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History of Technology 2: Roman Roads 507 Views


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Description:

What's the big deal with roads? Like, they all lead to Rome? Not everyone wants to go to Rome. You heard it here first: roads are overrated.

Language:
English Language

Transcript

00:04

They used to say that all roads lead to Rome well that may [Ancient romans on a street]

00:08

have been because the Romans built most of the road and it wouldn't have made

00:12

much sense for the Romans to build fancy roads for other empires right well they

00:16

were more into chopping off their rivals head than contributing to their [Roman chops off enemies head]

00:19

infrastructure maybe that would have changed had they traveled with Snickers

00:24

instead the Romans built an awesome network of paved road to keep

00:29

their empire connected and under their control no other empire came close to

00:33

Rome's Road building skills in fact Roman roads were so awesome that some [People taking photographs of roman roads]

00:38

are still around today and we bet those road's have some ego.

00:42

So how did the Romans pull it off well first they would raise a mount of dirt

00:47

so that the road would be above the surrounding land no point in building a [A road and rain begins to fall]

00:52

nice new road if the first rain turned it into a swamp unless that was what

00:56

you're known for in which case like why then the Romans dug several feet into

01:01

the center of the dirt pile and filled it with crushed rock this was also to [Romans pile road with crushed rock]

01:05

help with the rain as the gravel allowed rainwater to filter down through it the

01:09

Romans last major trick was a real doozy they figured out how to make concrete

01:15

yep pretty cool they paved every major road with a mix of concrete and gravel [Concrete being processed]

01:20

this beat the heck out of having to carve out big paving stones..Well, Roman

01:25

Road building slaves were probably thankful for this, but they probably

01:28

would have been a little more thankful to you know not be slaves... Though the

01:33

Roman Empire had fifty thousand miles of Kings Road at its peak but why did the

01:38

Romans spend so much time building these beauties well here a few of the reasons [Romans building new roads]

01:42

first of all bureaucracy needs roads and Empire's need bureaucrats the Roman

01:46

Empire was big and kept getting bigger like a pro bodybuilder drowning the old

01:51

chickens at every meal while maintaining such a huge empire required an army of [Roman army marching in the woods]

01:56

bureaucrats tax collectors messengers judges city officials, the works.. Were

02:03

they expected to get around on dirt roads no way those bureaucrats couldn't [Judge approaches dirty road and stops]

02:07

show up to do their bureaucrating all dusty

02:10

could they? Well besides bureaucrats great empires also need armies and it's not

02:15

like all those other people's across the Mediterranean world were going to

02:20

conquer themselves it usually took a little head-chopping for the Romans to [Roman soldiers beheading people]

02:24

convince them to you know be part of the Roman Empire a good option...Rome had a

02:31

large and highly professional army and good roads also made it a fast army

02:35

this helps them keep their subjects in check any rebellion in Roman dudes could

02:41

be there in a jiff and complete the head chop and quickly and effectively.. We're [Roman soldiers march in and chop mans head off]

02:45

sure they got five-star reviews on Yelp Rome's roads also help to make it filthy

02:50

rich well the easier transportation was easier trade was and the easier it was to gain [Tax man asking man for money]

02:57

and collect taxes and the more money flowing into Rome the easier it was to

03:02

build fancy marble buildings and statues of naked people pro-tip; statues of

03:07

naked people are the number one sign that you've made it in life but last but

03:12

not least Rome needed roads to help deliver the mail good communication is [Mail van driving down a cobbled road]

03:17

essential in keeping the Empire running smoothly

03:19

and in the days before email good roads were a total necessity come rain sleet

03:24

snow or barbarians the Romans needed to you know get their mail all junk mail

03:30

course was met with instant beheading and what can we say the Caesars

03:33

hated getting coupons [Monster beheads Caesar]

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