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How Did Roman Cultures Use Arches

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The Roman Empire is credited with the development of many great achievements. These achievements can still be seen in Rome and throughout the world. The Romans are well known for their aqueduct system and huge colosseum that are still standing today. These monumental building feats would not have been created without the use and knowledge of many different techniques. The use of cement was one of the technologies employed to build these large structures. The utilization of arches was another. Many people associate the idea of arches with the Romans. However, they were not the first people to utilize arches. This paper will concentrate on why the Romans were credited with developing the arch; what they did to improve previous cultures use of arches; and how the Romans used arches to create massive structures that are still standing today.
The Romans were the first builders in Europe, perhaps the first in the world, to fully appreciate the advantages of the arch, the vault and the dome (Cartwright, 2013). The Romans are credited with creating arches because they used them so often and in extremely large structures. Most people have heard of the Roman …show more content…

Heaton describes the Roman aqueducts as one of the greatest achievements in the ancient world. The aqueducts transported water from reservoirs at a higher elevation to different locations within Rome. At the height of the Roman Empire, they needed to supply water to over one million people. There was over 260 miles of aqueduct built during the Roman reign. The aqueduct system worked due to gravity. The water would flow from a higher elevation to a lower elevation. The Romans tried to follow the lay of the land as best as they could, but sometimes, to keep the gradient so that the water would continue to flow, they would have to tunnel the aqueduct through mountainsides or even build large bridge like structures to span across valleys (Heaton,

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