Ancient Roman Technology

Improved Essays
Ancient Rome was one of the most impressive empires of all time. Ancient Rome reigned for over 500 years, starting from 27 BC and ending around 400 AD. In that time, through trade, the ancient Romans gained new ideas and experiences from other cultures. As a result, they came up with new inventions. Ancient Rome left a mark on the modern world today. Two of Rome’s famed and longest lasting legacies are language, including many of the Latin root words in Romance languages, and in engineering which established the revolutionary idea of paved roads and aqueducts that we still use today.
The legacy of Latin is seen today because many of the root words, prefixes, and suffixes are included in the English language. Ancient Romans used Latin as their
…show more content…
Romans specialized in roads and aqueducts. When Roman engineers stumbled upon a difficulty when building the road, they would target the problem directly, rather than relocating the road. This contributed to revolutionary improvements, new ideas, and better, stronger, and longer lasting roads. Rome used cambered(arched) roads when it rained the arches allowed the water to drain off the surface, which led to less to no damage to the road. One of the primary reasons that Romans were so successful in engineering was they were the first to use concrete. Roman concrete was created from a mixture of brick and rock pieces, lime, water, silica, and alumina. Roman concrete was the building blocks of almost all Roman structures. The concrete allowed these structures to last for centuries. Namely, the Colosseum. The Roman concrete recipe was a lot more earth-friendlier than the one that we use today. Nevertheless, the type of concrete that we use, is a lot severer and stronger. It follows Romans were also experts at building aqueducts. Roman aqueducts were developed in 312 BCE, and used for many purposes. That is, bringing water around to city baths and fountains up to 60 miles away. Roman aqueducts opened the door to many inventions that we still use in the 20th century, like communal …show more content…
The legacy of language led to many important terms in medical, law, math, and science, and important root words in the English language. For instance, a popular science prefix often used is the prefix semi. The prefix semi is derived from Latin and means partly or half. The legacy of Engineering led to the ingenious shape of cumbered roads. Up to this day, we still exercise this ingenious design when building our roads. Additionally, Romans used a highway system that we still mimic today, Romans used patrols, mileage markers, and tolls. The Romans were master engineers and constituted a world that we still walk on

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Roman Empire Dbq

    • 338 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The Roman Empire is unique in its original and effective ideas Ancient Rome’s government set an example for future countries that used it as generations passed. Rome established a Republic, where citizens voted for The Great Roman empire also contributed a great deal of great ideas of their time and use today, such as the development of the alphabet, sewers and sanitation, the original concept of “lawyers”, and roads. The Roman Empire did invent “Aqueducts, Underfloor heating, Concrete and the Julian Calendar (which our modern calendar is based on.)” (bbc.com).…

    • 338 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Roman Empire Dbq Essay

    • 485 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The Roman Empire was one of the greatest civilizations in history, developing advancements in many important areas, like architecture and technology. Its culture was widespread, and it had a big impact on other civilizations to come. The main way Rome was able to become so advanced was being able to adapt to its geography. This allowed them to complete tasks more efficiently, and maximize the effectiveness of what they were doing.…

    • 485 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    The Greco-Roman influence in the Western societies in evident in many thing that we utilize on a daily basis. Three thing that we have taken from the Greco-Romans, concrete, sanitation systems and road are vital parts of our daily life. After the invention of the aqueduct, the Romans took it a step further and started to develop sanitation systems, the roman began building pipes that connected the aqueducts to homes and public area like restrooms and baths. The first system is said to have been started sometime between 800BCE – 300BCE…

    • 92 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Throughout history, technology has advanced in many different ways. Since the beginning, we have developed new ways for our civilization to thrive and prosper. New discoveries like iron, water conservation, and salt have made new technologies easier to create new uses for old works in the Han and Roman empires. Though the new technologies were exciting to all people in the Han and Roman empires, they both had different view and how it would assist their civilization. The first civilization that was the Han empire.…

    • 498 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Rome, a civilization of great importance for the development of the modern world, which has adapted upon many of the aspects of it which derive from the people surrounded by the Tyrrhenian and Adriatic Seas, from ancient western Italy (Etruscans) and ancient southern Italy (Greeks). Rome was the centerpiece of Earth’s eastern hemisphere and stretched from modern day Spain to the beginning of the Caspian Sea. Rome may have immortalized its own ideologies and structures such as roads or the Julian Calendar, named after Roman emperor Julius Caesar, but this civilization has also amended and created its own variations of concepts and ideas already laid out by former, less popular civilizations, through the means of cultural diffusion. Some of the characteristics and developments which mainly reflect on the dynamic of cultural diffusion in Roman civilization include but are not limited to…

