- By 300 A.D, Rome had 28 libraries, 46,602 private houses and 144 pubilc toilets.
- The Cloaca Maxima ( main sewer ) was so big that you could along it in a boat.
- Hadrian's Wall took seven years to build, and used 770,000 cubic metres of stone.
- Roman soldiers had to pay for their own food and cook it themselves.
- The dome of the Pamtheon is 43 metres high and weighs more than 5000 tonnes.
- The Roman people invented roman numbers.
- The
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Facts of Roman Civilization
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Clothes
Workers wore cloth they could move easily in-loose tunic of cheap undyed wool or linen cloth. The family wore longer tunic made from expensive cloth, bleached in white or colored.
Entertainment
Popular pastimes included playing games, such as boardgames and dice, or visiting a bath house. Many large bath houses had gymnasia where people could exersise, as well as libraries, reading rooms,and snack bars. People also enjoyed wacthing plays and chariot races. Anong the most popular spectater sports were fights and shows involving gladiators and wild animals, which were staged in specially constructed buildings called amphitheatres. These games were often put on to mark a special event, such as a military victory, and might last for several days.
Art and Archiecture
The Romens made fine pottery, delicate, jewellery, colorful mosaics, and realistic sculptures. they were also skilled in engineers and builders. Many of thier buildings, constructed from stone, brick, marble, and a kind of concrete, are still standing today. They include temples, theatres, bridges, and aqueducts ( Bridges built to carry water).
ROMAN CIVILIZATION
you are about to go on the trip of a lifetime you are travelling to the city of ancient rome.
Abacus, Roman Portable.
Alum The production of alum (KAl(SO4)2.12H2O) from alunite (KAl3(SO4)2.(OH)6) is archaeologically attested on the island Lesbos[7]. This site was abandoned in the 7th century but dates back at least to the 2nd century AD.
Amphitheatre See e.g. Colosseum.
Arch, monumental
Bath, monumental public (Thermae) See e.g. Baths of Diocletian
Book (Codex) First mentioned by Martial in the 1st C. AD. Held many advantages over the scroll.
Brass The Romans had enough understanding of zinc to produce a brass denomination coinage; see sestertius.
Bridge, true arch See e.g. Roman bridge in Chaves or the Severan Bridge.
Bridge, segmental arch More than a dozen Roman bridges are known to feature segmental (=flat) arches. A prominent example was Trajan's bridge over the Danube, a lesser known the extant Limyra Bridge in Lycia
Bridge, pointed arch Possibly the earliest known bridge featuring a pointed arch is the 5-6th century AD Karamagara Bridge[8]
Cameos Probably a Hellenistic innovation e.g. Cup of the Ptolemies but taken up by the Emperors e.g. Gemma Augustea, Gemma Claudia etc.
Cast Iron Recently archaeologically detected in the Val Gabbia in northern Lombardy from the 5th and 6th centuries AD.[9] This technically interesting innovation appears to have had little economic impact. But archaeologists may have failed to recognize the distinctive slag, so the date and location of this innovation may be revised.
Cement
Concrete
Pozzolana variety
Crank and connecting rod Found in several water-powered saw mills dating from the late 3rd (Hierapolis sawmill) to 6th century AD (at Ephesus respectively Gerasa).[2]
Crane, treadwheel
Dam, Arch[10] Currently best attested for the dam at Glanum, France dated ca. 20 BC.[11] The structure has entirely disappeared. Its existence attested from the cuts into the rock on either side to key in the dam wall, which was 14.7 metres high, 3.9m thick at base narrowing to 2.96m at the top. Earliest description of arch action in such types of dam by Procopius around 560 AD, the Dara Dam[12]
Dam, Arch-gravity Examples include curved dams at Orükaya[13], Çavdarhisar, both Turkey (and 2nd c.)[13]Kasserine Dam in Tunisia[14], and Puy Foradado Dam in Spain (2nd–3rd c.)[15]
Dam, Bridge The Band-i-Kaisar, constructed by Roman prisoners of war in Shustar, Persia, in the 3rd c. AD,[16] featured a weir combined with an arch bridge, a multifunctional hydraulic structure which subsequently spread throughout Iran.[17]
Dam, Buttress Attested in a number of Roman dams in Spain[15], like the 600 m long Consuegra Dam
Dam, Multiple Arch Buttress Esparragalejo Dam, Spain (1st c. AD) earliest known[18]
Dome, monumental See e.g. Pantheon.
