I had to share this video.... for some of you who's been to Japan or know of the "game" Pachinko
Truly hilarious... Oh Nicolas Cage... you make my day
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Roman Innovations in Art History
Below is a paper I wrote recently addressing the following question in art history:
How did Roman engineering innovations contribute to the grandeur of the once great Roman civilization?
An area must be addressed first in order to answer the question of how engineering innovations contributed to the grandeur of the once great Roman civilization. The Roman Empire’s grandeur is evident in its long lasting power, vast extent across three continents, and influence in language, religion, architecture, philosophy and other arts around the world even to this day. The most noteworthy is the invention of concrete which led to innovations in Roman architecture and other social additions to Roman life. However, at the same time, more sophisticated weapons were also invented that promoted more successful military conquests, and in turn led to the expansion of the empire.
The discovery of concrete could be considered purely accidental. The development of concrete was a direct consequence of the fact that large areas of western Italy had recently been exposed to volcanic activity. The builders of Roman Republic “discovered, by accident [at first] and subsequently by cautious experiment, was that certain types of local ‘sand,’ known today as pozzolana, were capable of producing a [lime] mortar far stronger than that produced by other ordinary sands. ” (Ward-Perkins 66) In actuality, the pozzolana was not sand at all but a volcanic deposit. It gave the builders at the time several valuable properties including its strength and the unusual ability to set under water. This characteristic alone made it the unrivaled material for bridges and other water-works. This new medium also required proportionately less lime than ordinary sands, resulting in a much cheaper material.
Concrete was quickly adopted by builders across the Roman Empire enabling the construction of larger domes and taller buildings, amphitheaters and roman baths, as well as aqueducts, roads and bridges everywhere.
Much of the Roman structures we see standing today consist of arches and vaulted ceilings. Evidence of the earliest arches were found in both Mycenaean and Etruscan civilizations. The earliest Etruscan arches are corbelled ones, each course of stone projecting beyond the one below until they meet in the center at the keystone. The best preserved example is in the gateway at Volterra called Porta all’Arco. (West 7) The corbelled arch is also seen in the late Mycenaean citadel evident in the Lion Gate and the beehive vaulting of the Treasury of Atreus, both dating back to 1300-1250 BCE. (Kleiner 98)
The arch also solved a common construction problem often found in early Roman Empire: with the column and lintel method it was considered a major challenge for the Hellenistic builders to locate horizontal lintel stones strong enough to carry the load of the weight between the columns; however, in Greece these stones were readily available. A solution was discovered that they could narrow the span of the lintel by widening the vertical columns with brick or stone so that the columns became a “rectangular piers with engaged half-columns.” (Ward-Perkins 27) After this, it was only a short step away from adding the arch in place of the lintel stone.
Not long after the arch was perfected, the Roman builders found many of its qualities useful especially for its waterproof characteristics; the aqueduct is an example of this application. One of the most well known aqueducts built during the Roman Empire is the Pont du Gard in Nîmes, France. In antiquity, the people who crowded the forum, the market halls, the baths, the theater and the circus needed enormous amounts of water every day. The local Nemausus’s spring was insufficient to fulfill such a great need so two other sources needed to be tapped. Both rivers were almost thirty miles north of the city, thus a conduit had to be built. (Graf 30) The Pont du Gard stretched to a height of 150 feet with three rows of arches laid one on top of the other. The water is carried on the very top channel covered by stone slabs. During the Middle Ages, the lowest arches also carried pilgrims across the river Gard on their way to Santiago de Compostela. After this engineering feat, it was said that “only in the nineteenth century would the western world again be capable of providing a water supply comparable to that achieved in antiquity.” (Graf 31)
Another application of the arch technology is in bridge building. Roman bridges were among the first long lasting bridges built, with the arch as its basic structure. Earlier bridges were made from stone but later the use of concrete became more prominent. An example is the oldest Roman stone bridge in Rome: the Pans Aemilius, later named Ponte Rotto. Furthermore, another example is Trajan's bridge over the lower Danube which remained for over a millennium the longest and biggest bridge to have been built both in terms of overall and span length.
