There’s even speculation they made it to North America
SameSpecialist8284 on
I think the top half of the UK (Scotland as it’s known) needs a different key colour for “Too Scared”.
Training_Ad1818 on
Sweden??? And not Norway? I’m disgusted. Disgusted, I say!
jequeland on
Woah! Why only a slim chance for Norway?
MyBallzInAJar on
Dont ask me how I know this but I know they made it to South Sudan 100%
They went along the Nile until they stopped at the marshlands of South Dudan because they had no idea how to cross it, not even the locals knew
hoi4kaiserreichfanbo on
very useless to say that they made it to Kamchatka because the Byzantines interacted with the Kieven Rus’.
Belenos_Anextlomaros on
I would put a lot of caveats on the most Eastern countries here. It’s not because you find coins for instance, that you have Romans. It’s not because one source says people were Romans that they were indeed and maybe it was just merchants from somewhere in the Middle who claimed to be Romans…
Too easy to make a joke about their love for boys and a trip to Thailand…
Neo13715 on
Wow, I had no idea that all these countries existed during the Roman Empire. Unless you mean modern day residents of Rome just touring around nation-states.
MrZaptile933 on
I don’t think putting the Roman Empire on modern boarders is smart. It makes Roman which was already a huge ass empire look even bigger.
tavadis on
‘had been’, ok, but I remember an inscription on the rocks around Gobustan, south of Baku, today Azerbaijan, by some centurion documenting the presence of the Legio XII Fulminata, and it felt like ‘please take me out of here, wanna go home’, 2000 y ago. Mud volcanoes all over. Still nice to visit
Perestroika21 on
I am a professor of Roman history and I can tell you this map is far from being accurate.
themuscularbulbasaur on
Damn they really got around.
DeerEnforcement on
I would think UAE and Oman are at least pretty likely.
Raph0uX on
“Hum, I feel like going to Vietnam today… Norway ? You mean NO WAY ? 😎😎😎”
Mountain_Dentist5074 on
Instead of countries locations would be better. People with room temperature IQ are gonna think Romans visited Kamchatka
MaximusZacharia on
Wonder why not Mongolia?
Inner_West_Ben on
What were they doing in Borneo?
oolongvanilla on
I would add more of Africa to the “maybe” category – like Kenya, Tanzania, and possibly Mozambique. The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea discusses the East African Coast as “Azania” with bustling trade ports, with “Rhapta” being furthest south. This seems like a percurser to the Zanj / Swahili Coast from a time before the Bantu-speaking people showed up.
There were also Roman expeditions to a large lake of hippos and rhinos south of the Sahara that was probably Lake Chad, which means the Romans could have reached Nigeria and Cameroon.
Puzzled-Capital3696 on
Define Roman first
TotalyOriginalUser on
It is so funny that they’ve been to Malaysia but for some reason didn’t get to Finland.
Modern borders are doing a lot of heavy lifting here. Just because they might have seen the steppe at some point doesn’t mean thy also visited fucking Kamchatka peninsula!
HolderOfBe on
Wow, I can’t believe they even got to the Kamchatka Peninsula! /s
I’m actually surprised over Iceland being grey, but then again, building ocean worthy ships wasn’t exactly Rome’s forte. Coast and sea, sure, but ocean not so much.
Fascinating, and +++ for OC.
LifeUpInTheSky on
Super cool map OP! Love the process of using archive.org and latin documents for research. Huge respect 🙂
huhiking on
Romani ite domum!
SugarforurProlapse on
I presume that just means Russia?
I can’t imagine the Romans hanging out in Siberia.
Thossi99 on
Why is Iceland grayed out? We were always taught that it was very likely that Roman sailors passed through Iceland in the 3rd – 4th century and perhaps even traded with Irish monks/papars here despite never establishing a permanent presence.
It’s also widely believed that the Romans traded with vikings after they permanently settled here in the 8th – 9th century.
