Roman engineering

Aqueducts, a system of providing clean water to an area, already existed in southwest Asia for centuries before the Romans copied the technology. However, Roman engineers worked out how to build them on an unprecedented scale. 

Due to another Roman engineering feat - a city wide sewer system in Rome - the river Tiber was heavily polluted. In order to supply Rome with fresh water Roman engineers designed and constructed these massive aqueducts many of which still stand today.

Roman aqueducts were designed to bring water from distant clean water sources such as mountain springs. The longest aqueducts stretched across almost 100 kilometers. 

Agricultural activities were banned around aqueducts to protect water quality, however side channels were created that benefited agricultural practices. 

These aqueducts used gravity to transport water. They required ongoing maintenance to prevent leaks and clear out blockages of sediment. They were built high to ensure adequate gravitational slope and so that the aqueduct could be built on top of any existing structure. 

The water passed through a mesh screen for final filtration before being stored in covered reservoirs. The water then supplied fountains, public baths, public latrines (toilets), and even private villas.

Over 500 years 11 aqueducts provided Rome inhabitants with 1 cubic meter of water each.

The Roman army was the most sophisticated and well trained army of the ancient world. Although the majority of soldiers rarely saw enemy action, the Emperors used these men wisely by ordering them to build roads, perform general policing duties, and carry out other tasks to keep them fighting fit.

A life of a soldier was extremely well paid and after 20 years service a soldier could retire with the equivalent of 13 years pay.

After a day of marching, a Roman legion would set up a fortified camp. Every camp used the same design, meaning each soldier knew where everything was no matter what legion he was in and messengers could deliver their communications to the correct place quickly. 

After the Romans conquered the Greek state, they began to adopt and modify Greek technologies, including military devices. The torsion powered ballista used tensioned animal sinew to fire projectiles with great accuracy and was a favorite weapon of the Roman army.

Pontoon bridges were not invented by the Romans but were well adopted by them. These temporary bridges were constructed using anchored boats (pontoons) as the base and building a road along the top. 

Extremely quick to build, they effectively helped to transport armies and equipment. 

Public baths were an integral part of Roman life. Citizens would move through the different rooms of a bathhouse, starting in the “hot room.” Each room after that held water with a slightly different temperature, progressively cooling down before a final cold plunge.

This Roman innovation found at public bathhouses heated rooms via a system of tunnels that carried hot air under the floor. Underground furnaces would pipe the hot air around tiles stacked up in the floor cavity. 

Located under the baths, the furnace room would heat the bathing water and provide steam for the “hot room” where citizens would first enter. The water was transported via a system of lead pipes and the baths even had an extensive draining system. 

The walls of the warm rooms in the baths were hollow. Warm air from the hypocaust rose up under the floor, as well as between the spaces in the walls, which in turn heated the whole room.