Foot-powered loom Before 298 AD, with a hint the invention arose at Tarsus[19]
Flamethrower (Is this Roman? trad date 670 AD Greek Fire)
Flos Salis A product of salt evaporation ponds Dunaliella salina[20] used in the perfume industry (Pliny Nat. Hist. 31,90)
Force pump used in fire engine See image of pointable nozzle
Glass blowing This led to a number of innovations in the use of glass. Window glass is attested at Pompeii in AD 79. In the 2nd century AD [21] hanging glass oil lamps were introduced. These used floating wicks and by reducing self shading gave more lumens in a downwards direction. Cage cups (see photograph) are hypothesised as oil lamps.
Dichroic glass as in the Lycurgus Cup. [6] Note, this material attests otherwise unknown chemistry (or other way?) to generate nano-scale gold-silver particles.
Glass mirrors (Pliny the Elder Naturalis Historia 33,130)
Greenhouse cold frames (Pliny the Elder Naturalis Historia 19.64; Columella on Ag. 11.3.52)
Hydraulis A water organ. Later also the pneumatic organ.
Hushing Described by Pliny the Elder and confirmed at Dolaucothi and Las Médulas
Hydraulic mining Described by Pliny the Elder and confirmed at Dolaucothi and Las Médulas
Hydrometer Mentioned in a letter of Synesius
Hypocaust A floor and also wall heating system. Described by Vitruvius
Knife, multifunctional [7]
Lighthouses The best surviving example in the Tower of Hercules
Leather, Tanned The preservation of skins with vegetable tannins was a pre-Roman invention but not of the antiquity once supposed. (Tawing was far more ancient.) The Romans were responsible for spreading this technology into areas where it was previously unknown such as Britain and Qasr Ibrim on the Nile. In both places this technology was lost when the Romans withdrew.[22]
Mills M.J.T.Lewis presents good evidence that water powered vertical pounding machines came in by the middle of the 1st c. AD for fulling, grain hulling (Pliny Nat. Hist. 18,97) and ore crushing (archaeological evidence at Dolaucothi Gold Mines and Spain).
Grainmill, rotary. According to Moritz (p57) rotary grainmills were not known to the ancient Greeks but date from before 160 BC. Unlike reciprocating mills, rotary mills could be easily adapted to animal or water power. Lewis (1997) argues that the rotary grainmill dates to the 5th century BC in the western Mediterranean. Animal and water powered rotary mills came in the 3rd century BC.
Sawmill, water powered. Recorded by 370 AD. Attested in Ausonius's poem Mosella. Translated [8]"the Ruwer sends mill-stones swiftly round to grind the corn, And drives shrill saw-blades through smooth marble blocks". Recent archaeological evidence from Phrygia, Anatolia, now pushes back the date to the 3rd century AD and confirms the use of a crank in the sawmill.[23]
Shipmill, (Though small, the conventional term is "shipmill" not boat mill, probably because there was always a deck, and usually an enclosed superstructure, to keep the flour away from the damp.) where water wheels were attached to boats, was first recorded at Rome in 547 AD in Procopius of Caesarea's Gothic Wars (1.19.8-29) when Belisaurius was besieged there.
Watermill. Improvements upon earlier models. For the largest mill complex known see Barbegal
Mercury Gilding as in the Horses of San Marco
Newspaper, rudimentary See Acta Diurna.
Odometer
Paddle wheel boats In de Rebus Bellicis (possibly only a paper invention).
Pewter Mentioned by Pliny the Elder (Naturalis Historia34,160-1). Surviving examples are mainly Romano-British of the 3rd and 4th centuries e.g.[9] and[10]. Roman pewter had a wide range of proportions of tin but proportions of 50%, 75% and 95% predominate (Beagrie 1989).
