https://www.britannica.com/technology/Roman-road-system
https://www.history.com/articles/ancient-roman-roads-network
Wednesday, September 16, 2026
one empire, with no computers, slide rules, calculators, university trained engineers, Army Corps of Engineers, road graders, dozers, excavators, dynamite, rebar, cement, etc... made more roads than any other ever had, or ever will... on three continents, over about 500 years, and many have lasted for millemium
Big fan of the Roman era, but their highway system just barely beats the USA Interstate system in miles (50,000 vs 47,000). When counting all roads, the USA has 4.2 million miles vs 187,000 miles for the Romans.
ReplyDeleteI said, the Roman road system, on 3 continents... zero motorized construction equip, no engineers trained at university, no modern materials like rebar, cement, cranes, buzzdozers, and they lasted... try to find a road 200 years old... 300 years old? 400 years old? The roads made in this country haven't been able to last 200 years, city streets can't take the weather, traffic weight, etc... and sure won't last a century. The interstates are made of concrete, haven't lasted a century, already getting paved over with asphalt to make a smooth black top.
DeleteRoman roads? Still exist, some are still used, some are found, and are ready to get used for another millenia - but the 100 year old highways in my home town in Michigan? can't be used, the potholes have been neglected for about 50 years, and only 4x4s can get through was was a 2 lane highway with shoulders.
Other points I made, the Romans had an Empire. We have a country.
they had horses, ox I suppose, and we have bulldozers, university trained engineers, and cars that motivated us to make 4 million miles of roads... many of the dirt roads were nothing more than a road grader and a layer of gravel (that's most of the midwest that isn't a highway) and I recall posting a couple years ago, that some place decided to not repave, but instead, let the road revert to dirt and gravel. The country is 40 trillion in debt, most states are bankrupt as well. Bridges are cracking, washouts are frequent on may 2 lane roads due to rain... which is predictable, as are drain areas, etc etc. We know where the rain will flood streams, rivers, etc... and build to prevent problems. We haven't. Just bad planning, bad construction etc. Every year, just a repeat of headlines from previous years.
I am not putting down the roads, freeways, highways, and bridges, but I'm being factual. Michigan potholes, I posted about them (you might remember) because people made fishing protests to get attention that the potholes were huge, deep, and never getting fixed
Frost heaves in winter, and the summer heat buckles (I post about them often enough to remember them)
I'll just add that they didn't actually have "university-trained" engineers, but they had them anyway. The idea of university education, while not new (Greek gymnasia), is a relatively recent addition to humanity. At least in its current form. The Romans, like many others, for hundreds of years relied more on apprenticeship education, with craft guilds teaching them their crafts. Therefore, they had well-trained and educated engineers. Much of this work was performed by civilian employees, but much was also created by the Legions. These had their own corps of engineers, also trained by them; they were called "fabri" (a common word for skilled workers). And as you can probably guess, the name itself comes from the Latin word "fabricatio," meaning to build, to create. Some say the Special Engineers Corps was disbanded as part of Gaius Marius's reform, which made "Marius' mules" (as the Legionnaires were called) versatile in construction, with every Legionnaire being an "engineer." However, I doubt it; the Legions still needed specialized men who knew much more about construction than just "dig here and drive a stake there" Legionnaire. And they had a concrete, the Opus caementicium, also they had cranes and tools.
Deleteexcellent points, and my concept of university educated engineers is far more intense than OJT apprenticeships. I've done both, nuclear powered steam turbine propulsion of submarines.
Deletea year of class work, then 6 months of hands on. Huge difference. Academia vs lift, move, tighten, etc? Nearly nothing in common.
Might as well compare using a slide ruler and a calculator, I expect you have zero ability with a slide ruler, and zero problem with a calculator...
Greek Gymnasia? Has nothing to do with education, did you mean Grammatistes?
And debating philosophy with Socrates and Plato doesn't grade a road, drain a marsh, or establish cutbacks to ascend a steep mountain.
I hadn't learned of the legion's corps of engineers, fascinating!
No doubt that they were used for defense works, offensive weapons, walls, berms, trebuchets, etc... and getting the roads to move the legions planned out for routes. But use them to do the grunt work for laying in the layers of materials to make the famous Roman roads? That was slaves.
They didn't have cranes.
They had booms, pulleys, winches, levers, and masts... that's not a motor powered cable actuated crane that can lift, rotate, and lower a heavy load to get boulders out of the way of a road's path
I am impressed. There were no specialized construction devices as we have today to makethese roads.
ReplyDelete