What the Ancients Knew - Rome

according to legend the city behind me was founded by an orphan suckled by a she-wolf he took his plow and marked out the limits of the settlement that would bear his name his name was Romulus and the city needless to say was Rome in the centuries that followed the Romans would spread their knowledge their technology their way of life across the known world it was the greatest and most enduring Empire the world has ever seen and some 2,000 years later it is a know-how that continues to astonish us in 753 BC Rome arose from the marshes of the Tiber River as an eternal student of history I'm awed by what the Romans accomplished using the most basic technology colosso doesn't even come close monumental buildings paved streets and apartment buildings a water distribution and sewer system that kept a million people healthy yet Roman technology built more than this city as the empire grew that technology spread shaping the ancient world and reverberating into ours to understand the role that technology played in building the Roman Empire I had to go far beyond the capital out to the frontier Rome was the heart of an empire stretching from Scotland to Syria Roman legions occupied one quarter of the world that would become 36 modern nations from these German forests on the northern frontier to the Indian Ocean military might shape the new world in the image of Rome here in Germany that history is alive across the country experimental archaeologists like these modern-day Romans search for clues to the Roman success down to the smallest detail reminders of the Roman occupation are scattered along the frontier they reflect far more than military conquest 2,000 years ago the Romans built a wall here and this modern reconstruction can give you a sense of the power of the Roman Way it was not just a physical barrier it was as much as anything the edge of an idea when Roman soldiers stood sentry here they looked out over a land of uncultured bogs and forests behind them on the other hand was the Roman world the legions marched for the glory of Rome and all that it meant towns and cities roads and baths organized and well trained Legionnaires carved the ways of Rome into the colonies crushing all who opposed them Roman military success relied heavily on the technology of others after centuries of warfare the Romans knew what worked much of the military equipment was based on designs adapted from their enemies their sword or Gladius was originally Spanish the shields were Samnite their armor was derived from a Celtic design the helmet was Etruscan with one exception the pyram was a Roman original what made it so special was the tip shapes like a harpoon it was designed to penetrate impossible to pull out an innovative design but first you have to hit the target yes thank you like this straight on punch straight on the target okay let's see how I go it's heavier yeah it's tougher than it looks now in slightly more expert hands this was an absolutely deadly weapon and this shows you why if it's thrown properly a Pilon will go straight through a shield and through the armor of the poor fellow behind it even if it doesn't it was very effective because as you can see here it lodges in the shield now a shield with a great big peel um hanging off it may as well be no shield at all Roman soldiers were well-trained in close combat to follow up the filum attack well north yet no but adaptability gave the legions another battlefield advantage take the Scorpio originally a Greek invention Roman innovations made it a highly effective weapon title around rope used here stores the energy the Romans used horsehair or according to legend even human hair for more power featuring a refined ratchet mechanism to control string tension and calibrated elevation the Roman version was extremely accurate organized into cruise Roman soldiers could deliver death more effectively than the barbarian hordes they faced if suppose Barbuda rappin using these adopted technologies combined with iron discipline and a systematic approach the Roman legions advanced the borderlines of the Empire the Romans excelled at drawing lines the line was at once a symbol and an instrument of their empire these latter-day Romans behind me here enthusiasts who attempt to recreate the lifestyle of the 32nd volunteer cohort and the reason why they're here is that this is the Salle Berg formerly a fort on the edge of the Roman world here was one of the most important lines the Romans ever made the Romans used rivers and coastlines to mark the line between their world and the Unconquered but in central Germany the local tribes fiercely resisted Roman rule so the Romans built a border that cut across 350 miles of forests and Hills a truly remarkable piece of ancient engineering this would be tougher in a suit of armor however I have just climbed one of Europe's most astonishing historical monuments this is the leamas the boundary wall that marked the edge of the Roman Empire and while today it might look like a large mound of Earth it is in fact one of the most astonishing monuments of the Romans engineering and building skill there's one stretch of the wall which runs for 65 miles with a deviation of only about 30 inches UO I find it tough enough to cut a roll of Christmas wrapper and keep it straight but the Romans could build an entire wall for many many miles and keep it as straight as an arrow the question is how did they do it Roman surveyors used an instrument borrowed from the Greeks the gromer a rotating arm supported a wooden cross from its for tips on two pairs of plumb Bob's the surveyor sighted across one pair to project a straight line at the net thumb assistance placed markers a sighting across the other set out a right angle which the Romans used to plan the city's arveleï from this was an inspired application of a basic principle for while the tools may have changed the concept of sighting along several points to create a straight line is still the basic idea behind modern surveying once the line was laid out special detachments of engineers began building the limits constantly on the alert for barbarians they would clear the forest and