Bridges were not only used to cross a river, the Romans used it for military gains as well. An engineering feat worthy of mention is Caesar's bridge across the Rhine during the conquest of Gaul. Caesar wanted to secure the eastern border of the new provinces against Germanic tribes by building a temporary bridge over the Rhine River instead of simply boating across. He did this to demonstrate the power and strength of the Roman Empire. A machine was designed to ram large timber spikes into the bottom of the river by winching up a large stone and releasing it, and thus driving the spikes into the riverbed. Multiple segments of this timber piling were linked to form the basic structure of the temporary bridge. After this bridge was constructed in only ten days, over 40,000 soldiers marched over it across the Rhine. With this strategy, Caesar was not only able to secure the eastern border of Gaul, but he also demonstrated that Roman power could cross the Rhine at will; henceforth, for the next few centuries significant Germanic incursions across the Rhine were halted.
Another engineering innovation developed for military use that originated from the Romans was the Ballista. The Ballista was essentially a projectile launcher capable of shooting arrows, bolts and stones at the enemy. It became a prized weapon in the Roman Empire due to its superior accuracy and range. Its design was also flexible in that it could compromise its accuracy for range; it was capable of striking at a maximum distance of 500 yards. The Ballista was used by Julius Caesar on both of his campaigns in Britain and during his conquest of Gaul. Later modifications enabled smaller and more mobile versions of the Ballista to be carried on soldier’s shoulders that were made from metal instead of wood. Others created even grander versions of the Ballista capable of projecting larger stones and bolts of up to 300 pounds; these were mounted on the ground around the outer perimeters of cities and towns for defense in battles. (“The Roman Weapon”)
Roads were also constructed throughout the Roman Empire to enhance military power as well as encourage trade between cities within the empire. The roads were built primarily for military traffic, although also used for economic trade; some routes were closed to wagons to preserve their military value. At one time the Roman road network exceeds 53,000 miles. (“Roman Technology”) This web of roads allowed the remotest regions of the empire to be able to trade on a grand scale. Similar to modern day rest areas, the Romans also had refreshment stations maintained by the government at regular intervals along the roads to serve troops and travelers. These stops along the way made long journeys across the empire more convenient and remote cities more accessible.
The Roman road system was considered to be the most advanced up until the 19th century. The construction of these roads was truly innovative with the help of concrete. A pit was dug first along the length of the intended path, and then filled with rocks, gravel or sand. After this, a layer of concrete was applied on top and paved with polygonal rock slabs. (“Roman Technology”) The roads were also flood-resistant, had built-in horse-leash ties, as well as raised platforms between the wagon wheel tracks for pedestrian crossing when roads were flooded. After the fall of the Roman Empire the roads were still in use for the next millennium.
As military power increased throughout the empire, Romans began to enjoy more comforts at home. Towns were flourishing and cities were blooming while the Roman Empire expanded beyond the Mediterranean and began spreading into Asia Minor and Africa. Major cities like Rome and Pompeii experienced the construction of large monuments, entertainment theaters, public baths and meeting halls.
An amphitheater is the Roman structure that resembles two Greek theaters adjoined together; it literally means “double theater”. Since the Greek theaters were situated on natural hillsides, the Roman amphitheater needed supports to be built for its continuous elliptical seating area; this required the building of an artificial mountain. “Only concrete, unknown to the Greeks, was capable of such a job.” (Kleiner 256) Furthermore, the construction of such an amphitheater needed to consider environmental noise levels at the site, accessibility for the performers, and the hearing and viewing conditions for the audience. (Cavanaugh 153) The Pompeii Amphitheater is the “earliest such structure known and could seat some 20,000 spectators—more than the entire population of the town even a century and a half after it was built!” (Kleiner 256) Concrete barrel vaults form a giant wall that holds up the “mountain” and the stone seats. Barrel vaults also form the tunnels leading to the arena, where bloody battales were fought by gladiators and wild animals. The violent and gory Roman amphitheater “stands in sharp contrast, both architecturally and functionally, to the Greek theater, home of refined performances of comedies and tragedies.” (Kleiner 256)
The Colosseum is another example of such an amphitheater. Besides its gargantuan size, the Colosseum provides evidence for Roman engineering and construction innovations. The use of concrete was crucial to the structure of the Colosseum, although most limited to the vaults and uppermost tiers of seating where there was little support from the outer walls. The careful selection of material and unyielding foundation provided the successful construction of this enormous structure. With its “outer walls towering more than 150-feet high, it became the prototype for all future arenas for spectator sports… Inside, an ingenious system of stairways and entrances allowed spectators to access the galleries directly and depart equally swiftly.”(Graf 32) During bad weather or on hot summer days sailors would wield an enormous canvas over the top of the Colosseum to provide comfort for the audience, which was supported on 240 poles.
