Roman inventions that changed the world

Ancient Roman inventions and innovations did not collapse with the Roman Empire. Many millennia have passed, but we can still see the inventions of the Romans in everyday life. There are legends about the inventions of this ancient people. Some of their inventions are still unsurpassed by modern craftsmen.

The Romans wielded immense power and influence in the ancient world, with an empire spanning much of Europe, Western Asia, North Africa, and the Mediterranean. From the 8th century BC, when Rome was founded, until the collapse of the Western Empire in the 5th century, Roman technology influenced some of the tools, architecture, and urban structure of the modern world. Here are just several of the hundreds of Roman inventions that helped make the world the way we see it today.

Heating

The Romans invented the hypocaust system, an early method of efficiently distributing heat throughout a home. To do this they placed stoves that heated the house in the space under the floor. In this space, everything was done so that the heat heated the dwelling effectively: the smoke rose through the piers up, heating the walls, and in the basement itself, everything was done so that hot air circulated efficiently throughout the area under the floor.

Cities planning

The grid layout of cities, also called centuria, was one of the formats that the ancient Romans used to divide and measure their land. The grid structure that the Romans followed in conquered territories is used today to organize big cities into usable and functional spaces (well, some big cities).

The Romans were very adept at turning bare land into metropolitan areas, as many cities under the Roman Empire expanded and were rebuilt. Today, grid construction may seem simple, but before the Romans created roads, buildings and other urban features were often laid out in a way that the geology and landscape would allow.

Roads

Over 9,000 kilometers of roads were built to transport and expand the Empire. And these were not just paths trodden by horses and chariots - these were complex multi-layered structures. First, the ground was leveled and tamped down, sprinkled with sand if necessary. Then a layer of flat stones was placed on top very close to each other.

A layer of stones about 5 centimeters in size with cement mortar was laid on top. After that, cement, consisting of fine sand and gravel, was laid, which secured the top layer in place. And, finally, a layer of flat stones, also glued together with cement, was laid, on which it was already possible to move on horseback.

Durable concrete

Usually, with the development of technology and knowledge, products created by man are constantly improved over time. However, the concrete made by the Romans was actually stronger than our modern material. While sea water erodes modern concrete over the course of several years, some of the walls built by the Romans 2,000 years ago and in contact with sea water are still intact. The secret of how the Romans created concrete was lost over time.

To unlock the secret of Roman construction, scientists at the University of California's Berkeley Lab have studied the mineral components of ancient marine concrete. They found that Roman workers used a mixture of lime and volcanic rock to do this. To give additional strength, the solution was placed in sea water. The water molecules hydrated the lime, which chemically reacted with the ash, cementing them together. In this case, a strong aluminum-calcium silicate hydrate is formed.