Romans remained for long a warrior agricultural people.
Commerce was forbidden to her gentry. So they lacked the quantitative and
spatial thinking of the merchant traveler. This rendered them weak in mathematical science. They did not add much to science. Their contribution lay
in the field of organization and formulation of Roman law. The Greek
practice of dissection in medical teaching never took root in Rome.
In the field
of technology, the Romans inherited various techniques from the Greeks, the
Etruscans, the Celts and other barbarians from Asia, Africa and Europe. The
organization of the vast Roman Empire called for extensive engineering
projects and the use of labour in them. The imperial Roman civilization was an
urban one.
So the technical progress of the Pax
Romana was concerned with the construction of cities and the roads and
bridges that linked them. The typical Roman city was a military colony. It was
quadrangular with two principal cities being a military colony.
It was quadrangular
with two principal avenues bisecting each other at right angles. It had four
gates and many secondary streets laid out in a checkboard pattern. Their
contribution to architecture consists of triumphal arches, amphitheatres,
aqueducts, bridges, victory memorial monuments, pantheons, votive columns etc.
The Romans
covered the Mediterranean world with colossal edifices, all built in record
time. This was possible due to the use of cement, which they learnt from Asia
Minor. They perfected its use to such a point that they are rightly called its
re-inventors. Their cement was a mixture of lime, sand and clay.
The Romans made significant progress in the extension of the
principles of the arch and the vault to the dome. The arch had been timidly
attempted by the Egyptians, the Babylonians, the classical Greeks and the
Etruscans. The Romans improved their techniques and built massive bridges were
rows of arches that supported the vaults or dome structures above them. The
average houses in Rome had three storeys and many had even six storeys.
Roman Technology of Roads
Roman roads comprised the most extensive and durable highway
system known to the ancient world. They radiated from Rome in all directions,
giving rise to the saying “All roads lead to Rome”. The network of roads
that linked all areas of the empire has been estimated at 90,000 km.
Exclusive
of the 2,00,000 km., of secondary roads. These roads ran straight as an
arrow, cutting through mountains and bridging over marshes and rivers. The roads
were solid masonry structures with layers of large stones, gravel and even
mortar.
They were slightly on vex, flanked by drainage ditches. Being maintenance-free, some of them have survived more or less till the present times. Throughout
the empire, the main roads were provided with milestones at regular intervals. Their
other engineering feats included huge tunnels, dikes, aqueducts, harbours, lighthouses, a supply of river water to houses through terra-cotta pipes and a heating
system for the baths.
Rome's technology of war
Vegeoius, a Roman military writer, “He who deserves peace should prepare for war”. This was the
keystone of the Roman foreign policy. They borrowed weapons and war tactics
from the Greeks, the Carthaginians, and the Spanish. They had many machines of
war like the ballista, catapult, and the scorpion or Onager. For battering they
used pointed beams that could punch holes in the walls. They constructed
emergency wooden bridges and assault towers even in the thick of the enemy
attack.
Roman technology of art
The floor
mosaic was the most fully developed art technique by the Romans. Instead of
making any innovation in the wall painting, they used mosaic far walls too. Born
in the Orient and known to the Egyptians and Greeks this art attained its
fullness in the Roman hands; with precious stones, marble and glasses of
various colours. In the field of pottery, they produced pots and vases with
relief decoration.
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technology