Thanks, SunkenCiv. Rome’s great buildings, aqueducts, and government are all admired today. Yet, these roads that stitched the empire together may have been more important.
Plus that movie. :^) The aqueducts diverted water into populated areas and into irrigation systems. The outposts in arid areas relied on roads to ship water to the garrisons, and the military built the roads, maintained the frontiers, and policed the cities.
As you said, the roads were more important overall.