Here’s a map that’s right up my alley (I actually really wish I’d thought of doing it myself!) – a superb visualization of the major Roman roads of the second century AD. The legendary straightness of Roman roads makes them a great candidate for this style of diagram, and Sasha’s made it look very attractive, with a lovely colour palette and distinctive station dots. The very official-looking Roman Empire logos at the bottom left are also a nice touch.

You could argue that the Iberian peninsula looks a little huge and blobby compared to the rest of Europe, but this is a diagram, not a map, and even spacing of the cities/stations seems to be what Sasha is aiming for. The exclusion of Ireland and Scotland is a little more controversial – they weren’t technically part of the Empire, and Sasha says they were omitted for the sake of minimalism, but it just looks kind of weird for them to be completely missing.

He admits to taking a few liberties with routes and the names of some of the roads, but the Romans themselves didn’t always officially name these roads, while others had names that have been lost to the sands of time. Overall, this is a well-researched, nicely-designed map that holds a lot of interest for ancient history buffs. I love it – four stars!

Source: Sasha Maps website