of recent studies on the network of Roman transport infrastructure and its connectivity, functionality, and impact. With this aim in mind, a novel method is presented for computing the most likely location, from among the various proposed locations that may exist, of any Roman city that is cited both in a Roman itinerary and in Ptolemy’s Geographia. In the first phase, the geographical area where the city was located is demarcated by means of the itinerary. In the second phase, Ptolemy’s coordinates of well-known Roman cities from the province of the Roman Empire that is under consideration are correlated with those of the WGS 84 reference system by means of simple linear regressions. Having confirmed the normality of the regression error distribution, the bivariate normal distribution is computed, and the confidence intervals are determined. This method is implemented, to identify the most probable location of the Vaccaean city of Intercatia in Hispania, and to propose a new route for the Roman road that once passed through it.