Engineering
Feats of the
Romans
625 BC to 476 AC
Josh-Dayo Weekes
Monique Aldana
Kwan Stewart
Daniel Siu
Amrit Persad
Joshua Ferdinand
Roman Engineering Innovations
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The Roman arch was the foundation of Rome’s architectural mastery and massive expanse of
building projects across the ancient world.
The innovation of the Roman arch gave them the capability to build larger and heavier
structures.
In 200BC, Roman concrete (sand and lime) afforded the innovation of the Roman arch.
The arches are designed by using a support bridge to hold up the stones until the final keystone
is placed.
The key stone spreads the downward vertical force horizontally. This allows the arches to
support large weights.
The arch the Roman used is called the round & semicircle arch.
In 200BC, Roman concrete (sand and lime) afforded the innovation of the Roman arch.
The Roman Colosseum
“The Flavian Amphitheatre”
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Around 70 CE Vespasian promised to build an amphitheater.
The colosseum was built to increase the moral of the roman people.
The colosseum was constructed on a man-made lake in the garden of Nero’s Golden
Palace.
The colosseum was built out of blocks of travertine stone with iron clamps in place or
mortar.
The quarry site was 20 miles away from the construction site, so Romans built a road that
they used to move the stones by carts which would carry about 30-50 stones.
The colosseum was 189 meters long and 156 meters wide and could seat 50k - 80k people.
The colosseum consisted of 240 arches with each being 23ft in height.
The colosseum took about 10 years (70-80AD) to build under 2 emperors.
The design process of the colosseum can be assumed to be a linear design process.
Idea to Realization
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There were thousands of works of various backgrounds.
The Romans invented concrete which was used in all their construction of any structure
such as their famous innovation, arches, that are still used today in modern construction.
The colosseum was mostly used for gladiatorial battles, crucifixions, and mock naval
battles.
The Roman Colosseum
“The Flavian Amphitheatre”
References
Ambler, Dr. Jessica. n.d. Khan Academy . https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/ancient-artcivilizations/roman/x7e914f5b:beginner-guides-to-roman-architecture/a/roman-architecture
Channel Building Comapny. 2016. Channel Building Company . November 11th .
Nathan Coyle, Malinda Zarske. 2016. Teach
Engineering.https://www.teachengineering.org/lessons/view/cub_aqueducts_lesson01.
“Facts about the Roman Colosseum.” Romewise. Accessed January 26, 2022.
https://www.romewise.com/facts-about-the-roman-colosseum.html.
“Architecture of the Colosseum.” The Colosseum, April 18, 2018.
https://www.thecolosseum.org/architecture/#:~:text=The%20Colosseum%20was%20built%20b
etween,Amphitheatrum%20Flavium%20%E2%80%93%20the%20Flavian%20Amphitheater.
Roman Colosseum (Documentary)" Youtube.com, July 2013,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AeMU0UuQJVA&t=237s
World History One, "Colosseum - the arena of death" YouTube.com, October 2018,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgRVxJZ8vQU&t=2510s
“How the Roman Colosseum Was Built.” YouTube, August 28, 2020.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09meiYkTsBo&t=217s.