build fortifications every 800 yards they constructed a tower like this one for quick communication in the event of an attack eventually there were more than a thousand in areas where rivers didn't create natural borders the engineers built Palisades to mark the lemurs that sent a clear message private property no trespassing and to drive home the point they built forts every four miles 200 in all like the sail berg here in the tallest mountains near frankfurt germany roman surveyors looked for the most direct route between two points following that rule they built some of the fastest connections in ancient history the Romans built a vast network of roads many were very solid stretching from the farthest frontiers back to Rome roads were the veins and arteries that fed the heart of the growing Empire a close look at a section of one of their most legendary construction techniques and you appreciate the challenge Roman engineers had to be both creative and skilled when the Roman engineers built a road they built it to last this is the Via Appia the oldest and most famous of all Roman roads it runs from the heart of Rome itself all the way down the Italian peninsula a distance of more than 400 miles now the Roman engineers used local stones and he used the shape of the stone itself he'd fit them together as craftily and as cunningly as a jigsaw puzzle the tighter the fit the more the water would run off the longer the road would last road construction was based on a compact earth footing with retaining walls and a ditch on each side a small layer of stones in mortar was placed on top followed by a layer of hard filling probably gravel and finally finished with a slab surface just how much traffic this road carried you can see here from these groups which were dug into the stone by the thousands of wagons that passed along this way over the course of many centuries this was one of the arteries of empire it carried Goods ideas and not least armies building as they advanced the Roman legions forged the links that held the empire together the greatest structures of Rome were replicated wherever the Roman Way prevailed here in Rome it's easy to see why and how their success rested on another adopted technology the arch in its derivative the vault without them one of the greatest buildings would have been impossible to construct the size of a modern football stadium the Coliseum walls reach four storeys high if they'd been solid the walls would have collapsed under the weight of the enormous number of bricks it took to build them by using the arch Roman builders borrowed a Greek invention to distribute the weight here's why the arch is so effective from where the arch begins at the so-called Springer's wedge-shaped stones called loose wires are held in place by a central stone called the Keystone from here the weight is evenly directed down to the peers without the Arts there was no possibility of building a building as big as this one it would have collapsed under its own mess there's scarcely an exaggeration to claim that without the arch there could have been no Rome and if you step outside the city you can see just how important the arch was to the Roman Way of life the Aqua Claudia is one of nine aqueducts that together delivered 46 million gallons of water to the ancient city every day thanks to the arch the Romans were able to create a vast water system here at Rome's porta maggiore for aqueducts intersected before connecting to a labyrinth of lead pipes the distributed water throughout the city this is where the aqueduct ended but in Roman times there were similar fountains throughout the city and that there were so many was because they were absolutely vital to the functioning of the city only the very rich could afford water in their own homes so for Joe public or if you like for Julia's public this is where you got your water and that's not all Romy's and always was a sweltering place and this functions much like a giant outdoor air conditioner the fountains shoot water into the air the wind carries the spray in the spray calls the air it's a pretty refreshing side effect more than that they were vital to the maintenance of public health groundwater was a continual health risk and the water from the Tiber was absolutely filthy so this fountain and the many others like it kept the population healthy as the legions expanded the empire they followed a basic principle public health relied on clean water brought him by aqueducts supported by the arch the Roman engineers long association with the arch was more than just a marriage of convenience it was a love affair for wireless structure such as this one served an eminently practical function bringing fresh water to the city it did something more than that according to the historian Tacitus Rome's grand public works advertised Roman might and nowhere was this more true than in the colonies this scene behind me begins with the Romans the river is the Rhine and the city is Cologne its name and derivation of the Latin Colonia meaning city the city that was founded here by order of the Emperor after colonization city building was the next job for the legions because Roman soldiers were more than warriors most had learned a trade before joining the legions across the Empire the soldiers were the engineers and builders after 2,000 years of building and rebuilding only subtle reminders of its Roman history remain in Cologne like today there were sidewalks piazzas and fountains that made the city a home away from Rome for the colonists eventually fifty thousand would call cologne their home the key was water but not any water to get to the quality in quantity they required they built the second longest aqueduct in Roman history it can still be seen if you know where to look to span this valley with bridges like this one was far too expensive they came up with an ingenious solution this thing is an absolute marvel normally when we think of a Roman aqueduct we think of the vast bridges and spans that they put up across rivers and valleys but in fact it was much more humble structures such as this one which really did the heavy lifting to build this air quad up they dig a