Ancient Roman Engineering

Structures

Pontoon Bridges

• Used mostly for shock and awe raids by legions to attack quickly and effectively.
• Used mostly during war-times
• Julius Caesar was a great fan of the pontoon bridge
• The pontoon bridge was an effective way of crossing impassible rivers without diverting troop movements, by having engineers use only pieces of wood driven into the river for support and an air filled sac on top quick and effective bridges could be built in a matter of days with little defance instead of the normal weeks others took.

Arch

• Arches have been seen used as far back as 1800 B.C.E although it wasn't until the Romans that they were properly utilized to their full potential

• Arches were not invented by the Romans only perfected.
• They learned that by using many small arches in a bridge or structure the length could be considerably increased without diminishing strength but also cutting down on cost of materials and less damage to the rivers.
• This new are form was called the segmental arch.

• The arch was very useful as a way to deal with large loads and minimize resources used

Roads

• Romans built their roads to last. Many of which are still in use to this day.
• Roman roads were made of 5 layers to help prevent flooding
• Roads were a lovely way to make travel easy but their primary purpose was militaristic, allowing legions to be able to move their forces quickly and effectively.

Innovations

Ballistea

• Siege warfare is one thing the Romans were incredible at.
• The ballistea was a vital part of their success, it had the power to fling rocks, arrows, rods etc up to almost 500 meters with deadly accuracy.
• It achieved this power through the winding of woven animal sinew which when released acted like a spring in a mousetrap.
• The Ballistea was originaly devealoped from earlier greek designs and was rebuilt and designed smaller, lighter, and more practical by the Romans

Water Power

• Water Power was the Romans main source of power, from grinding wheat into flour, to clearing debris and finding ore in mines. Water was used for everything.
• Main examples of water power were the water wheel. This simple device took the designs from greek and other cultures inventions and combined them to create something truly useful to the entire population of Rome.
• The water wheel was a device that took the flowing power of the water and utilized it to grind wheat and ore; two essential items to Romes economy and ability to sustain its giant population.
• Other variations of the water wheel sprung up such as a floating water wheel, which used the pushing current rather than falling water to power it. This saved the Romans in the siege of Rome in 537 A.D.

Cement

• Cement was used in every large scale building project in Rome from its time of discovery to modern days; they called this time the cement revolution. The recipe has changed slightly but the end result is the same idea.
• Roman cement in comparison to modern day cement is rather different in its characteristics. Roman cement was 10x weaker than today's cement but has the uncanny ability to withstand ware a million times better than modern day cement. This has been proven to be due to one of the key ingredients in Roman cement Volcanic Ash. This unique ingredient allowed Roman cement to withstand the harshness of mother nature incredibly well, allowing many of their structures to survive even to this day.

Questions?

Introduction

The definition of engineering states that engineering is the branch of science and technology concerned with the design, building, and use of engines, machines, and structures.

Engineering in terms of the ancient Romans deals with the methods, techniques and actual structures developed, or modified and perfected by the ancient Romans.

Aqueducts

• Innovative way of bringing large amounts of water into a populated area
• By changing the incline by as little as 1 degree per mile, water could be brought to Rome from huge distances.
• Most aqueducts were actually buried underground
• The idea of water collection had been around for centuries before the Romans came, but they took these ideas specifically those of the Greeks.
• Over 640Km of aqueducts were used in the Roman empire.

Aqueducts

• Used to bring large amounts of water into the city from far off sources, usually found in the mountain.
• The Aqueducts used an ingenious way of allowing the water to travel so far without having deep slopes, by decreasing the incline of the aqueducts by only 1degree every mile the water kept a constant flow but traveled many miles without much show in elevation change.
• Most Aqueducts were hidden underground and followed the contours of the land.
• The Romans did not invent the aqueducts but rather took the knowledge in water collection from other societies and improved upon it, in this case from their Greek allies and Etruscan neighbors.

Ancient Roman Engineering

Well fitted stones

Concrete

Stone/Cement

Mortar

Contents Summary

Innovations

Structures

• Ballistae
• Water Power

• Aqueducts
• Pontoon Bridges
• Arch
• Road

Materials

• Cement