Roman Architecture and
Engineering
Roads, Monuments, Military
structures, and Water Supply
OK, OK. Besides the roads, system of government,
sanitation, personal safety, language, culture, and the rule
of law, what have the Romans ever done for us?
Roman Roads
There is an old saying that ‘all roads lead to Rome,’ which is based on the fact that,
wherever the Romans spread their influence, they built roads, called viae. The first of
these was the Via Appia.
These roads were first and foremost for military purposes. Especially beginning with
Gaius Marius, the army would actually build its roads as it advanced. After they were
built, they were also very useful for trade, travel, and the movement of mail and
news.
Roman roads depended for their construction on the materials available. Ideally, they
consisted of large flagstones over various layers of tamped rubble and gravel (strata)
either laid into a ditch or in a berm over the surrounding terrain. Roads were
designed by expert surveyors and engineers and tended to follow as straight a path as
possible -- aiming for rapid travel over ease of construction or attractive scenery.
Some old Roman roads and bridges were wellbuilt enough that they are still in use today.
Military Structures
Roads may have been the most important, but the Romans built many other
military structures as well. The Roman army built fortified camps daily, and won
many difficult battles through battlefield engineering.
Some frontiers of particular importance were fortified with huge walls which kept
enemies from crossing unobserved; the most famous of these in Hadrian’s Wall in
Britain. It was about ten feet wide and 16-20 feet tall, with gates every mile flanked
by watchtowers and several forts built in to house Roman legions. Its ruins still exist,
and are ten feet high in some sections.
The Water Supply
Perhaps more than any other civilization before them (and for a long time after), the
Romans understood the importance of a fresh, clean water supply. Some of Rome’s
greatest architecture revolved around supplying water, making it useful, and then
taking it away in a hygienic fashion.
Aqueducts were tunnels which carried water from fresh springs to Roman cities. They
were usually underground, but the famous bridges were used to carry them across
valleys. Sewers (cloacae) then carried filthy water out of the cities.
Once it was in the city, water for personal use went either into public fountains or was
piped to the houses of the very wealthy. Much of the remainder went into Rome’s
splendid bath complexes, or thermae.
Most cultures at this time bathed only very rarely. Romans hoped to bathe often, ideally
daily. Public bathhouses were built where Romans, often for a small fee, could clean
themselves and relax. They served as everything from swimming pools to gymnasia to
social clubs -- friends and business partners would gather to talk, exercise, relax, or snack
while they soaked.
Baths had many rooms, including the apodyterium for changing, the frigidarium for
cold dips, the tepidarium for warm baths, and the caldarium for hot steaming. Heat
was provided by an underground furnace called a hypocaust which circulated hot air
under the floor. Bathers cleaned with perfumed olive oil and a strigil.
Ancient Roman bathhouses survived in the old provinces, and were adopted by, for
example, the Turks. The baths of Aquae Sulis in England gave the modern town of Bath
its name.
Monumental Buildings
Rome contained a number of huge public buildings for various purposes. Some, like
the tombs along the Via Appia or Hadrian’s Mausoleum (now the Castel Sant’Angelo),
remembered the dead. Others, like Jupiter Optimus Maximus or the Pantheon, were
temples to honour the gods.
Perhaps the best known, however, are the buildings for public entertainment. The Flavian
Amphitheatre housed gladiatorial combats, executions, and venationes for some 50,000 or
so spectators, free of charge. Even larger was the Circus Maximus, built into a natural valley
and added on to in several stages, which was the setting for races and parades for 100,000
viewers.