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Roman technology is the set of artifacts and customs which supported Roman civilization and made the expansion of Roman commerce and Roman military possible over nearly a thousand years. The Roman Empire had the most advanced set of technologies of their time which in most areas was lost during the turbulent eras of Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages. Gradually, some of the technological feats of the Romans were rediscovered and/or improved upon and some others others - such as firearms, advanced sailing ship technologies and moveable type printing, went ahead of what the Romans had done by the end of the Middle Ages and the beginning of the Modern Era. However the roman technological feats of many different areas, like civil engineering, construction materials, transport technology, and some inventions such as the mechanical reaper went unmatched until the 19th century. Foreign influence Much of what is described as typically Roman technology, as opposed to that of the Greeks, comes directly from the Etruscan civilization, which was thriving to the North when Rome was just a small kingdom. The Etruscans had perfected the stone arch, and used it in bridges as well as buildings. Etruscan cities had paved streets and sewer systems, unlike most Hellenic city-states, which had muddy roads and no sewers save filthy open-air trenches. A great part of later Roman technologies were taken directly from Greek civilization. Much of the implements of land based Roman armies came out of the experimentation and the new developments in weapons of the Hellenistic wars that raged for decades between the successors of Alexander the Great. Most of the Greek city states abandoned the new weapons developed during these wars, reverting to simpler Macedonian arms and tactics of old, while the Romans took the newest developments and adapted them to their social forms. Roman fleets were based directly on Carthagen quinqueremes but were quickly adapted with the Roman innovation of the corvus (Polybius 1,21-23). Slowness of innovation
The energy constraint All technology uses energy to transform an, usually material, object. The cheaper energy is, the wider the class of technologies that are considered economic. This is why technological history can be seen as a succession of ages defined by energy type i.e. human, animal, water, peat, coal, oil etc. This is a gross simplification which still has value. The Romans had water but not wind power. Although there were huge reserves of peat and coal in the Roman Empire, to be of use these reserves had to be easily transportable to the major urban centres. In this sense, the Romans lacked efficient fossil energy. The very early industrial revolution would rely on cheap fossil energy. First peat, that would fuel the Dutch Golden Age, then coal, mainly from the coalfield just north Hadrian's Wall which supplied London. Later the Ruhr coalfield would dominate. These easily worked fuel reserves were all just over the border from the Empire. The Romans worked almost all the coalfields of England that outcropped on the surface, by the end of the 2nd century (Smith 1997; 323). But after c.200 AD the commercial heart of the Empire was in Africa and the East. There was no large coalfield on the edge of the Mediterranean. If there had been, history may have been different. As it was, hypercausts did allow them to exploit very poor quality fuels like straw. The vast majority of today's technologies would not be economic at the Roman cost of energy. The energy constraint shows up in archaeology by the extent to which energy intensive technologies exploited economies of scale e.g. pottery kilns with 40,000 items and baths with 1,600 bathers grew very big. Craft basis Roman technology was largely based on a system of crafts. Although the term "engineering" is used today to describe the technical feats of the Romans. The Greek words used were mechanic or machine-maker or even mathematician which had a much wider meaning than now. There were a tiny number of engineers employed by the army. The most famous engineer of this period was Apollodorus of Damascus. Normally each trade, each group of artisans—stone masons, surveyors, etc.—within a project had its own practice of masters and apprentices, and all kept their trade secrets carefully, passing them on solely by word of mouth. Writers such as Vitruvius were the rare exceptions. Most of what is known of Roman technology comes indirectly from archaeological work and from the third-hand accounts of Latin texts copied from Arabic texts, which were in turn copied from the Greek texts of scholars such as Hero of Alexandria or contemporary travelers who had observed Roman technologies in action. Writers like Pliny the Elder and Strabo had enough intellectual curiosity to make note of the inventions they saw during their travels, although their typically brief descriptions often arouse discussion as to their precise meaning. Engineering and construction The Romans made heavy use of aqueducts, bridges, and amphitheaters. They were also responsible for many innovations to roads, sanitation, and construction in general. Roman architecture in general was greatly influenced by the Etruscans. Most of the columns and arches seen in famous Roman architecture was adopted from the Etruscan civilization. In the Roman Empire, cements made from pozzolanic ash/pozzolana and an aggregate made from pumice were used to make a concrete very similar to modern portland cement concrete. In 20s BC the architect Vitruvius described a low-water-content method for mixing concrete. The Romans found out that insulated glazing (or "double glazing") improved greatly on keeping buildings warm, and this technique was used in the construction of public baths. Another truly original process which was born in the empire was the practice of glassblowing, which started in Syria and spread in about one generation in the empire. Machines There were many different labour saving machines in general use in the Roman world. These included cranes, water mills, various types of presses, many types of grain mills, some primitive harvesting machines, water pumps and cargo ships. The most used type of mill was the donkey mill. Its wide use was brought about by two factors: There were many types of presses to press olives, grapes and cloth. In the 1st century, Pliny the Elder reported the invention and subsequent general use of the new and more compact screw presses. However, the screw press was almost certainly not a Roman invention. It was first described by Hero of Alexandria, but may have already been in use when he mentioned it in his Mechanica III. Cranes were widely used in the Roman empire. They were used for construction work and to load and unload ships at their ports. Most cranes were capable of lifting about 6-7 tons of cargo. Roads
Aqueducts The Romans constructed numerous aqueducts to supply water to cities and industrial sites. The city of Rome itself was supplied by eleven aqueducts that provided the city with over 1 million cubic meters of water *, suficient to supply 3.5 million people * and with combined length of 350 km (260 miles). Most aqueducts were constructed below the surface with only small portions above ground supported by arches. The longest Roman aqueduct, 141 km (87 miles) in length, was built to supply the city of Carthage. Roman aqueducts were built to remarkably fine tolerances, and to a technological standard that was not to be equalled until modern times. Powered entirely by gravity, they transported very large amounts of water very efficiently. Sometimes, where depressions deeper than 50 m had to be crossed, inverted siphons were used to force water uphill. Sanitation The Roman public baths, or thermae served hygienic, social and cultural functions. The baths contained three main facilities for bathing. After undressing in the apodyterium or changing room, Romans would proceed to the tepidarium or warm room. In the moderate dry heat of the tepidarium, some performed warm-up exercises and stretched while others oiled themselves or had slaves oil them. The tepidarium’s main purpose was to promote sweating to prepare for the next room, the caldarium or hot room. The caldarium, unlike the tepidarium, was extremely humid and hot. Temperatures in the caldarium could reach 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit). Many contained steam baths and a cold-water fountain known as the labrum. The last room was the frigidarium or cold room, which offered a cold bath for cooling off after the caldarium. The Romans also had flush toilets. Science, logic, and mathematics
Roman military technology see The Roman military had knowledge some of the most advanced technology available to armies of the time. This ranged from personal equipment and armament to deadly siege engines. They inherited almost all ancient weapons. While heavy, intricate armour was not uncommon (cataphracts), the Romans perfected a relatively light, full torso armour made of segmented plates (lorica segmentata). This segmented armour provided flexibility and protection of most vital areas, and was not associated with the laborious craftwork that other armours (such as chainmail) were. Furthermore, the rest of the Roman soldier's equipment used similarly innovative and effective technology. Roman siege engines such as ballistas, scorpions and onagers were not unique, but nonetheless were manufactured efficiently enough to provide support for the Roman legions. List of Roman inventions and Roman-developed technologies | |||||||||||||
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