Pleasure lake An artificial reservoir, highly unusual in that it was meant for recreational rather than utilitarian purposes was created at Subiaco, Italy, for emperor Nero (54–68 AD). The dam remained the highest in the Roman Empire (50 m),[24] and in the world until its destruction in 1305.[25]
Plough
iron-bladed (A much older innovation (e.g. Bible; I Samuel 13,20-1) that became much more common in the Roman period)
wheeled (Pliny the Elder Naturalis Historia 18.171-3) (More important for the Middle Ages, than this era.)
Pottery, glossed i.e. Samian ware
Reaper An early harvesting machine: vallus (Pliny the Elder Naturalis Historia 18,296, Palladius 7.2.2-4 [11])
Sails, fore-and-aft rig Introduction of fore-and-aft rigs 1) the Lateen sail 2) the Spritsail, this last already attested in 2nd century BC in the northern Aegean Sea [26] Note: there is no evidence of any combination of fore and aft rigs with square sails on the same Roman ship.
Sails, Lateen Representations show lateen sails in the Mediterranean as early as the 2nd century AD. Both the quadrilateral and the triangular type were employed.[27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36]
Rudder, stern-mounted See image for something very close to being a sternpost rudder
Sausage, fermented dry (probably) See salami.
Screw press An innovation of about the mid 1st century AD[37]
Sewers See for example Cloaca Maxima
Soap, hard (sodium) First mentioned by Galen (earlier, potassium, soap being Celtic).
Spiral staircase Though first attested as early as the 5th century BC in Greek Selinunte, spiral staircases only become more widespread after their adoption in Trajan's column and the Column of Marcus Aurelius.
Stenography, a system of See Tironian notes.
Street map, early See Forma Urbis Romae (Severan Marble Plan), a carved marble ground plan of every architectural feature in ancient Rome.[38]
Sundial, portable See Theodosius of Bithynia
Surgical instruments, various
Tooth implants, iron See [12]
Towpath e.g. beside the Danube, see the "road" in Trajan's bridge
Tunnels Excavated from both ends simultaneously. The longest known is the 5.6-kilometre (3.5 mi) drain of the Fucine lake
Vehicles, one wheeled Solely attested by a Latin word in 4th C. AD Scriptores Historiae Augustae Heliogabalus 29. As this is fiction, the evidence dates to its time of writing.
Wood veneer Pliny Nat. Hist. 16.231-2
systems of ROMAN CIVILIZATION
1 central heating
2 furnace
3 own bath
4 leagle system
5 painted pictures on the walls of houses
6 furniture was made out of wood
7 town house
INVENTIONS AND DISCOVERIES OF ROMAN CIVILIZATION
Abacus, Roman Portable.
Alum The production of alum (KAl(SO4)2.12H2O) from alunite (KAl3(SO4)2.(OH)6) is archaeologically attested on the island Lesbos[7]. This site was abandoned in the 7th century but dates back at least to the 2nd century AD.
Amphitheatre See e.g. Colosseum.
Arch, monumental
Bath, monumental public (Thermae) See e.g. Baths of Diocletian
Book (Codex) First mentioned by Martial in the 1st C. AD. Held many advantages over the scroll.
Brass The Romans had enough understanding of zinc to produce a brass denomination coinage; see sestertius.
Bridge, true arch See e.g. Roman bridge in Chaves or the Severan Bridge.
Bridge, segmental arch More than a dozen Roman bridges are known to feature segmental (=flat) arches. A prominent example was Trajan's bridge over the Danube, a lesser known the extant Limyra Bridge in Lycia
Bridge, pointed arch Possibly the earliest known bridge featuring a pointed arch is the 5-6th century AD Karamagara Bridge[8]
Cameos Probably a Hellenistic innovation e.g. Cup of the Ptolemies but taken up by the Emperors e.g. Gemma Augustea, Gemma Claudia etc.
Cast Iron Recently archaeologically detected in the Val Gabbia in northern Lombardy from the 5th and 6th centuries AD.[9] This technically interesting innovation appears to have had little economic impact. But archaeologists may have failed to recognize the distinctive slag, so the date and location of this innovation may be revised.