Through the invention of concrete and the innovation of the arch, more and more aqueducts began to spring up connecting cities to more dependable sources of water. Once water became readily available in the towns and cities across the Roman Empire, people began to indulge in the pleasures of cleanliness. Public baths also began to spring up everywhere. Roman baths first took “shape in the second century BCE in Campania. Initially they may have been served by hot springs, but this very soon developed into an artificial, wood-fired heating system whereby the hot air circulated beneath concrete floors… [and] upward[s] through hollow jacketing in the walls, to be discharged through vents in the roof.”(Ward-Perkins 82) The system was essentially a copy of the Turkish bath, where “rooms of graduated heat were supplied with baths of hot or cold water.”(Ward-Perkins 82)
A noteworthy public bath is exemplified by the Bath of Caracalla where the warm water gushed from gigantic spouts down marble steps and over painted tiles. The water consumed here was tremendous, almost twice the amount of water stored in the reservoirs of ordinary royal bathhouses. Under the dome ceilings and various varieties of vaulting, bathers could not only cleanse comfortably but also enjoy other luxuries of public life. Besides halls for swimming and warm-air, there were “also rooms for sports and gymnastics, for masseurs and hairdressers, for lectures and meetings—even libraries and shops. Everyone used the baths. As an institution for the promotion of public health and education, they had become an indispensable part of public life in Rome.” (Graf 36)
Throughout the Roman Empire numerous cities, towns, ports were acquired through conquests and battles. And with the rapid increase in population as a result of readily available water, city planning had to be considered seriously. Unlike Rome, most Roman cities were carefully planned and built on a grid style enclosed by a city wall. Examples typical of this can be seen in the Augustan towns of Turin and Aosta with its rectilinear street system. Most towns had a pair of wide intersecting main streets running north-south and east-west. At the center was always the town square or forum where houses government official buildings and hosts markets and meeting places. (West 13) The outer wall served both as a city border as well as a major defense against foreign invasions, ensuring the safety of the city’s inhabitants.
In cities like Pompeii, where the city enjoyed a flourishing economy brought along by sea trade, people lived in Roman Houses centered on an atrium and inner courtyard. These Pompeii private houses could be entered through a small narrow foyer that opened up to the half open-aired atrium. The square opening in the roof allowed both air and light into the structure as well as rain water to collect in a basin underneath. (Kleiner 257) After the atrium is a colonnaded courtyard or peristyle surrounded by bedrooms and living quarters. This typical setup of the Roman town home is very inner focused with no outwardly-looking windows, thus blocking out the noise and dust from the street. (West 25)
Moreover, as population increased in cities, the demand for more economical living gave rise to tenements, as in the case of the port city Ostia. Versus the lavish and spacious private Roman house, most people in the city stayed in tenement buildings similar to modern day low-rise apartments. Although these did not have heating or private bathrooms, it provided an economical way for everyday people to provide a decent roof over his/her family. In the second century CE, tenement building, which had been of such questionable quality before, was improved. In the city of Ostia, almost eighty house-blocks or insulae have now been uncovered, with 364 structures and 205 apartment houses.” (Grant 38)
These tenements were usually constructed of unfaced brick with facades painted red or yellow. There were also in some blocks built-out balconies resting upon projecting wooden beams or corbels of stone or concrete. Some had functional balconies, and others purely decorative. Most Ostian tenements had a central courtyard and the ground floors were mostly occupied of small shops. The individual apartments could be reached via stairs either from the inner courtyard or outside. (Kleiner 282) The Ostian insulae were limited to 65 feet in height and mostly consisted of three or four floors. Numerous rows of glass windows facing both the street and inner courtyard provided light and air, making these apartments less inward-looking than the old Pompeian Roman houses. This was the “first great social architecture, showing how houses as well as public monuments could be constructed with dignity for the needs of almost all ranks of a great organized society.” (Grant 40)
