What is the Meaning of All Roads Lead to Rome?

All roads lead to Rome is an idiomatic expression that means there are many different ways to achieve the same result. The saying refers to the vast network of roads built up during the course of Rome’s history, which stretched for more than 250,000 miles (400,000 km) at the height of the Roman Empire. These roads connected the capital with all parts of its empire—from Scotland in the north to Egypt in the south; from Portugal in the west to Syria in the east. 

We don't know exactly when or where the phrase originated. What we do know is that the Romans were well aware of their achievements and the interconnectivity of their empire. A mysterious text called the Antonine Itinerary, which could have been written anytime between the 1st and 3rd centuries CE, boasts that "There is hardly a district to which a Roman official might be sent, on service either civil or military, where we do not find roads."

The ancient origins of All Roads Lead to Rome

To understand the origins of All Roads Lead to Rome, we need to go back to the 300s BC and the rise of the Roman Republic.

The fourth century was a period of rapid expansion for Rome, and the city was at war with two fearsome neighbouring tribes, the Etruscans to the north and the Samnites to the south. The legions were concentrating their efforts on the southern front, but as the legions pushed down the Italian peninsula into unfamiliar terrain, they found that the fighting got harder.

Rome's consuls learned that marching men and heaving baggage trains through fields and marshlands was highly ineffective; and if there was one thing the Romans loved besides waging war and building things, it was optimising their efficiency. And so they set upon constructing a major paved road running south which they called the Via Appia.

Rome's First Road: the Appian Way

The Via Appia's pioneer, and the man after whom it was named, was Appius Claudius Caecus. And what made his contribution so incredible was that he was completely blind—as the Latin word for blind (caecus) tells us. Construction started on the road in 312 BC, and most work was finished the same year.

A painting of Appius Claudius entering the Senate House

A stretch of the Via Antica just outside Rome

Rome's first road was a roaring success. Within a year the Romans forced the Etruscans into signing a treaty, and in 304 BC the legions brought the Samnites to heel. And everyone lived happily ever after—as long as they happened to be Roman.

All Roads Lead to Rome: the capital at the world's centre

Rome's road network continued to expand throughout the Republic. In 146 BC, Rome cemented its dominance over the Mediterranean by capturing two major cities—the Greek city of Corinth and the Carthaginian capital of Carthage, and where the legions advanced Rome's road network followed.

Rome’s network of roads at the height of the Roman Empire, during the reign of Hadrian (117 – 138 CE)

In the 1st century, Rome's roads encroached east into Syria in the wake of Pompey's capture of Jerusalem and north into Gaul in the wake of Julius Caesar's annexation of the province. But it was during the reign of Rome's first emperor, Augustus, that Rome's centrality at the heart of its road network became established and the saying All Roads Lead to Rome started to make sense.

Augustus erected the Golden Milestone in the Roman Forum in 20 BC while serving as curator viarum (curator of roads). It stood opposite to the umbilicus urbis Romae—literally the navel of the city—which was a brick structure representing the symbolic centre of the Roman Empire.

What remains of the Golden Milestone’s base in the Roman Forum

Reconstruction of the Golden Milestone by PT Studio

The Golden Milestone (Miliarium Aureum in Latin) marked the physical centre of the ancient city, and the point from which the Romans measured distances between the imperial capital and the empire’s major cities. 

Once a large, golden column gilded in bronze, all that survives of the Golden Milestone is a small marble base at the foot of the Temple of Saturn. But even this base gives you a sense of the monument's scale and its symbolic significance.

Who said All Roads Lead to Rome?

You might be surprised to learn that it wasn’t one of the great Latin poets who first came up with this saying, but a French theologian writing in medieval Latin (the show-off).

A version of the saying appears in Alain de Lille’s Liber Parabolarum ‘Book of Parables’ (1175) with the words mille viae ducunt homines per saecula Romam (‘a thousand roads forever lead men to Rome’).

Two-hundred years later, All Roads Lead to Rome emerges again in Geoffrey Chaucer’s prologue to the Treatise on the Astrolabe (1391):

“Right as diverse pathes leden the folk the righte wey to Rome”

That’s English, Jim, but not as we know it—and starting quoting original Chaucer in a bar without context and you run the risk of sounding like you’ve had one too many.

We're not sure when All Roads Lead to Rome became entrenched in our everyday discourse. But its reference in popular culture points to some time in the 20th century.

All Roads Lead to Rome in Popular Culture

It might be thousands of years old, but this expression is alive and well, as are its sister Rome-orientated sayings—Carpe Diem and When in Rome.

• Film: All Roads Lead to Rome was the title of a French comedy film (note the French getting there first again) in 1949 and a cliched, instantly forgettable Canadian comedy in 2015.
• TV: It was the episode title of a Doctor Who serial The Romans which was set in ancient Rome—of all places. More recently, it was used as the title of a documentary episode by master ancient historian Mary Beard.
• Music: All Roads Lead to Rome was the name of a song by the British punk-rock band The Stranglers. It featured on their album Feline. And while we haven't listen to it yet, the strong literal/visual allusion to the strangling of a cat suggests we probably aren't missing out.
• Language: In eastern parts of the US, Americans say a similar phrase: 'When you die, whether you go to heaven or hell, you have to change planes in Atlanta.' We're not sure if the two are related, but the sentiment is the same, and it gave us a good laugh.

How do you say All Roads Lead to Rome in Italian?

If you want to sound really authentic and win the hearts and minds of Caesar’s contemporary ancestors, say tutte le strade portano a Roma.

Listen to this native speaker saying all roads lead to Rome to hear what it sounds like!

See how All Roads Lead to Rome by going on an ancient Google Maps

Imagine being able to calculate the journey time, speed, route and even cost of travelling from one point of the Roman Empire to another? This is precisely what academics at Stanford University have come up with through the Orbis project.

Choose your transport type (on foot, on horseback, by ship etc.) budget and time of year and Orbis will accurately calculate how long it would have taken you to complete your journey. The ease with which Rome’s roads facilitated speedy travel will surprise you. And it just goes to show that not much has changed—and that all roads do still lead to Rome!