The Diolkos was a 4-mile-long (6.4 km) paved trackway near Corinth, Greece, built around 600 BC. It allowed ships to be moved overland across the Isthmus of Corinth, avoiding the long and treacherous journey around the Peloponnese peninsula. Although not directly related to the Red Sea, the Diolkos demonstrates the Romans’ ingenuity in creating infrastructure to facilitate maritime trade and transportation.
600 BC... that was almost 400 years before the Romans conquered Greece.
The Persians considered a canal/lock system to facilitate naval movement across the isthmus. They didn’t last long enough in Greece to get it done.
:^) Transit of the modern canal is described in one of Clive Cussler’s novels.
https://www.historyofrailroad.com/news/father-railway-diolkos