Ancient Roman Technology

What began as a small city-state in Central Italy around 753BC rose to a vast and successful empire that collapsed at the hands of its enemies in approximately 400AD. During the time between Rome’s founding and its fall, the Roman Empire had more of an influence on Western European culture and language than any civilization since then. Rome was a patriarchic, military society that embraced law, government, and the arts. Though ethnocentric, much of their success was due to the fact that they were practical in borrowing from other cultures. Their advancements in technology and engineering are still being used today.

The wealthy of Rome lived in villas with pools and gardens. Slaves served them exotic foods and dressed them in fine, imported cloths. For the average Roman, life was less luxurious. Rome itself was a bustling, over-crowded city. Most Romans lived in apartment houses that were often unsafe. Food was simple and based on Garum, a fish paste that was a staple of the average Roman diet. The one thing that the wealthy and poor Romans all had in common was their obsession with cleanliness. The Roman bath was a luxury that all Romans afforded themselves no matter their social class. Working with a sophisticated method of heating water, the baths were in every Roman town.

As the Romans expanded their empire and encountered other cultures, they borrowed ideas and built on them. The Greeks were a major source of religion, philosophy, and medicine for the Romans. As one would expect, some of their folk medicines and diagnoses are a bit odd to modern thought, but many of their surviving documents show a surprising understanding of medical care. Much of the surgical equipment still used during the 19^th century were almost unchanged since the time of the ancient Greeks and Romans.

Slaves, taken from conquered populations were the backbone of the Roman labor force and they had roles in many levels of Roman society. Greek slaves were often valued for their intellect and used to tutor children. Most slaves were used in fields, brothels, gladiator arenas, and houses. One of the worst places a slave could end up was in the mines or quarries. In addition to the copper and iron mines that armed the military, there were stone quarries. Generally in the southern part of Italy, these quarries were in extreme heat. Common stone was used to pave the many roads around the empire that allowed the movement of the armies, supplies, and merchants’ carts. The marble that was quarried was used to create the columns and victory arches of Rome.

The Roman arch was Rome’s contribution to engineering. Previously, bridges had been made of rope and timber, but the arch design was much stronger. The Romans began to make their bridges and aqueducts out of stone and they used their arch design to support them. The Romans borrowed the simple concept of the wheel and pulley from the Greeks to aid in their building.

Aqueducts were among the earliest and most sophisticated forms of irrigation. Using the aqueducts, Roman engineers were able to bring billions of gallons of water to the Roman people. Sewers were also an achievement that brought sanitation to a teeming city. While the aqueducts of Rome brought clean water in, the sewers of Rome were able to pump dirty water out to the Tiber River.

In addition to a language and a governmental system that influenced most parts of Europe, Roman technology is still studied and used today in the designs of modern architecture.