ROMAN ROADS The first people to use engineering to support their army were the ancient Romans Roman engineers constructed buildings roads and bridges Detween the third century BCE and the end of the first century CE Roman armies controlled most of Europe and North Africa Rome's expansion relied on its armies being able to move quickly by ship or on land Roman legions or groups of soldiers built new roads as they advanced into new lands Roman soldiers were carved on an arch celebrating a Roman victory in 315
SCIENCE The roads helped the Romans to move reinforcements and supplies quickly even to faraway locations BUILDING A ROAD Roman roads were as straight as possible so legions could march between two points quickly These roads also provided fewer hiding places for enemies or bandits FILE •00000 Roman Roads Roads were built on a ridge called an agger Soldiers dug earth from both sides of the road to build the ridge This created ditches to act as water drains On top of the agger soldiers laid up to 1 foot 0 3 meters of flint gravel and stone to provide the road surface The agger could be up to 5 feet 1 5 m high and 50 feet 15 2 m wide Roman roads survive all over Rome's old empire They are easy to identify because they are usually straight and made stone of
Every legion was accompanied by a surveyor His job was to plan the route of the road He used a groma to find flat terrain A groma was a wooden cross with weights hanging from it The surveyor then marked the path the road should take with wooden stakes for builders to follow BUILDING FORTS Military surveyors built forts in remote parts of the empire The forts had defensive walls made of wood or stone to protect the soldiers from attack Inside the walls the streets and blocks followed a grid pattern There were blocks for soldiers bathhouses and stores Buildings were laid out in the same way in every fort This wooden gateway guarded a Roman fort at Lunt in central England The upper floor was used by soldiers to keep watch attackers for
SCIENCE FILE The shape of a small fort stands next to Hadrian's Wall in northern England Hadrian's Wall Hadrian's wall was the largest structure built in the Roman Empire The stone wall was 73 miles 117 km long and was around 15 feet 4 6 m high and 10 feet 3 m wide It took 15 000 men six years to build the wall There were dozens of forts along the wall Small forts were built every Roman mile about 0 92 miles or 1 48 km Each small fort held 20 to 30 men Larger forts were built every five Roman miles 4 6 miles or 7 4 km EDGE OF THE EMPIRE In some places Roman engineers built walls to defend the edges of the empire One of the most famous examples was Hadrian's Wall in northern Britain Roman Emperor Hadrian ordered the construction of this wall in 122 CE He wanted to protect Roman territory from attack by the Picts a Celtic people who lived to the north in Scotland modern
