Roman roads

The interpretation of the Antonine ltinerary, a compilation of routes of the Roman Empire, has always been difficult. For centuries, most scholars have agreed that the distances it gives between civitates or mansiones are very rarely compatible with real distances as measured on the ground. Mediaeval copyists were made responsible for very many errors in the transmission of numbers. The suggestion that the accusative case-endings mean that distances are not to be counted up to the stated town, but rather to a crossroad from where a branch road leads to the town, opens new and prornising horizons. The British and ltalian sections of the ltinerary are here discussed under this new approach. The opposition to this new reading of old texts is also commented.