Roman Engineering

The Romans have been known for their remarkable skill at building and engineering, even since the earliest times. They made bridges across the Tiber River. They constucted a great system of water distribution with aqueducts. The Romans built hundreds of mile of aqueducts that supplied Rome with a fresh water supply. They were also of the few to have sewers to drain the Forum so that the cities were cleaner and healthier. As Rome grew, developed, and conquered, they created roadways across the Empire, which were an amazing feat at the time.
The military engineers and Rome were skilled surveyors that designed numerous expansive projects in the areas that the troops aided in building. A great network of roads, bridges, and canals were built. Also fortified camps, frontier walls, arches, baths, and temples were built.

Emperor Augustus boasted that he found a city of stone and left it a city of marble. At the end of his reign, a good amount of Rome's buildings were of marble. Romans made a great use of concrete, and eventually used waterproof concrete.

The Romans made many advancements in engineering and were the head of the breakthroughs in engineering at the time.

The Coliseum and it's Architecture

The Coliseum is the largest and most widely known Roman amphitheater. It was originally called the Flavian Amphitheater. The Coliseum was started by Emperor Vespasian and was dedicated by his son, Titus. Vespasian's younger son succeeded Titus and under his rule the Coliseum was completed. The Coliseum was elliptical and had 4 stories. The Coliseum utilized over 240 arches, travertine posts, and columns. The seating capacity was believed to be over 50,000. The area inside the Coliseum was a pit surrounded by high walls, which were used to protect the crowd from the wild animals that were often used in the arena. The pit had a sand covered floor, which rested above substructures where animal dens, elevators, and other mechanisms have been found. Gladiators and animals fought in the arena (for more information on gladiators, see Roman Gladiator post). Combat between gladiators was abolished in 404 A.D. and the last recorded fight betwen animals was held in 523 A.D.

Over the years natural disasters affected the Coliseum and it had been restored by the Romans a few times. In 1995 a major restoration occurred so the structure would hold and more of the Coliseum would be open to the public.