Besides good city planning, an important invention helped to further provide comfort into the homes of roman citizens. The people in the city of Phoenicia, now modern Lebanon, discovered that glasswork could be formed by affixing molten glass to the end of a hollow stick and blowing it like a bubble. By blowing into the stick the molten glass would deform, and with practice could produce finished glass products. This was the first time in history that “a worker could mass-produce dozens of objects a day with glassblowing techniques… [and soon] anyone was able to own glass.” (“Glassblowing Discovered”) After this innovative discovery, the Romans were able to further improve the technique of glass making by producing large panes of flat window glass to be placed in tenements, Roman homes, and public buildings. Homes were able to retain better heat in the winter and maintain cool in the hot summer months; thus provided further comfort to the citizens of the vast expanding Roman Empire. (“Roman Luxury Glass”)
Another Roman invention that helped to maintain and stabilize the already enormous Roman Empire was the Roman Mill. The Romans used both fixed and floating water wheels while bringing water power to other provinces within the Roman Empire. The Greeks originally used water wheels with a horizontal wheel and vertical shaft, a Roman Mill consists of a vertical wheel on a horizontal shaft. The Greek Mill could only be useful with high water velocities and small millstones. The Romans revamped this simple idea by introducing a much more complicated design requiring gears to transmit the power from a shaft with a horizontal axis to one with a vertical axis. This new mill was much more efficient than the older Greek design; its sophistication is evident in the 2nd century archeological site of Barbegal in southern France. The site has been described as "the greatest known concentration of mechanical power in the ancient world." (Greene 39) This watermill system has 16 water wheels powering an equal number of flour mills, it is estimated that it could produce 4.5 tons of flour in a day, enough bread to feed 12,500 people, the population of the town at the time. (Graf 21)
Furthermore, up until about 50 BCE most the technique of glassmaking was tedious and utilized the method of casting. Molds needed to be created and cores need to be formed, then refinements were needed in the final product to cut away the excess pieces resulting from the casting process. This not only consumed a lot of time to create one glass piece, but also required multiple steps and extra material to make the final product. The situation finally changed with the invention of glassblowing techniques.
In summary, the invention of concrete did not alone contribute to the grandeur of the Roman Empire, but marked the beginning of a period of innovation and invention. The adaptation of concrete as a building material led to the invention of aqueducts, public baths, large vaults and amphitheaters across the empire. Bridges and roads provided easy accessibility to even the furthest reaches of the empire, while watermills and aqueducts at home supplied food and water to the ever-increasing population of cities and towns. Strategic city planning of towns, private homes, and tenements, along with the invention of glass windows, provided further comfort to the citizen of the Roman Empire. Engineering advancements in military weaponry assisted in acquiring new territories and defending existing land. Roman life became more comfortable at home as the empire continue to expand towards. In brief, all these engineering feats took part in creating the Roman Empire with its lasting magnificence and grandeur.
Cited Works
How did Roman engineering innovations contribute to the grandeur of the once great Roman civilization?
An area must be addressed first in order to answer the question of how engineering innovations contributed to the grandeur of the once great Roman civilization. The Roman Empire’s grandeur is evident in its long lasting power, vast extent across three continents, and influence in language, religion, architecture, philosophy and other arts around the world even to this day. The most noteworthy is the invention of concrete which led to innovations in Roman architecture and other social additions to Roman life. However, at the same time, more sophisticated weapons were also invented that promoted more successful military conquests, and in turn led to the expansion of the empire.
