In the world Roman contribution to technology

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.