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January 3, 2006
Ancient Roman Technology
The Romans built aqueducts to move water across their empire. 2,000 years later, many of these remarkable structures are still standing, like the Pont Du Gard aqueduct that spans the Gard River near Nimes, France.
El Puente, located in Spain, is one of the best-preserved aqueducts of the Roman Empire. El Puente (Spanish for The Bridge), stretches from Spain’s Frío River to the city of Segovia.
When he retired, Vitruvius wrote De architectura, a meticulous guide to Hellenistic and Roman town-planning, architecture, and civil engineering. It described much of the technology of the Ancient Romans in intricate detail, including details on how the aqueducts were constructed.
They built water powered flour mills like the Janiculum Mill constructed in the 3rd century A.D. on Janiculum Hill in Rome and the Barbegal Mill constructed in the 4th century A.D., near Arles, France.
According to ancient Greek and Roman historians, In 212 B.C. (or 214 B.C.), the Romans attacked Syracuse. Archimedes reportedly used a solar death ray to burn the Roman navy. He told the troops to polish their metal shields and positioned them around the harbor and reflect sun onto ships. The ships burst into flame, and the Romans were defeated.
In November 1973, Dr. Ionas Sakkis tested the theory and determined it was possible that Archimedes could have set the ships on fire by focusing the sun's rays using 70 sailors with mirrors.
Recently, some students at MIT performed an experiment and came to the same conclusion.
Posted by Peenie Wallie on January 3, 2006 at 12:17 PM
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