The discovery of concrete could be considered purely accidental. The development of concrete was a direct consequence of the fact that large areas of western Italy had recently been exposed to volcanic activity. The builders of Roman Republic “discovered, by accident [at first] and subsequently by cautious experiment, was that certain types of local ‘sand,’ known today as pozzolana, were capable of producing a [lime] mortar far stronger than that produced by other ordinary sands. ” (Ward-Perkins 66) In actuality, the pozzolana was not sand at all but a volcanic deposit. It gave the builders at the time several valuable properties including its strength and the unusual ability to set under water. This characteristic alone made it the unrivaled material for bridges and other water-works. This new medium also required proportionately less lime than ordinary sands, resulting in a much cheaper material.
Concrete was quickly adopted by builders across the Roman Empire enabling the construction of larger domes and taller buildings, amphitheaters and roman baths, as well as aqueducts, roads and bridges everywhere.
Much of the Roman structures we see standing today consist of arches and vaulted ceilings. Evidence of the earliest arches were found in both Mycenaean and Etruscan civilizations. The earliest Etruscan arches are corbelled ones, each course of stone projecting beyond the one below until they meet in the center at the keystone. The best preserved example is in the gateway at Volterra called Porta all’Arco. (West 7) The corbelled arch is also seen in the late Mycenaean citadel evident in the Lion Gate and the beehive vaulting of the Treasury of Atreus, both dating back to 1300-1250 BCE. (Kleiner 98)
The arch also solved a common construction problem often found in early Roman Empire: with the column and lintel method it was considered a major challenge for the Hellenistic builders to locate horizontal lintel stones strong enough to carry the load of the weight between the columns; however, in Greece these stones were readily available. A solution was discovered that they could narrow the span of the lintel by widening the vertical columns with brick or stone so that the columns became a “rectangular piers with engaged half-columns.” (Ward-Perkins 27) After this, it was only a short step away from adding the arch in place of the lintel stone.
Not long after the arch was perfected, the Roman builders found many of its qualities useful especially for its waterproof characteristics; the aqueduct is an example of this application. One of the most well known aqueducts built during the Roman Empire is the Pont du Gard in Nîmes, France. In antiquity, the people who crowded the forum, the market halls, the baths, the theater and the circus needed enormous amounts of water every day. The local Nemausus’s spring was insufficient to fulfill such a great need so two other sources needed to be tapped. Both rivers were almost thirty miles north of the city, thus a conduit had to be built. (Graf 30) The Pont du Gard stretched to a height of 150 feet with three rows of arches laid one on top of the other. The water is carried on the very top channel covered by stone slabs. During the Middle Ages, the lowest arches also carried pilgrims across the river Gard on their way to Santiago de Compostela. After this engineering feat, it was said that “only in the nineteenth century would the western world again be capable of providing a water supply comparable to that achieved in antiquity.” (Graf 31)
Another application of the arch technology is in bridge building. Roman bridges were among the first long lasting bridges built, with the arch as its basic structure. Earlier bridges were made from stone but later the use of concrete became more prominent. An example is the oldest Roman stone bridge in Rome: the Pans Aemilius, later named Ponte Rotto. Furthermore, another example is Trajan's bridge over the lower Danube which remained for over a millennium the longest and biggest bridge to have been built both in terms of overall and span length.
Bridges were not only used to cross a river, the Romans used it for military gains as well. An engineering feat worthy of mention is Caesar's bridge across the Rhine during the conquest of Gaul. Caesar wanted to secure the eastern border of the new provinces against Germanic tribes by building a temporary bridge over the Rhine River instead of simply boating across. He did this to demonstrate the power and strength of the Roman Empire. A machine was designed to ram large timber spikes into the bottom of the river by winching up a large stone and releasing it, and thus driving the spikes into the riverbed. Multiple segments of this timber piling were linked to form the basic structure of the temporary bridge. After this bridge was constructed in only ten days, over 40,000 soldiers marched over it across the Rhine. With this strategy, Caesar was not only able to secure the eastern border of Gaul, but he also demonstrated that Roman power could cross the Rhine at will; henceforth, for the next few centuries significant Germanic incursions across the Rhine were halted.