trench along the side of the hill following the contour but sloping slightly down they'd face the trench with bricks and mortar put up an arch and then bury the whole lot under the earth it all functioned like a giant fridge the water that flowed through here was kept beautifully cool so any citizen in Cologne was always guaranteed a glass of water that was cool fresh and clean before water quality tests were invented the Romans tasted and smelled the water they look for its effects on the people whether the hair was healthy and likewise their skin and teeth and if they'd grown old the water passed the test only then would the engineers lead the water into the city the city like this received hundreds of millions of litres of water through its aqueduct sand they had no tap no faucet with which they could turn it off so the water had to go somewhere and this was the Roman solution if we're going to understand how the city up above worked we have to start here down below this is Roman plumbing but it's much more than just plumbing it's absolutely astonishing we'd call it a storm water drain but to the Romans it was far far more than that because these drains run for hundreds of meters under the city straight as an arrow dropping a few centimeters every few hundred meters it was a system of astonishing efficiency and it was this that stopped the city from flooding and from choking on its filth the Romans established a high standard of public health across the Empire the Roman world continued to expand as the legions pushed the border further north following the Ryan they established the northernmost entire city at Xanten at the archeological park that's here today research scientists and fans of Roman history are keeping the legacy alive part of their research is dedicated to understanding just what made the Romans so successful in an effort to learn as much as possible about Roman technology they conduct some fascinating experiments like reconstructing this model of a Roman catapult called a ballista assembling this war machine is something they only do once every few years we were lucky to be here even though no one was certain whether or not it would shoot but one thing became quickly apparent the Romans had a lot of muscle our guys needed a forklift this is the weapon of mass destruction of the ancient world it's an exact reconstruction of a Roman ballista or catapult and like so much Roman technology the invention is Greek the perfection of that technology is Roman essentially the principles and materials are relatively simple the principle is one of tension and the tension is stored in these ropes in this case hemp but we know the Romans use sinew which are wound tight and maintained in the state of constant tension by this brass drum and steel bar this is the sling that fired the projectile it's made of sinews like these ropes here that keep the tension stored in the machine it is if you like a colossal bowstring which was wound up and then released just how much force it maintained can be sensed from this arm which apparently was one of the wearing parts of the machine it would regularly give way and shatter like this so it was a dangerous machine for the crew but far more dangerous for the people in the firing line our modern-day Romans came prepared complete with helmets and armor and even the Latin commands but it's re at palace Tom what we're gonna do now is we're gonna fire a Roman catapult and us I forget the now they're winding up the tension they've got a hell of a lot of force in this thing they're creating a huge amount of pressure by cranking it up at the back here intended er this sled is coming back and these are the levers that pull it back every time the increasing the tension and they can calculate or less exactly how much force there is in this by counting the number of ratchets so each click cleans another few yards and a few more dead barbarians it's very very tight this thing is going to go off like whoa give it one more now we put the ball in it's just a simple leather sling now we're going to fire it oh yeah let's go that is absolutely unbelievable if you know if you were taking on the Romans you've effectively seen the equivalent of the ancient b-52 10 Peter at yak Dom this is the Roman version of a cannonball it weighs about eight pounds and this machine could hurl this ball a distance of about a quarter of a mile no European army would have anything as destructive as this until the age of cannons and gunpowder but believe it or not this is a relatively small example we know that when the when the Romans took Jerusalem they fired balls weighing up to 30 pounds into the city the part of what made it so effective so deadly as a weapon was its psychological impact when this thing landed being made of light limestone it would shatter sending a cloud of shrapnel into the defenders of the city it was a weapon of shock and awe shielded by a city wall and guarded by a legion the military founders made sure their new home was a reflection of Rome I walked across the park to a place where Rome's influence on the city planners clearly left its mark the building behind me may look like an enormous greenhouse but it is in fact an exact replica built on a one-to-one scale of the outline of a Roman Baths the ruins of that bath lie beneath public bathing was at the heart of the Roman lifestyle and this bath out here in the colonies is designed just like the great baths in Rome bathing consisted of a specific routine performed in various temperature zones ranging from cold to a very hot 120 degrees Fahrenheit it was all done with an innovative heating system called a hipper cost I met with dr. Norbert ceiling director of excavation at the Xanten park to learn more about the Roman heating system what are you going to show me I want to show you our buff this room is one complete HIPPA cost in Roman times of course what you see here is just a reconstruction of it so this is just part of general HIPAA costume that originally would have been in the whole room is that right yeah that's right does this rate is a large one or is it a small one it's a large one this is a big one and is this pattern of construction