    • 812 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Ancient Rome was an amazing place that is best defined by its many breakthroughs. A few of these breakthroughs were in Roman architecture, their act of Bread and Circuses, and their astounding military. All of these factors played a huge role in the creation and definition of Ancient Rome. Through these architectural, governmental, and military achievements, Rome became a very successful place. Ancient Roman architecture consisted of many things, such as organized structures and well built roads.…

    • 500 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    The cloaca maxima was the first engineering marvel of the romans built in 600bc. this led to better health of the people and more sanitary. The second innovation was the aqueducts. The aqueducts was…

    • 514 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    There are so many wonderful things the Romans invented or were innovative with, such as creating a welfare system, newspapers, calendars, the practice of military medicine and surgeries, and laws, but their architecture is some of the most beautiful of ancient times. The Romans invented concrete and cement and the Colosseum and Roman Forum are still around today because of this development. This allowed them to also build the aqueducts which allowed the Romans to bring fresh water to the heart of their city. They were dependent on fresh drinking water. Building the aqueducts allowed this to happen.…

    • 244 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Ancient Rome boasted impressive technological feats, using many advancements that were lost in the Middle Ages and not rivaled again until the 19th and 20th centuries. An example of this is Insulated glazing, which wasn't invented again until the 1930s. Many practical Roman innovations were adopted from earlier Greek designs. Advancements were often divided and based on craft. Artisans guarded technologies as trade secrets.…

    • 653 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Roman Empire Strengths

    • 462 Words
    • 2 Pages

    476 CE was a sad year for the Romans, their once great empire had fallen. Their empire had accomplished so much and and it was taken so harshly because they were overthrown by the Germanic leader Odoacer, who became the first Barbarian to rule in Rome. The order that the Roman Empire had brought to western Europe for 1000 years was no more. The Romans were always coming up with new inventions and new innovations. They were overall so developed and skilled as a people.…

    • 462 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    The Rise Of Rome

    • 1795 Words
    • 8 Pages

    “The greater the difficulty, the more glory in surmounting it.” - Epicurus Rome--expansive, sprawling across the Mediterranean and throughout Europe, and eternal, sparking centuries of philosophical, engineering, and political growth through revivals and frameworks of classical learning--few other four letter words carry such weight. Admired throughout time for its superior philosophers, politicians, ideas, engineering, and conquests, for over two thousand years, Rome has been dissected by scholars seeking to understand their advanced wisdom and technology that has been emulated by everyone from architects to social activists and from psychologists to politicians. How did a town supposedly founded by orphaned twins morph to become such a…

    • 1795 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Great Essays

    After ruling for 40 years as Rome’s first king, Romulus was believed to have been carried away into the sky, where he became a god. Romans were proud of their city that they were sure that the gods must have had a hand in its birth. (Chrisp, 2007 pg. 10) The Romans were proud of the works they had done especially their architecture. The Romans built some incredible buildings.…

    • 1547 Words
    • 7 Pages
    • 4 Works Cited
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    These constructions were one of the first reliable means of gathering water in areas where water was not naturally present. These aqueducts also led to the invention other valuable contributions the Roman Empire made, such as toilets, sewage systems, and fresh drinking water. The invention of the aqueduct provided the basis on which much of our hydraulic and energy-based inventions were built upon. The added advantage that toilets and sewage systems provided was the easier ability to built houses and communities in close proximity. These advancements also helped with building a cleaner and healthier society.…

    • 789 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    On the History and Achievements of Roman Civilization Throughout the history of man, no civilization has ever been more successful or as influential as that of the Romans. Yet what is it that has made Rome so memorable to us? Stories of grand structures, powerful emperors and epic battles all come to mind when we imagine Roman civilization. Despite having knowledge of all these memorable features of Roman civilization, what do we actually know about the Romans and all that they had accomplished? An even more important question to ask might not only be why Rome is so important, but also how it has continued to impact the world even today.…

    • 1735 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Incorporating arches into buildings gave the Romans the ability to build many multistoried buildings for residents to live in. The arches distributed loads evenly, improving the structural load bearing capacity, allowing for more levels. Also, they arches were very pretty. The Importance of Concrete Roman concrete was a very versatile building material. It was cheap to produce and therefore affordable to purchase.…

    • 700 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays