Lecture16 - Roman Roads

7/28/2019 Lecture16 - Roman Roads

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Roman Engineering

Roads

ArchesBridges

Aqueducts


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The Roman Empire in the year 117 AD.


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Rome in the year 44BC, showing theseven hills and theroad system.


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Roman road system by theyear 117 AD.


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The Roman road system in Gauland Britannica.


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The Roman 90,000 km highway network in 330 A.D. were all provided with high quality surface(pavimentumor summa crusta).


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Vitruviuswrote about Roman road specifications, shown in profile above with over 1 meter inthickness (compare to present day 0.60 meters).


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Roman-British road,currently called WatlingStreet in Rochester, showsthe original Roman road,and three British roads on

top.


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Profile of a typical Roman road (already perfected by circa 50 BC).


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Roman road building: the surveyors are shown ahead, followed by a crew digging the fossae

to drain the soil, then hand tampers forming the statumen, rudusand nucleus. Each iscompacted by the crews shown in the fore-ground (from Roman Engineers, L .A. Hamey 81)


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The Roman surveying instrument was thegroma. It was

used to lay out buildings, roads, aqueducts and ports.

The modern term agronomy is derived from thisinstrument.


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Paved street in present dayPompeii shows stone curbs,sidewalks and steppingstones. The slots in the

stepping stones show thetwo lanes used by thechariots and freight wagons.


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La Via Appiain the outskirts of Rome. It was originally built in 312 BC to Capua, and thenextended it was extended to Brundisium(present day, Brindisi) on the Adriatic Sea.


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Present day Via Appiaat Capua, close to Pompeii (east of presentday Napoli).


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La Via Ostiensis, leaves Rome westward towards the Roman port of Ostia.


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Present day view of the Via Aurelia.


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Roman road into Utica (close to present day Tunis, North Africa).


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TimgadStreet inEphesus, built in 32 AD.


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A street of Pompeii as seen today. Pompeii was buried by Vesuvius in the year 79 AD.


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This photo shows a recently excavatedmilestone on the VaAppiaclose toRome. The inscription reads as mile

post 22 (MP XXII) from the Rome ofthat time.


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A Roman milestone at left, which stood by the AppianWay, 13 miles (19.2 km) from Rome. On theright, the Roman Carthage road, as it exists today.


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Arches


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The first arch bridges were built by the Etruscans with timber. This figure shows the Romanearly modification by first using masonry ( circa 400 BC) and later, concrete cores with

masonry shells.


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Early arches, such as the left figure was not a true arch, but ashaped lintel (developed inEgypt). The middle figure shows a false arch, where all the forces are vertical. The figure on

the right is a true arch, showing the stone voussoirs, following the shape of the arch. The

forces follow the arch into the side piers.


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Bridges


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Julius CaesarsRhine bridge, asdescribed by him in

his book GaulCampaigns.


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Scenes from TrajansColumn, showing legionaries crossing the Danube river on a pontoon bridge with

timber walkways. The Roman river god Danuviusis depicted in the center.


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This sketch shows the

details of a Romancofferdam using timbersheet-piling.

Note the sealing of thejoints of the sheetingwith clay (top right) toseal the cofferdam.

The water was removedfrom inside the

cofferdam by means ofatympanum.


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The Archimedean hydraulic screw, or tympanum, raised water from a lower elevation at leftto a higher level on the right. The tympanum was used to dewater cofferdams, in order to

build a pier for a bridge on the bottom of a river or a lake.


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The Roman bridge over the MoselleRiver at Trier, Germany shows triangular cutwaters at each pier.

The piers are Roman, but the superstructure is modern.


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The Roman bridge at Crdobacrosses the Guadalquivir (great river in arabic) was part of theVia Augusta that extended 2500 km from Narbona(France) to Cdiz (Spain) on the Atlantic.


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Reconstructed section of the masonry bridge foundations for thePonsFabriciumin Rome.


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A single arch Roman masonry bridge at Vaison-la-Romaine, Provence, France, is stillcarrying local traffic.


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The GuadianaRiver bridge in Spain is the longest surviving Roman bridge with 60 arches,

and a total length of 800 meters.


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Aqueducts


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The Roman Pont duGardaqueduct is 49.4 m high over the GardonRiver in Nmes, France.

It was finished in 18 BC and carried water 50 km to the Roman city of Nemausus(Nimes).


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The Roman aqueduct ofAqua Marcia, built in 144 BC was originally 90 km long. In 35 BC, itwas connected to the aqueduct of Aqua Julia on three levels. Rome is in background.


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The largestRoman aque-

duct was atSegovia, Spain.

Built withgranite blocks

without mortar,it is 800 m longand 30 m high.

It was built in

41 AD and stillssupplies waterto Segovia.

Lecture16 - Roman Roads

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