Roman Technology and Engineering (Chapter 17) PDF

# Roman Technology and Engineering ## Introduction - Modern engineers develop technology based on scientific and mathematical principles. - In the Roman period, practical application of physical principles was a gentleman's occupation. - Roman natural philosophers used reason rather than experimen...

# Roman Technology and Engineering ## Introduction - Modern engineers develop technology based on scientific and mathematical principles. - In the Roman period, practical application of physical principles was a gentleman's occupation. - Roman natural philosophers used reason rather than experiment. - Practical skills were left to craftspeople who derived their expertise from personal experience and technical manuals. - Survival of technical installations and implements presents a challenge for modern scholars. - Tools and devices made of perishable organic materials, metals that corrode or are easily recycled rarely appear in archaeological records only a few written sources deal specifically with applied technologies and physical principles have survived. ## Technology Assimilated - Rome grew from a humble city-state to a large territorial entity. - Romans exchanged expertise and ideas with different cultures. - This exchange created a cultural feedback loop as new technologies enabled further expansion. - Romans employed local traditional technologies to modify the environment. - The propagation of this occurred from east to west. - The Romans were introduced to the millennia-old cultures of Greece, Egypt, and Mesopotamia, adopted and adapted their technical know-how, and applied it to promote the development of cities. - The urbanization of these geographical areas is one of the most lasting consequences of Roman technical and administrative influence. ## Streets and Bridges - The Roman road network was so well laid out that, in many instances, modern European highways follow the ancient Roman roads. - Roman roads facilitated the movement of infantry and civilian travellers. - The Roman road network spanned some 120,000 kilometres. - Traders made use of these roads as well, but land transport was generally slow and expensive. - Roman roads were meant to meet a number of conditions. - They were supposed to offer stable footing throughout the year in most varied weather, avoid excessively steep gradients, be as straight as possible to represent the shortest possible distance between two places, and be sufficiently durable. - The construction of roads was dependent on geographic location. - The first major Roman road was the Via Appia, or Appian Way, which was built in 312 BCE. - The first major Roman road was the Via Appia, or Appian Way, which was built in 312 BCE. - The first major Roman road was the Via Appia, or Appian Way, which was built in 312 BCE. - The first major Roman road was the Via Appia, or Appian Way, which was built in 312 BCE. ## Water Transport - The Mediterranean Sea has always provided a natural mode of transport for its surrounding communities. - Sea transport was much less expensive than land transport in antiquity. - A cargo ship could carry many times the load of an ox cart, and draught animals, unlike ships, needed to be watered and fed. - Seafaring was usually limited to the summer months (April to October) to avoid winter storms. - Mariners navigated by prominent landmarks and the sun during the daytime and by the stars during the night. - In good weather conditions, much of the land and islands in the area were visible. - Inclement weather and reduced visibility made navigation generally impossible during the winter months. - There was no great need for provisions as the crew could make landfall during the night and have access to shelter, food, and water. - Rocks and cliffs of the jagged coastline of certain places increased the risk of shipwrecks. - Coves and inlets of the same stretches of coast were ideal hideouts for pirates. - The topography of Italy is not fragmented like that of Greece. - The Italian peninsula is long and narrow, with only the Apennine Mountains forming a ridge that runs lengthwise roughly down the centre. - Communication over land was relatively easy. ## Concrete - Concrete was invented in the late third century BCE. - It was revolutionized building construction and hard landscape architecture. - Walls were built with a core of mortar mixed with an aggregate of small stones, called *opus caementicium*. - The type of wall facing can serve as a broad indicator of the construction date, although different techniques no doubt existed simultaneously and were, in part, a matter of personal taste. - Wall facing was initially made of irregularly shaped stone blocks. - This uneven appearance of the surface pattern led to the Latin term *opus incertum*. - The regular facing was an increase in construction speed; all stones were the same shape and size, it was no longer necessary to look for suitably shaped ones to fill a particular spot. - A facing of fired brick, called *opus testaceum*, became common, speeding up the construction process and further reducing cost. ## Instruments - The planning and construction of roads and aqueducts over hundreds of kilometres required not only large numbers of construction workers and adequate material. - Planners were skilled in geometry and the use of surveying instruments. - Geometry had been familiar to astronomers and builders in the ancient Near East and Egypt. ## Sources of Energy - The prosperity and persistence of Roman culture (as with any successful pre-industrial culture) is all the more remarkable because it was based largely on sources of energy that, in modern terms, would be considered renewable: human and animal power, water power, passive solar energy, biomass (such as wood), wind energy, and gravitational energy. - Mechanization of production processes was relatively limited, and the use of hand tools was normal. - Where the strength of the worker was insufficient, it could be amplified by employing additional manpower, animals, levers and gears, wedges, screws, block and tackle, or a combination of these options. - Process heat (for activities such as cooking and smelting) and space heat (for areas such as homes and baths) were generated by burning wood, charcoal, chaff, or residue from olive oil production, such as the pits or discarded flesh of the olives. - Large amounts of biomass were consumed for these purposes, which was a contributing factor to the deforestation of the Mediterranean region. ## Roman Technology and Engineering - Roman water supply systems and the associated baths played an important role in the acculturation of non-Roman cultures to Roman life, particularly in the western part of the empire. - New cities and growing populations, moreover, required technological innovation in water supply, sewage disposal, transport and storage of goods, and construction of residential high-rise buildings. - In architecture the Romans demonstrated extraordinary skill in the construction of arches, modular buildings, and domes. - The Porticus Aemilia and Pantheon point to another area of Roman mastery: concrete. - The Romans invented concrete that hard-ened under water, allowing the construction of harbour installations throughout the Mediterranean, the crucial infrastructure of the Roman economy. - Roman technological progress was certainly not characterized by stagnation, despite a general contempt for manual labour by some upper-class authors. - Skilled craftspeople and engineers were vital for the functioning of Roman civilization. - While only a minute number of written documents detailing these activities have survived, professional pride and financial success is evident in inscriptions and commemorative relief sculpture. ## Questions for Review and Discussion 1. What types of sources regarding ancient technology are available to modern scholars? 2. How did roads aid in Roman territorial expansion? 3. How did concrete change construction in Rome? 4. Discuss how the Roman aqueducts played both a utilitarian and a more abstract cultural role in antiquity. 5. Is it fair to say that the Romans merely stole other cultures' technological achievements? Why or why not? ## Suggested Reading - Adam, J.-P. 1994. *Roman Building*. New York: Routledge. - Cuomo, S. 2007. *Technology and Culture in Greek and Roman Antiquity*. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.