Download Joshua C Ford Cumulative Essay: The History of Technology in the

Joshua C Ford
Cumulative Essay: The History of Technology in the Roman Empire.
ME-350X
HR: see footnotes
Rome, widely regarded as the greatest empire and most stable empire that has ever
existed was not created on solely military might, but instead it also relied on technological
developments that created a standard of living vastly superior to any other civilization in the
ancient world. These inventions gave roman citizens immense pride in their state, which in turn
helped to secure Rome’s empire just as much as the roman legions did.
Public health was one of the most defining feature of roman life, roman baths are so
legendary in fact that an entire city in England is named after them. The roman baths in the city
bath (then called Aquae Sullis), were built over a hot spring, but not all roman baths were
constructed over baths. Hypocaustum was the Latin word for the water and air heating system
that the romans developed it operated by heating tiles underneath the pools with a furnace
which would then warm the pool as well as the room to a comfortable or warm temperature.
These bath houses were also cleaned regularly which made the romans, one of the earliest
civilizations to promote public health through government spending1.
After the roman system of health the next greatest advantage of being a roman system
was the road network that connected the empire. This road network made famous by the
saying “all roads lead to Rome”, allowed for people to move quickly, trade more effectively, and
travel more safely across the entirety of the empire. In fact the roman system of roads was so
1
Hypocaust, 10DEC2014, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypocaust
well done and put together that during the fall of the Roman Empire the Visigoths were able to
travel at a much faster pace than was expected because of the roads2. These roads are also still
in place in many places across Europe due the great care the romans put into building them.
Not only were the roads made out of stone, but they were also comprised of layers of
foundation to prevent the roads from being swept away by a particularly strong storm, but they
were also built at a bank to allow for rain to drain off to the side and prevent water form
settling3. Roads were also constructed with military application in mind, the roads were built
with the specific intent to allow the legions of Rome to travel in formation unhindered across
the empire. Roman roads are arguably the second greatest feat of transportation engineering
to have ever been developed (modern highways are arguably more impressive), and allowed
for the romans to effectively manage the massive amount of land it controlled.
When speaking of roman engineering there is one simple shape that cannot be
forgotten, the arch. Arches are seen in almost any roman construction from the great coliseum
in Rome itself, to the aqueducts that ran into every major city in the empire. The reason for
this is because romans used arched as a way not only to help remind subjugated culture who
ruled them but also as a way to easily bear weight that was being place onto the arch. In fact
these arches were so well built that multiple roman structure still exist today (the coliseum)4.
Roman arches when stacked like in their bridge aqueducts, relied on offsetting arches stack on
2
Roman Roads, 10DEC2014, UNRV, http://www.unrv.com/culture/roman-roads.php
Roman Road Construction,10DEC2014, UNRV, http://www.unrv.com/culture/roman-road-construction.php
4
V. Ryan, Typical Roman Stone Arch Construction, 2006-2009, 10DEC2014
3
top of each other and keystones, which combined ensured that the structures would not
collapse on themselves.
Rome’s stability of course cannot be discussed without mentioning some of the empires
great military technologies. When discussing roman military technology Hadrian’s Wall must be
discusses. Place at the empires most northern border it served two purpose: one to keep the
Celts out of Britannia, and secondly to demonstrate the technological supremacy the romans
possessed. The wall was eighty miles long, had a watch tower every third mile, and numerous
garrison forts. This wall in the same fashion as the Great Wall of China was statement to those
who saw it, Don’t Mess with Rome5. The most impressive fact about the wall however was not
the massive size of it, but the economic ability the romans had because stone was as expensive
in Rome as it is today, but instead of having modern machines to move the huge slabs of stone
to construct the wall men had to move the stone.
From the founding of Rome on the shores of the Tiber River to the height of the empire
during the reign of Augustus Caesar, the romans depended on having a technological edge.
Though not always in a military sense, for it was no the Legionary that made the “…Glory that
was Rome…”, but rather it was the marble statues, the aqueducts, coliseums, and marvelous
cites that made Rome what it was6.
5
6
N.S Gill, Hadrian’s Wall, 2014, 10DEC2014, http://ancienthistory.about.com/cs/rome/a/aa060600a.htm
Gladiator,Dir, Rridely Scott, Universal Pictures, 2000, 10DEC2014
Technology has always played a critical role in the development of a culture, and
through the analysis of what technologies a culture develop, we can begin to better understand
these cultures, and grasp our history better.