Roman Engineering

The Romans seemed to have done well for themselves when it came to technology and engineering. Perhaps, you can say that they have a “knack” for it. The had created so many things from water lines to engineering roads in order to make it easier to get from place to place rather than having to either go by ship or by foot. The Romans had created water lines that they could use for drinking water fountains and private water systems to use for hygiene and etc. They had also created functioning sewage and draining systems which we still use to this day. They were the first to harness the power of water, eventually building water mills outside of Greece for grinding flour. Their most famous example occurs in Barbegal. Roman roads were constructed to make it easier to get from providence to providence rather than just taking ships or walking on foot. The first national highway was built in 312 B.C. that stretched one hundred thirty two miles from the Rome to Brindisi in the southeast. These roads consisted of various layers of crushed stone, sand, mortar, and paver stones. The paver stones were constructed in a way so that when it rained, the water would run off them to help prevent the roads from flooding. Throughout the Roman Empire there were hundreds of roads constructed, well over 250,000 miles. A lot of these roads are still used today in Rome. The architecture of the Romans were impressive even by today 's standards. Such as, the Circus Maximus was large enough to be used as a stadium. But, one of the greatest works of the Romans would probably be the Colosseum. It was able to sit about 50,000 people and was used to gladiatorial events, reenactments, plays and several other events. The Colosseum today is one of Rome 's most popular tourist attractions. Due to the ruined state of the interior of it, it is impossible to hold events in. I believe that the reason why the roman 's technology and engineering is so important is because it has a lot to do with how things are today and helped others show that it is possible to build and create if you set your mind to it and are dedicated to what you are wanting to do. The Romans built large, well, you can almost stay monstrous buildings, created a way for their people to have running water in their own private homes in so that they can bathe and have drinking water. They had also created roads so they people would not have to walk on foot or take ships everywhere they wanted to go, which also made it easier to ship their military and goods to other cities. When thinking about now, I believe that if it wasn 't for the Romans doing all of these, we would not have what we have now.

References
Mahdavi, F. (2012). World history: The human experience to 1500. San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education.
"Roman engineering" Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Web. 27 Jan. 2013. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_engineering.
“Colosseum” Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Web. 27 Jan. 2013
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colosseum

References: Mahdavi, F. (2012). World history: The human experience to 1500. San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education. "Roman engineering" Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Web. 27 Jan. 2013. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_engineering. “Colosseum” Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Web. 27 Jan. 2013 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colosseum