Cement
Concrete
Pozzolana variety
Crank and connecting rod Found in several water-powered saw mills dating from the late 3rd (Hierapolis sawmill) to 6th century AD (at Ephesus respectively Gerasa).[2]
Crane, treadwheel
Dam, Arch[10] Currently best attested for the dam at Glanum, France dated ca. 20 BC.[11] The structure has entirely disappeared. Its existence attested from the cuts into the rock on either side to key in the dam wall, which was 14.7 metres high, 3.9m thick at base narrowing to 2.96m at the top. Earliest description of arch action in such types of dam by Procopius around 560 AD, the Dara Dam[12]
Dam, Arch-gravity Examples include curved dams at Orükaya[13], Çavdarhisar, both Turkey (and 2nd c.)[13]Kasserine Dam in Tunisia[14], and Puy Foradado Dam in Spain (2nd–3rd c.)[15]
Dam, Bridge The Band-i-Kaisar, constructed by Roman prisoners of war in Shustar, Persia, in the 3rd c. AD,[16] featured a weir combined with an arch bridge, a multifunctional hydraulic structure which subsequently spread throughout Iran.[17]
Dam, Buttress Attested in a number of Roman dams in Spain[15], like the 600 m long Consuegra Dam
Dam, Multiple Arch Buttress Esparragalejo Dam, Spain (1st c. AD) earliest known[18]
Dome, monumental See e.g. Pantheon.
Foot-powered loom Before 298 AD, with a hint the invention arose at Tarsus[19]
Flamethrower (Is this Roman? trad date 670 AD Greek Fire)
Flos Salis A product of salt evaporation ponds Dunaliella salina[20] used in the perfume industry (Pliny Nat. Hist. 31,90)
Force pump used in fire engine See image of pointable nozzle
Glass blowing This led to a number of innovations in the use of glass. Window glass is attested at Pompeii in AD 79. In the 2nd century AD [21] hanging glass oil lamps were introduced. These used floating wicks and by reducing self shading gave more lumens in a downwards direction. Cage cups (see photograph) are hypothesised as oil lamps.
Dichroic glass as in the Lycurgus Cup. [6] Note, this material attests otherwise unknown chemistry (or other way?) to generate nano-scale gold-silver particles.
Glass mirrors (Pliny the Elder Naturalis Historia 33,130)
Greenhouse cold frames (Pliny the Elder Naturalis Historia 19.64; Columella on Ag. 11.3.52)
Hydraulis A water organ. Later also the pneumatic organ.
Hushing Described by Pliny the Elder and confirmed at Dolaucothi and Las Médulas
Hydraulic mining Described by Pliny the Elder and confirmed at Dolaucothi and Las Médulas
Hydrometer Mentioned in a letter of Synesius
Hypocaust A floor and also wall heating system. Described by Vitruvius
Knife, multifunctional [7]
Lighthouses The best surviving example in the Tower of Hercules
Leather, Tanned The preservation of skins with vegetable tannins was a pre-Roman invention but not of the antiquity once supposed. (Tawing was far more ancient.) The Romans were responsible for spreading this technology into areas where it was previously unknown such as Britain and Qasr Ibrim on the Nile. In both places this technology was lost when the Romans withdrew.[22]
Mills M.J.T.Lewis presents good evidence that water powered vertical pounding machines came in by the middle of the 1st c. AD for fulling, grain hulling (Pliny Nat. Hist. 18,97) and ore crushing (archaeological evidence at Dolaucothi Gold Mines and Spain).
Grainmill, rotary. According to Moritz (p57) rotary grainmills were not known to the ancient Greeks but date from before 160 BC. Unlike reciprocating mills, rotary mills could be easily adapted to animal or water power. Lewis (1997) argues that the rotary grainmill dates to the 5th century BC in the western Mediterranean. Animal and water powered rotary mills came in the 3rd century BC.
