page_title: List of Greek and Roman architectural records
section_title: Miscellaneous
hierarchical_section_title: List of Greek and Roman architectural records / Miscellaneous
caption_attribution_description: English: Map of Limes Germanicus (system of fortifications representing the boundary of Roman control in the Rhine-Danube angle) Deutsch: Karte des Obergermanisch-Raetischen Limes
context_page_description: The list of ancient architectural records consists of record-making architectural achievements of the Greco-Roman world from c. 800 BC to 600 AD.
context_section_description: The greatest concentration of mechanical power was the Barbegal water mill complex in southern France, constructed in the early 2nd century AD. Sixteen overshot water wheels fed by an arcaded aqueduct branch from the main conduit to Arles produced an estimated 4.5 t of flour per 24 hours – an output sufficient to feed 12,500 people or the majority of the population of Arles. Water mill batteries are also known from Amida in Asia Minor, the Janiculum hill in Rome, and a number of other places throughout the empire.
  The longest spiral stair belonged to the 2nd century AD Trajan's Column in Rome. Measuring a height of 29.68 m, it surpassed its successor, the Column of Marcus Aurelius, by a mere 6 cm. Its treads were carved out ouf nineteen massive marble blocks so that each drum comprised a half-turn of seven steps. The quality of the craftsmanship was such that the staircase was practically even, and the joints between the huge blocks accurately fitting. The design of the Trajan's column had a profound influence on Roman construction technique, and the spiral stair became over time an establish architectural element.
  The longest straight alignment was constituted by an 81.259 km long section of the Roman limes in Germany. The fortified line ran through hilly and densely wooded country in completely linear fashion, deviating in its entire length only once, for a distance of 1.6 km, to avoid a steep valley. The extraordinary accuracy of the alignment has been attributed to the groma, a surveying instrument which was used by the Romans to great effect in land division and road construction.
caption: The longest straight alignment was a c. 80 km long section of the Limes in modern-day Germany. It ran between modern Walldürn and Lorch in the angle between Rhine and Danube, protecting the borders of Roman Germania.
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