page_title: Ancient technology
section_title: Roman Empire
hierarchical_section_title: Ancient technology / Ancient civilizations / Roman Empire
caption_attribution_description: English: Pont du Gard, in Vers-Pont-du-Gard, Gard department, South France. The Pont du Gard is the most famous part of the roman aqueduct which carried water from Uzès to Nîmes until roughly the 9th century when maintenance was abandoned. The monument is 49m high and now 275m long (it was 360m when intact) at its top. It's the highest roman aqueduct, but also one of the best preserved (with the aqueduct of Segovia). The Pont du Gard is a UNESCO world heritage site since 1985. Français&#160;: Le Pont du Gard, à Vers-Pont-du-Gard, département du Gard, région Languedoc-Roussillon, France. Le Pont du Gard (1er siècle C.E.) est la partie la plus célèbre de l'aqueduc romain qui conduisait l'eau d'Uzès à Nîmes, jusqu'au 9ème siècle où l'on cessa de l'entretenir. Le monument fait 49 mètres de haut et aujourd'hui 275 mètres de long (360 mètres quand il était intact). C'est l'aqueduc roman le plus haut, mais aussi, avec celui de Ségovie, l'un des mieux préservés. Le Pont du Gard est un site du patrimoine mondial de l'humanité de l'UNESCO depuis 1985. Español: El Pont du Gard (puente del Gard), en Vers-Pont-du-Gard, departamento de Gard, en la región de Languedoc-Rosellón, sur de Francia, es la parte más conocida del acueducto romano que conducía el agua desde Uzès a Nîmes hasta el siglo&#160;IX, cuando cesó su actividad. El puente mide 49&#160;metros de alto y 275&#160;metros de largo (360&#160;m cuando se encontraba intacto en la antigüedad). Es el acueducto romano más alto y también, junto al de Segovia, en España, uno de los mejor conservados. El Pont du Gard fue declarado Patrimonio Mundial de la Humanidad por la UNESCO en 1985.
context_page_description: During the growth of the ancient civilizations, ancient technology was the result from advances in engineering in ancient times. These advances in the history of technology stimulated societies to adopt new ways of living and governance.
  A significant number of inventions were developed in the Islamic world; a geopolitical region that has at times extended from al-Andalus and Africa in the west to the Indian subcontinent and Malay Archipelago in the east. Many of these inventions had direct implications for Fiqh related issues.
context_section_description: The Roman Empire expanded from Italia across the entire Mediterranean region between the 1st century BC and 1st century AD. Its most advanced and economically productive provinces outside of Italia were the Eastern Roman provinces in the Balkans, Asia Minor, Egypt, and the Levant, with Roman Egypt in particular being the wealthiest Roman province outside of Italia.
  Roman technology supported Roman civilization and made the expansion of Roman commerce and Roman military possible over nearly a thousand years. The Roman Empire had an advanced set of technology for their time. Some of the Roman technology in Europe may have been lost during the turbulent eras of Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages. Roman technological feats in many different areas such as civil engineering, construction materials, transport technology, and some inventions such as the mechanical reaper went unmatched until the 19th century.
  Romans developed an intensive and sophisticated agriculture, expanded upon existing iron working technology, created laws providing for individual ownership, advanced stonemasonry technology, advanced road-building (exceeded only in the 19th century), military engineering, civil engineering, spinning and weaving and several different machines like the Gallic reaper that helped to increase productivity in many sectors of the Roman economy. They also developed water power through building aqueducts on a grand scale, using water not just for drinking supplies but also for irrigation, powering water mills and in mining. They used drainage wheels extensively in deep underground mines, one device being the reverse overshot water-wheel. They were the first to apply hydraulic mining methods for prospecting for metal ores, and for extracting those ores from the ground when found using a method known as hushing.
  Roman engineers have built triumphal arches, amphitheatres, aqueducts, public baths, true arch bridges, harbours, dams, vaults and domes on a very large scale across their Empire. Notable Roman inventions include the book (Codex), glass blowing and concrete. Because Rome was located on a volcanic peninsula, with sand which contained suitable crystalline grains, the concrete which the Romans formulated was especially durable. Some of their buildings have lasted 2000 years, to the present day. Roman society had also carried over the design of a door lock with tumblers and springs from Greece. Like many other aspects of innovation and culture that were carried on from Greece to Rome, the lines between where each one originated from have become skewed over time. These mechanisms were highly sophisticated and intricate for the era.
  Roman civilization was highly urbanized by pre-modern standards. Many cities of the Roman Empire had over 100,000 inhabitants with the capital Rome being the largest metropolis of antiquity. Features of Roman urban life included multistory apartment buildings called insulae, street paving, public flush toilets, glass windows and floor and wall heating. The Romans understood hydraulics and constructed fountains and waterworks, particularly aqueducts, which were the hallmark of their civilization. They exploited water power by building water mills, sometimes in series, such as the sequence found at Barbegal in southern France and suspected on the Janiculum in Rome. Some Roman baths have lasted to this day. The Romans developed many technologies which were apparently lost in the Middle Ages, and were only fully reinvented in the 19th and 20th centuries. They also left texts describing their achievements, especially Pliny the Elder, Frontinus and Vitruvius.
  Other less known Roman innovations include cement, boat mills, arch dams and possibly tide mills.
  In Roman Egypt, Heron of Alexandria invented the aeolipile, a basic steam-powered device, and demonstrated knowledge of mechanic and pneumatic systems. He was also the first to experiment with a wind-powered mechanical device, a windwheel. He also described a vending machine. However, his inventions were primarily toys, rather than practical machines.
caption: Pont du Gard in France, a Roman aqueduct
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