Top 8 Ancient Roman Technologies | History Countdown

Rome wasn't built in a day, but the Romans created a few things that have lasted up to this day. It's eight incredible Roman innovations. If you lived in ancient Rome and wanted to look up the box score from the big gladiator match, or were looking for a review of Virgil's latest poem, you weren't quite in luck. However, the Romans did generate and distribute a daily document called the Acta that very closely resembles our modern newspaper. The term Acta Diurna translates to daily acts or gazette. Carved on stone or metal, the Acta was originally a private account of what took place in the Senate meetings. In 59 BC, Julius Caesar made the Acta available to the public. They were posted in common areas and began to feature content that was more relevant to the average citizen, like social, political, and criminal events. The Acta were able to be distributed across the whole empire, and just like in modern journalism, Cicero once critiqued that the Acta had too much tittle-tattle and not enough hard facts. Although there is evidence that other ancient civilizations used it, the Romans are cemented in history as the kings of concrete, or should we say emperors? One of the Roman Empire's lasting legacies is the many structures that stand today. The Colosseum, the Pantheon, the Forum, the Aqueducts, and many more. They are all made of and remain intact thanks to concrete. A special feature of Roman concrete that scientists are studying to this day is its resistance to erosion by seawater. While modern concrete begins to erode after about 50 years when underwater, the Roman concrete has survived for centuries. This is due to the combination of slaked lime and volcanic ash that creates a chemical reaction, causing the concrete to dry quickly and actually thrive under seawater. It was quite literally the foundation of the empire. The Romans didn't invent roads per se. Civilizations had been building them since the Bronze Age. But Babe Ruth didn't invent baseball either, yet they both just mastered a craft in a way that had never been done before. The Romans revolutionized the engineering and maximized the potential of what a system of roads and highways could do. The Romans built roads through any land that they conquered, beginning in the early 300s BCE. The network stretched up to 50,000 stone-paved miles at its peak. Engineers figured out a method to build every road to be as straight as possible from origin to destination, and yes, almost all of them led back to Rome. It seems obvious now, but the benefits of these roads are a huge reason the Roman Empire was a world power for more than 800 years. The two-lane cobblestone roads had drainage systems and steps for people to mount horses and carts. It allowed messages and orders to be sent quickly, made for efficient trade across thousands of miles, and most importantly, gave campaigning armies a reliably steady stream of troops and supplies. For the Romans, life was very much a highway. The Romans were jacks of all trades, warriors, engineers, artists, and intellectuals. We even have them to thank for the invention of books. Who knew? For the first few millennia that people were writing things down, it was done on heavy stone or clay tablets, and then long scrolls that could stretch over 30 feet long. The Romans were the first people to create the very first bound books of stacked pages called a codex. Julius Caesar was known to make notebooks for himself, but they became really popular around 1 CE. The pages were first made of wax-covered wood tablets, then animal skin parchment, and eventually paper, which was invented by the Chinese. The codex was originally used as a log of laws and decrees made by emperors, but the Christians were early adopters of the process to produce copies of the Bible to spread Christianity. With great success, the invention of binding is considered the greatest advancement in books until the printing press, a huge win for the bookworms. Although the Assyrians had been using plumbing as far back as the 9th century BCE, it was the Romans a few centuries later who elevated, and in this case buried it, to another level. The Romans developed the first modern plumbing system, building aqueducts to bring fresh water into the city, and laying a series of lead pipes and large sewers underground to flush away waste. The Latin term plumbus actually means lead, or one who works with lead. The aqueducts, many of which stand today, supplied public wells, baths, and many homes throughout the city. After the fall of Rome, many of the countries that emerged were disinterested in maintaining the Roman standard for sanitation and cleanliness, and allowed the plumbing to fall into disrepair, making the population more vulnerable to outbreaks of disease. The Romans have a history of improving upon existing ideas. However, the concept of welfare stems entirely from the brains of forward-thinking Roman leaders. In 122 BCE, Tribune Gaius Gracchus instituted lex frumentaria, a law ordering the government to provide citizens with cheaply priced grain. However, it was two centuries later in 98 CE, under Emperor Trajan, that the first true welfare system took form. It was called alimenta, and it distributed funds to the poor and provided food for poor children throughout Italy. Proponents of Trajan's system point out that this period was a prosperous time. Citizens were treated with fairness, and the empire reached its greatest expanse. However, detractors feel that these programs were a drain on the economy, and were the reason that the empire began its decline shortly thereafter. During the first century CE, the Roman version of Leonardo da Vinci was living in Alexandria, modern-day Egypt. Hero was one of the greatest mathematicians of his time, and called the father of physics. He was interested in the practical uses of mathematics, which led him to inventing several items that were so advanced, people viewed them as miracles. One such invention was the first known vending machine in history, which dispensed holy water inside temples. Priests were apparently having trouble with their poorer patrons using up all of the holy water, and they were tired of chasing down these wet patrons for payment. So Hero invented a special kind of vase. Someone would drop a five drachma coin into a slot at the top. The coin landed on a tray, its weight slowly opening another slot that released the holy water. When the coin slipped off the tray, the water slot would close. The device not only gave temples an automated way to collect money, it became an attraction for the temple. Everyone wanted to see this miracle with their own eyes. To put this accomplishment in perspective, the first vending machine in the U.S. wasn't built until 1888. The practice of surgery existed long before the rise of the Roman Empire. There is evidence of a procedure called trefining, drilling a hole in the skull to relieve pain, being performed as early as 3000 BCE. However, as we've seen time and time again, just about anything people did, Romans did better. Archaeologists have discovered many surgical tools that the Romans developed as early as 79 CE that closely resemble their modern contemporaries, including scalpels, bone forceps, vaginal speculums, bone hooks, saws and levers, catheters, and more. Most of these tools and procedures were born on the battlefield, and being able to successfully treat previously deadly injuries gave the Romans another huge advantage over their adversaries. These tools helped the Romans master other surgical advancements like C-sections and even plastic surgery. It seems great, until you remember that general anesthesia wasn't available for another 1800 years. So, we've essentially learned that the minds of the Romans were like the bacon of the ancient world. Add them to anything and they enhanced it. And they're also amazing on their own. At this point, we wouldn't be surprised if the Romans invented brunch.