Sawmill, water powered. Recorded by 370 AD. Attested in Ausonius's poem Mosella. Translated [8]"the Ruwer sends mill-stones swiftly round to grind the corn, And drives shrill saw-blades through smooth marble blocks". Recent archaeological evidence from Phrygia, Anatolia, now pushes back the date to the 3rd century AD and confirms the use of a crank in the sawmill.[23]
Shipmill, (Though small, the conventional term is "shipmill" not boat mill, probably because there was always a deck, and usually an enclosed superstructure, to keep the flour away from the damp.) where water wheels were attached to boats, was first recorded at Rome in 547 AD in Procopius of Caesarea's Gothic Wars (1.19.8-29) when Belisaurius was besieged there.
Watermill. Improvements upon earlier models. For the largest mill complex known see Barbegal
Mercury Gilding as in the Horses of San Marco
Newspaper, rudimentary See Acta Diurna.
Odometer
Paddle wheel boats In de Rebus Bellicis (possibly only a paper invention).
Pewter Mentioned by Pliny the Elder (Naturalis Historia34,160-1). Surviving examples are mainly Romano-British of the 3rd and 4th centuries e.g.[9] and[10]. Roman pewter had a wide range of proportions of tin but proportions of 50%, 75% and 95% predominate (Beagrie 1989).
Pleasure lake An artificial reservoir, highly unusual in that it was meant for recreational rather than utilitarian purposes was created at Subiaco, Italy, for emperor Nero (54–68 AD). The dam remained the highest in the Roman Empire (50 m),[24] and in the world until its destruction in 1305.[25]
Plough
iron-bladed (A much older innovation (e.g. Bible; I Samuel 13,20-1) that became much more common in the Roman period)
wheeled (Pliny the Elder Naturalis Historia 18.171-3) (More important for the Middle Ages, than this era.)
Pottery, glossed i.e. Samian ware
Reaper An early harvesting machine: vallus (Pliny the Elder Naturalis Historia 18,296, Palladius 7.2.2-4 [11])
Sails, fore-and-aft rig Introduction of fore-and-aft rigs 1) the Lateen sail 2) the Spritsail, this last already attested in 2nd century BC in the northern Aegean Sea [26] Note: there is no evidence of any combination of fore and aft rigs with square sails on the same Roman ship.
Sails, Lateen Representations show lateen sails in the Mediterranean as early as the 2nd century AD. Both the quadrilateral and the triangular type were employed.[27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36]
Rudder, stern-mounted See image for something very close to being a sternpost rudder
Sausage, fermented dry (probably) See salami.
Screw press An innovation of about the mid 1st century AD[37]
Sewers See for example Cloaca Maxima
Soap, hard (sodium) First mentioned by Galen (earlier, potassium, soap being Celtic).
Spiral staircase Though first attested as early as the 5th century BC in Greek Selinunte, spiral staircases only become more widespread after their adoption in Trajan's column and the Column of Marcus Aurelius.
Stenography, a system of See Tironian notes.
Street map, early See Forma Urbis Romae (Severan Marble Plan), a carved marble ground plan of every architectural feature in ancient Rome.[38]
Sundial, portable See Theodosius of Bithynia
Surgical instruments, various
Tooth implants, iron See [12]
Towpath e.g. beside the Danube, see the "road" in Trajan's bridge
Tunnels Excavated from both ends simultaneously. The longest known is the 5.6-kilometre (3.5 mi) drain of the Fucine lake
Vehicles, one wheeled Solely attested by a Latin word in 4th C. AD Scriptores Historiae Augustae Heliogabalus 29. As this is fiction, the evidence dates to its time of writing.
Wood veneer Pliny Nat. Hist. 16.231-2
Food and Drink
In Roman times, breakfast and lunch usually consisted of bread and wheat cakes, with honey, olives , or dates. Dinner- the main meal of the day-was bread with a few vegtables , eggs, or spicy sausage.Wealthier people also ate fruit, meat, and fish. The most commen drink was wine mixed with water.
Rome beggening
As a farming settlement on the banks of tiber in central Italy,in around 1000BC.Over the next 1000 years,it devoloped into a powerful city -state and became the capital of one of the largest and best organized empires in history. The roman civilization is famous for its achievements in engineering and building , and the power of its army.
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