Another engineering innovation developed for military use that originated from the Romans was the Ballista. The Ballista was essentially a projectile launcher capable of shooting arrows, bolts and stones at the enemy. It became a prized weapon in the Roman Empire due to its superior accuracy and range. Its design was also flexible in that it could compromise its accuracy for range; it was capable of striking at a maximum distance of 500 yards. The Ballista was used by Julius Caesar on both of his campaigns in Britain and during his conquest of Gaul. Later modifications enabled smaller and more mobile versions of the Ballista to be carried on soldier’s shoulders that were made from metal instead of wood. Others created even grander versions of the Ballista capable of projecting larger stones and bolts of up to 300 pounds; these were mounted on the ground around the outer perimeters of cities and towns for defense in battles. (“The Roman Weapon”)
Roads were also constructed throughout the Roman Empire to enhance military power as well as encourage trade between cities within the empire. The roads were built primarily for military traffic, although also used for economic trade; some routes were closed to wagons to preserve their military value. At one time the Roman road network exceeds 53,000 miles. (“Roman Technology”) This web of roads allowed the remotest regions of the empire to be able to trade on a grand scale. Similar to modern day rest areas, the Romans also had refreshment stations maintained by the government at regular intervals along the roads to serve troops and travelers. These stops along the way made long journeys across the empire more convenient and remote cities more accessible.
The Roman road system was considered to be the most advanced up until the 19th century. The construction of these roads was truly innovative with the help of concrete. A pit was dug first along the length of the intended path, and then filled with rocks, gravel or sand. After this, a layer of concrete was applied on top and paved with polygonal rock slabs. (“Roman Technology”) The roads were also flood-resistant, had built-in horse-leash ties, as well as raised platforms between the wagon wheel tracks for pedestrian crossing when roads were flooded. After the fall of the Roman Empire the roads were still in use for the next millennium.
As military power increased throughout the empire, Romans began to enjoy more comforts at home. Towns were flourishing and cities were blooming while the Roman Empire expanded beyond the Mediterranean and began spreading into Asia Minor and Africa. Major cities like Rome and Pompeii experienced the construction of large monuments, entertainment theaters, public baths and meeting halls.
An amphitheater is the Roman structure that resembles two Greek theaters adjoined together; it literally means “double theater”. Since the Greek theaters were situated on natural hillsides, the Roman amphitheater needed supports to be built for its continuous elliptical seating area; this required the building of an artificial mountain. “Only concrete, unknown to the Greeks, was capable of such a job.” (Kleiner 256) Furthermore, the construction of such an amphitheater needed to consider environmental noise levels at the site, accessibility for the performers, and the hearing and viewing conditions for the audience. (Cavanaugh 153) The Pompeii Amphitheater is the “earliest such structure known and could seat some 20,000 spectators—more than the entire population of the town even a century and a half after it was built!” (Kleiner 256) Concrete barrel vaults form a giant wall that holds up the “mountain” and the stone seats. Barrel vaults also form the tunnels leading to the arena, where bloody battales were fought by gladiators and wild animals. The violent and gory Roman amphitheater “stands in sharp contrast, both architecturally and functionally, to the Greek theater, home of refined performances of comedies and tragedies.” (Kleiner 256)
The Colosseum is another example of such an amphitheater. Besides its gargantuan size, the Colosseum provides evidence for Roman engineering and construction innovations. The use of concrete was crucial to the structure of the Colosseum, although most limited to the vaults and uppermost tiers of seating where there was little support from the outer walls. The careful selection of material and unyielding foundation provided the successful construction of this enormous structure. With its “outer walls towering more than 150-feet high, it became the prototype for all future arenas for spectator sports… Inside, an ingenious system of stairways and entrances allowed spectators to access the galleries directly and depart equally swiftly.”(Graf 32) During bad weather or on hot summer days sailors would wield an enormous canvas over the top of the Colosseum to provide comfort for the audience, which was supported on 240 poles.