So I’d have expected Iceland to be in the “May have been to” category
33 Comments
Hey OP, what sources did you use for that?
Romans hanging out on Java….
There’s even speculation they made it to North America
I think the top half of the UK (Scotland as it’s known) needs a different key colour for “Too Scared”.
Sweden??? And not Norway? I’m disgusted. Disgusted, I say!
Woah! Why only a slim chance for Norway?
Dont ask me how I know this but I know they made it to South Sudan 100%
They went along the Nile until they stopped at the marshlands of South Dudan because they had no idea how to cross it, not even the locals knew
very useless to say that they made it to Kamchatka because the Byzantines interacted with the Kieven Rus’.
I would put a lot of caveats on the most Eastern countries here. It’s not because you find coins for instance, that you have Romans. It’s not because one source says people were Romans that they were indeed and maybe it was just merchants from somewhere in the Middle who claimed to be Romans…
There is an extremely recent episode of the podcast “The Ancients” about this: https://open.spotify.com/episode/4q9kcq1A86OBnYA4NFeiW8?si=OpJ76R7UQg-dA_QWM_ScUA&context=spotify%3Ashow%3A1DQF5Yi3m6LykJDwiy8qxh
Too easy to make a joke about their love for boys and a trip to Thailand…
Wow, I had no idea that all these countries existed during the Roman Empire. Unless you mean modern day residents of Rome just touring around nation-states.
I don’t think putting the Roman Empire on modern boarders is smart. It makes Roman which was already a huge ass empire look even bigger.
‘had been’, ok, but I remember an inscription on the rocks around Gobustan, south of Baku, today Azerbaijan, by some centurion documenting the presence of the Legio XII Fulminata, and it felt like ‘please take me out of here, wanna go home’, 2000 y ago. Mud volcanoes all over. Still nice to visit
I am a professor of Roman history and I can tell you this map is far from being accurate.
Damn they really got around.
I would think UAE and Oman are at least pretty likely.
“Hum, I feel like going to Vietnam today… Norway ? You mean NO WAY ? 😎😎😎”
Instead of countries locations would be better. People with room temperature IQ are gonna think Romans visited Kamchatka
Wonder why not Mongolia?
What were they doing in Borneo?
I would add more of Africa to the “maybe” category – like Kenya, Tanzania, and possibly Mozambique. The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea discusses the East African Coast as “Azania” with bustling trade ports, with “Rhapta” being furthest south. This seems like a percurser to the Zanj / Swahili Coast from a time before the Bantu-speaking people showed up.
There were also Roman expeditions to a large lake of hippos and rhinos south of the Sahara that was probably Lake Chad, which means the Romans could have reached Nigeria and Cameroon.
Define Roman first
It is so funny that they’ve been to Malaysia but for some reason didn’t get to Finland.
Also, what are you considering “Romans”
Do the Byzantines count?
Romans have been in the US. For instance, [Enrico Fermi](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enrico_Fermi) was born in Rome.
Modern borders are doing a lot of heavy lifting here. Just because they might have seen the steppe at some point doesn’t mean thy also visited fucking Kamchatka peninsula!
Wow, I can’t believe they even got to the Kamchatka Peninsula! /s
I’m actually surprised over Iceland being grey, but then again, building ocean worthy ships wasn’t exactly Rome’s forte. Coast and sea, sure, but ocean not so much.
Fascinating, and +++ for OC.
Super cool map OP! Love the process of using archive.org and latin documents for research. Huge respect 🙂
Romani ite domum!
I presume that just means Russia?
I can’t imagine the Romans hanging out in Siberia.
Why is Iceland grayed out? We were always taught that it was very likely that Roman sailors passed through Iceland in the 3rd – 4th century and perhaps even traded with Irish monks/papars here despite never establishing a permanent presence.
It’s also widely believed that the Romans traded with vikings after they permanently settled here in the 8th – 9th century.
So I’d have expected Iceland to be in the “May have been to” category
Another map without NZ.
Bet they stayed away from forest finns