Strabo

Rome had no wine bottles — just giant buried jars, throwaway shipping pots, and a hill of 53 million smashed amphorae.

The Aqua Virgo still pours into the Trevi Fountain. The Cloaca Maxima still drains central Rome. What keeps ancient infrastructure alive?

Could an ordinary person travel the Roman world? The evidence says yes — and the reasons we think otherwise are revealing.