Through the invention of concrete and the innovation of the arch, more and more aqueducts began to spring up connecting cities to more dependable sources of water. Once water became readily available in the towns and cities across the Roman Empire, people began to indulge in the pleasures of cleanliness. Public baths also began to spring up everywhere. Roman baths first took “shape in the second century BCE in Campania. Initially they may have been served by hot springs, but this very soon developed into an artificial, wood-fired heating system whereby the hot air circulated beneath concrete floors… [and] upward[s] through hollow jacketing in the walls, to be discharged through vents in the roof.”(Ward-Perkins 82) The system was essentially a copy of the Turkish bath, where “rooms of graduated heat were supplied with baths of hot or cold water.”(Ward-Perkins 82)
A noteworthy public bath is exemplified by the Bath of Caracalla where the warm water gushed from gigantic spouts down marble steps and over painted tiles. The water consumed here was tremendous, almost twice the amount of water stored in the reservoirs of ordinary royal bathhouses. Under the dome ceilings and various varieties of vaulting, bathers could not only cleanse comfortably but also enjoy other luxuries of public life. Besides halls for swimming and warm-air, there were “also rooms for sports and gymnastics, for masseurs and hairdressers, for lectures and meetings—even libraries and shops. Everyone used the baths. As an institution for the promotion of public health and education, they had become an indispensable part of public life in Rome.” (Graf 36)
Throughout the Roman Empire numerous cities, towns, ports were acquired through conquests and battles. And with the rapid increase in population as a result of readily available water, city planning had to be considered seriously. Unlike Rome, most Roman cities were carefully planned and built on a grid style enclosed by a city wall. Examples typical of this can be seen in the Augustan towns of Turin and Aosta with its rectilinear street system. Most towns had a pair of wide intersecting main streets running north-south and east-west. At the center was always the town square or forum where houses government official buildings and hosts markets and meeting places. (West 13) The outer wall served both as a city border as well as a major defense against foreign invasions, ensuring the safety of the city’s inhabitants.
In cities like Pompeii, where the city enjoyed a flourishing economy brought along by sea trade, people lived in Roman Houses centered on an atrium and inner courtyard. These Pompeii private houses could be entered through a small narrow foyer that opened up to the half open-aired atrium. The square opening in the roof allowed both air and light into the structure as well as rain water to collect in a basin underneath. (Kleiner 257) After the atrium is a colonnaded courtyard or peristyle surrounded by bedrooms and living quarters. This typical setup of the Roman town home is very inner focused with no outwardly-looking windows, thus blocking out the noise and dust from the street. (West 25)
Moreover, as population increased in cities, the demand for more economical living gave rise to tenements, as in the case of the port city Ostia. Versus the lavish and spacious private Roman house, most people in the city stayed in tenement buildings similar to modern day low-rise apartments. Although these did not have heating or private bathrooms, it provided an economical way for everyday people to provide a decent roof over his/her family. In the second century CE, tenement building, which had been of such questionable quality before, was improved. In the city of Ostia, almost eighty house-blocks or insulae have now been uncovered, with 364 structures and 205 apartment houses.” (Grant 38)
These tenements were usually constructed of unfaced brick with facades painted red or yellow. There were also in some blocks built-out balconies resting upon projecting wooden beams or corbels of stone or concrete. Some had functional balconies, and others purely decorative. Most Ostian tenements had a central courtyard and the ground floors were mostly occupied of small shops. The individual apartments could be reached via stairs either from the inner courtyard or outside. (Kleiner 282) The Ostian insulae were limited to 65 feet in height and mostly consisted of three or four floors. Numerous rows of glass windows facing both the street and inner courtyard provided light and air, making these apartments less inward-looking than the old Pompeian Roman houses. This was the “first great social architecture, showing how houses as well as public monuments could be constructed with dignity for the needs of almost all ranks of a great organized society.” (Grant 40)
Besides good city planning, an important invention helped to further provide comfort into the homes of roman citizens. The people in the city of Phoenicia, now modern Lebanon, discovered that glasswork could be formed by affixing molten glass to the end of a hollow stick and blowing it like a bubble. By blowing into the stick the molten glass would deform, and with practice could produce finished glass products. This was the first time in history that “a worker could mass-produce dozens of objects a day with glassblowing techniques… [and soon] anyone was able to own glass.” (“Glassblowing Discovered”) After this innovative discovery, the Romans were able to further improve the technique of glass making by producing large panes of flat window glass to be placed in tenements, Roman homes, and public buildings. Homes were able to retain better heat in the winter and maintain cool in the hot summer months; thus provided further comfort to the citizens of the vast expanding Roman Empire. (“Roman Luxury Glass”)
