Roman Technology and Engineering

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Roman Technology and Engineering Jeneva A. Fierro Ashford University HIS103: World Civilizations I Professor Keever January 10, 2013 Roman Technology and Engineering "The extraordinary greatness of the Roman Empire manifests itself above all in three things: the aqueducts, the paved roads, and the construction of the drains." Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Roman Antiquities Before their development of aqueduct technology, Romans, like most of their contemporaries in the ancient world, relied on local water sources such as springs and streams, supplemented by groundwater from privately or publicly owned wells, and by seasonal rain-water drained from rooftops into storage jars and cisterns (Mays, 2010.) The Romans constructed numerous aqueducts to supply water. The city of Rome itself was supplied by eleven aqueducts made of limestone that provided the city with over 1 million cubic meters of water each day, sufficient for 3.5 million people even in modern day times, and with a combined length of 350 kilometers (220 mi) (Rihll, 2007.) The columns were slightly slanted which meant that the travel of water depended primarily on gravity. The water was carried from mountain springs then the water was collected in tanks and fed through pipes to fountains, toilets, etc. The main aqueducts in Ancient Rome were the Aqua Claudia and the Aqua Marcia. Most of the Roman aqueducts were built below ground with only small part of it above the ground supported by Roman Technology and Engineering arches. The aqueduct construction was so advanced that nothing paralleled the technique until modern times. With the fall of the Roman Empire, some aqueducts were deliberately cut by enemies, but many more fell into disuse through lack of organized maintenance. Their failure had an impact on the population of cities; Rome's declined from its high of over 1 million in the Imperial era to as

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