Roman Engineering

Both Rome and Han China equivalently constructed similar roads, bridges, and water development systems all to strengthen their economy. Verifications of this can be seen when Rome fully realized the potential of arches and bridges in their road systems that spanned more than 400,000 km of roads that were used for trade. Correspondingly, they also built aqueducts as a form of water engineering to constantly bring in a flow of water to the cities and towns. Similarly, Han China built massive fortified roadways for trade and walls for fortification comparable to the Great Wall of China as a means of defense. Also in comparison to Roman aqueducts, Han China built water canals as means to direct water as they pleased. These similarities defined their engineering skills as these inventions and constructions were used to help strengthen their economies. Rome built and constructed roads to aid their trade systems and make easier routes of travel. Furthermore, they used aqueducts to get water into the city saving money and the need for human labor. Similarly, Han China used their fortified roads to trade much easier and as a means of safer travel. This went hand in hand with China’s water canals that also aided their economy by directing water where needed saving much money and limiting the need for human labor as well.

Before the Roman aqueduct was engineered, the ancient Roman people depend on local water such as rainwater, springs, streams, and well water stored into cisterns or container. The water quality were a daily problem of the Romans and the droughts and drainage problems were even deadly. The engineering curiosity that implemented the rise of the Roman Empire and sustained the water solution. The Roman aqueducts was not all engineered by Roman inventions, the architects used the Greek designs like the columns and arches by the Etruscans. The aqueducts were built from a sequence of brick, stone, and special volcanic cement.

Roman aqueducts were built using many different techniques. The most common aquaduct was a masonry channel made from stone, brick, or cement. Romans also build them using lead pipes and terracotta/clay pipes. The types of aqueducts are: Open trenches, covered trenches (cut and cover most often used), tunnels, arcades (arches), walls, pressurized pipes or inverted siphons (found to be very difficult and inefficient). Approximately 80% of the aqueducts were underground. The cement used on some aqueducts were made from a special volcanic ingredient called pozzuolana helping them to be so durable that they are existing today. The lead pipes that were sometimes used, raised questions today about possible lead poisoning. However, this is dismissed due to the fact that the water was always flowing and the hard water caused a protective coating lining the inside of the pipes made of mineral deposits.

They built great roads that were all connected and some are even still being walked on. All

In document 8, the “flowing aqueducts” of the Roman Empire greatly increased the ability for people to live in very condensed areas, and therefore making the empire more efficient by allowing more people to live in smaller areas. The elected officials in each respected empire noted that, because of the technological advances, the empress benefited. Thus showing that the ideas of man to invent and reinvent are not always broken causes. Document 6 states that, the romans had very advanced roads built, roads built to last thousands of years. “For the roads were built to carry straight through the country without wavering and were paved with quarried stone and made solid by tightly packed sand.” This quote shows that, because of how technologically advanced the Romans were, they were able to build these roads, roads that still last

Allison Sawey Ms. Rodriguez WHAP 6th Oct. 30th 2014 DBQ Essay In the Classical Era, 600 B.C.E to 600 C.E, the Han and Roman empires thrived in technology. The advancement in technology gave an opportunity for mixed opinions and attitudes throughout both empires. Although technology was viewed as most beneficial to the working class and more advanced than in previous eras, the governments of these societies played a negative role in the advertisement of technology. Overall, both Han China and the Roman Empire viewed technology as most beneficial to the working class.

Technology’s influence on infrastructure had a positive effect on the population. According to a Han Government official of the 2nd century BCE, Han china had water conversion offices that helped control the water supply for cities, rationing out water so they had a steady supply of water throughout the year. (Document 1) Rome’s equivalent was aqueducts, which according to Frontinus, Roman general, governor of Britain, and water commissioner for the city

The Roman Empire left a legacy that still continues to affect people with modern technology. The Romans’ technology might have not been as advanced as modern technology today, but they still managed to caused great impact over the ancient people. The Roman Empire’s inventions and innovations such as indoor plumbing, aqueducts, and construction of roads and buildings with their fast drying will always be notable attention because they managed to acquire extensive progress without modern methods. However, the Romans were not restricted to new inventions, they also managed to improve the existing fields of medicine, law, government and warfare.

They Roman’s had made fine roads, constructed well made bridges, had check points and they were fairly well constructed. Some of the bridges are still standing to this day; high, mighty, and sturdy bridges.

In reviewing and revising this topic, I question whether the Roman civilizations, or the empire itself, would have had the successes it did without the fundamental creativity and intellectual engineering ingenuity in the

The aqueducts’ design, material, and other features made this structure great. The aqueducts are what fulfill Rome's never ending need for water by carrying large quantities into the city. This large amount of water filled Rome's public baths, sewages, and the many fountains in the city. Which in that time period not many cities had that much fresh water at a single time like Rome did. Many other cities didn’t have the comfortable piping that Rome had.

It is said that Rome was not built in a day. True. It took ambition, lust, murder and the unrivalled power of technology to make the Roman Empire span across three continents and many centuries. While the contributions of ambition, conquest and other political and militaristic factors remain important for the Roman Republic to transform into an Empire, none of this could have been possible without the immense contribution of engineering and technology. In this essay, we shall look into three engineering feats that I believe were crucial in building the Roman Empire. We shall be making use of the video “Rome: Engineering an Empire” as an aid towards the

Roman arches are of great importance, not only to Rome but to the world as a whole. The arch was not invented by the Romans, as arches have been used in cultures far predating the Romans; however, the Romans did find a way to perfect the arch. Before the Romans, arches were used to support relatively small amounts of weight, such as in storerooms, these arches limited the scale of buildings they supported. The Romans however used arches to support immense amounts of weight. The reason for the arches newfound strength lies not with the shape of the arch, but within the material used to construct it. Through the invention of concrete, Romans were able to construct arches that would hold the weight of structures such as the aqueduct, which provided water to entire cities. Soon, several cultures adopted the Roman arch to support their own

The ancient Romans were skilled engineers and have left lasting contributions in this field. The Romans built a great network of roads connecting cities throughout their empire. They also built aqueducts and bridges using arches for support. The Roman arch design was by far the most important innovation of their time. The arch, however, would have been useless without the discovery of concrete. The Romans had many other such discoveries that would make their engineering skills known throughout the world.

In ancient Rome, architecture and engineering were highly regarded. It contributed much to Rome’s development, power, as well as the longevity of such an immense and substantial empire. Architecture displayed an immense amount of workmanship as well as innovation. This is seen through Rome engineers as they created the concept of concrete, constructed the famous Roman aqueducts, and the luxurious Roman baths. Roman’s were clearly superior engineers compared to their competitors because Roman engineers developed new and innovative concepts that were never introduced before, therefore contributing to the success of the Roman Empire.