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History Extra podcast

How Roman roads transformed Europe

History Extra podcast

Immediate Media

History

4.34.5K Ratings

🗓️ 9 January 2025

⏱️ 36 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

They spanned a continent, offered a conduit for soldiers and pilgrims alike – and may not have been as straight as legend suggests. Roman roads played a formative role in Europe's development for centuries, and have inspired its leaders right up to the present day. Catherine Fletcher, author of The Roads to Rome tells Matt Elton more about the long-lasting influence of these ancient highways. (Ad) Catherine Fletcher is the author of The Roads To Rome: A History (The Bodley Head, 2024). Buy it now from Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Roads-Rome-History-Catherine-Fletcher/dp/184792803X/?tag=bbchistory045-21&ascsubtag=historyextra-social-histboty. Hear Catherine Fletcher discuss the history of Florence, and offer her tips on Renaissance sites to visit in the city here: https://link.chtbl.com/I4AXl_kl. The HistoryExtra podcast is produced by the team behind BBC History Magazine. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

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0:03.2

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0:28.7

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0:33.7

Welcome to the History Extra podcast, fascinating historical conversations from the makers of BBC History Magazine.

0:42.3

They spanned a continent, offered a conduit for soldiers and pilgrims alike, and may not have been as straight as legend suggests.

0:52.3

Roman Rhodes played a formative role in the development

0:56.5

of Europe for centuries. And as Catherine Fletcher, the author of a new book, The Roads to Rome, argues,

1:03.5

these highways also inspired the continent's leaders right up to the present day. Matt Elton

1:09.4

spoke to Catherine to find out more.

1:12.1

Catherine, thank you so much for being with us today on the History Extra podcast. I'd like to

1:15.6

start where you start in your book, which is the fact that these roads are at the same time

1:20.7

something we're fascinated by and something that has been sort of written off as mundane in some

1:25.6

sense. Can you talk a little bit about that seeming contradiction? Yeah, so I think that Roman roads right from the start have done two

1:32.0

different things. So on the one hand, they have this sort of full purpose. They're going to get

1:36.3

people from A to B. I mean, quite importantly, they might get the Roman army from A to B and perhaps

1:42.1

we can come back to that. But they just do something that

1:45.0

makes everyday life quite a lot easier for a lot of people. If you live on a road, it'll help

1:49.5

you get to market more effectively. It might help you go and vote if you're the type of person

...

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