Another Roman invention that helped to maintain and stabilize the already enormous Roman Empire was the Roman Mill. The Romans used both fixed and floating water wheels while bringing water power to other provinces within the Roman Empire. The Greeks originally used water wheels with a horizontal wheel and vertical shaft, a Roman Mill consists of a vertical wheel on a horizontal shaft. The Greek Mill could only be useful with high water velocities and small millstones. The Romans revamped this simple idea by introducing a much more complicated design requiring gears to transmit the power from a shaft with a horizontal axis to one with a vertical axis. This new mill was much more efficient than the older Greek design; its sophistication is evident in the 2nd century archeological site of Barbegal in southern France. The site has been described as "the greatest known concentration of mechanical power in the ancient world." (Greene 39) This watermill system has 16 water wheels powering an equal number of flour mills, it is estimated that it could produce 4.5 tons of flour in a day, enough bread to feed 12,500 people, the population of the town at the time. (Graf 21)
Furthermore, up until about 50 BCE most the technique of glassmaking was tedious and utilized the method of casting. Molds needed to be created and cores need to be formed, then refinements were needed in the final product to cut away the excess pieces resulting from the casting process. This not only consumed a lot of time to create one glass piece, but also required multiple steps and extra material to make the final product. The situation finally changed with the invention of glassblowing techniques.
In summary, the invention of concrete did not alone contribute to the grandeur of the Roman Empire, but marked the beginning of a period of innovation and invention. The adaptation of concrete as a building material led to the invention of aqueducts, public baths, large vaults and amphitheaters across the empire. Bridges and roads provided easy accessibility to even the furthest reaches of the empire, while watermills and aqueducts at home supplied food and water to the ever-increasing population of cities and towns. Strategic city planning of towns, private homes, and tenements, along with the invention of glass windows, provided further comfort to the citizen of the Roman Empire. Engineering advancements in military weaponry assisted in acquiring new territories and defending existing land. Roman life became more comfortable at home as the empire continue to expand towards. In brief, all these engineering feats took part in creating the Roman Empire with its lasting magnificence and grandeur.
Cited Works
- Cavanaugh, William J. and Joseph A. Wilkes., ed. Architectural Acoustics: Principles and Practice. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1999.
- Glassblowing Discovered, Source on Glass, Corning Museum of Glass, n.d., http://www.cmog.org/dynamic.aspx?id=5580, 25 March 2009.
- Graf, Bernhard and Klaus Reichold. Buildings that Changed the World. Trans. Jacqueline Guigui-Stolberg and Mariana Schroeder. New York: Prestel Verlag, 1999.
- Grant, Michael. Art in the Roman Empire. London: Routledge, 1994.
- Greene, Kevin, Technological Innovation and Economic Progress in the Ancient World: M.I. Finley Re-Considered, The Economic History Review, New Series, Vol. 53, No. 1.
- Kleiner, Fred S. and Christin J. Mamiya. Gardner’s Art Through the Ages. 12th Ed. Vol. 1. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, a division of Thomson Learning, Inc., 2005.
- Roman Luxury Glass/Cage Cup, Source on Glass, Corning Museum of Glass, n.d., http://www.cmog.org/dynamic.aspx?id=5582, 13 March 2009.
- Roman Technology, Wikipedia, n.d., http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_technology, 13 March 2009.
- The Roman Weapon, Wikipedia, n.d., http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballista#The_Roman_Weapon, 25 March 2009.
- Ward-Perkins, John B. Roman Architecture. Milan, Italy: Electa S.p.A., 1979.
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Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Friday, March 6, 2009
The French Ambassadors and the skull
The most awesomest thing I saw all week was this strikingly realistic painting by Hans Holbein the Younger. Besides all the symbolism presented by all the globes and time keeping pieces as well as the melancholic broken string of the lute, the best part about this painting is that THING on the floor stretched across between Jean de Dinteville (guy with the fur coat on left) and Georges de Selve (bishop to the right). It's an anamorphic image!!!
can you make out what it is? (hint: view from different angles & look at ::title::) Isn't it awesome?
can you make out what it is? (hint: view from different angles & look at ::title::) Isn't it awesome?
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