typical of a HIPAA course yes quite typical you can find it everywhere in the Roman world and this is how the Roman heating system worked in a HIPPA cost literally translated the fire beneath it was heated in the water cold burning furnace and erected under a floor raised on small pillars clay pipes were built into one or more walls and as the warm air rose both the floor and the walls heated up it took a lot of time to make it hot but when it was hot it stayed hot its statehood so in effect what you're saying is that this was a very thermally efficient system it was the others furred regardless of where they went bathing was a crucial component of the Roman way of life but I wanted to find out for myself just how well the hipa core system worked visiting the archeological park in Sandton was like stepping back into roman times but when it comes to understanding history nothing beats first-hand experience Xanten offered a rare opportunity thanks to a reconstructed private bath I was curious to find out what made the Roman baths so special and when the management offered to heat up the Xanten bath the parks architect dr. Peter Kinsler was only too happy to join me yes of course that's what we have to do here so the Romans bathe completely in the nude yes exactly we do it the same way not a Rome but also here in Sandton and we're going to do as the Romans did yes wherever the Romans went to see brought their culture wisdom and Barling is very much a part of the Roman culture it was more than just a place to wash up Romans went to the bath to relax and socialize bathing was at the heart of Roman city life this was going to be a treat I had a feeling Peters Roman bath clothes would come in handy given the hot floor entering the hot room I was surprised how much heat the HIPAA course could generate Peter pointed out an essential component the Romans invented double pane blazing as I had an outer pane and an inner pane and keep the heat in the room and this would serve to keep the brain warm all through the year yes exactly so you could even have a glass in wintertime everything was in here very nice and warm can we give it a try yeah let's drive the lovely warm bath Peter is that heated by the same system that heated the floor in the world yes visit estudio over there yes to no openings total exactly the amazing thing about the HIPPA cost is that while it hits the floor in the walls it also hits the bathwater a hollow receptacle called testudo sits directly over the fire in the furnace it opens into the bath and by way of convection the cold water sinks and the hot water rises the cold water circulates into the furnace where it is heated and then flows back into the bath a clever adaptation of a basic scientific principle what most astonishes me is the sheer effort they put into having a good bath the energy the technology the time and the money that went into having a bath why was that well it's not just power of the college it's not just part of the social life it's very much part of my journey so it's an issue of public health as much as anything else exactly Roman ingenuity built more than baths and aqueducts across the empire engineers created the infrastructure for a way of life a life of health and prosperity Arnon elsewhere in the ancient world Rome was everybody's role model whatever was served in the capital was also on the menu in the colonies olives from northern Africa or tropical fruits and even rice was found in a well near by the Romans relied on a vibrant trade all the way to India and China and trade spiked innovation and technological transfer Roman trade stretched from China to the British Isles but whether by land or water all routes led to Rome Rome established Ostia as its main port in the 6th century BC just 20 miles west of Rome on the Tiber River Ostia became Rome's first colony in this major supply center the good life meant good business for its 50,000 inhabitants Ostia boasted all the comforts of a Roman city including dry cleaners and City avenues lined with multi-story apartment buildings as well as a sewer system and another Roman convenience public latrines must have been a little crowded in Ostia as many markets everything changed hands from food and everyday household goods to luxury items technology alone won't make you rich for that you need organization and just what formidable organizers the Romans were you can sense here this square is known as the Piazza of the corporations so-called because each of these niches belong to a group of merchants who function exactly like a modern corporation or shipping line specializing in particular routes and commodities from particular parts of the Roman world this niche belonged to the merchants of Carthage who brought wheat from North Africa there are others for French merchants where they bought wool still others for Arabians bringing dates and other Eastern luxuries produce and merchants from all over the Mediterranean world in warehouses like these goods were marked and stored perishable items were placed in dahlia like these dug into the ground to keep them cool simple but effective technology like this brought wealth into Roman households into a world with an ever-growing hunger for the good life and to meet this growing demand the Romans began to think about scale in the modern world we associate the idea of mass production with the name of Henry Ford but the Romans had a similar idea a long long time ago this is a flour mill one of a dozen or so that once ground flour together in this room the way it worked was this the whole wheat was poured in the top and the mill turned around through a system of rods and levers that fitted into these holes the ground flour would then pour out from down below this ostia flour mill was pretty big at the time but in the province of Gaul the Romans made a giant leap at barbegal near modern-day Isle in southern France the Romans created one of the first prototypes of industrialization a water-powered flour factory guided not over one but sixteen water wheels in two parallel rows of eight the water dropped from one wheel to the next what made it even more efficient was for once a distinctly Roman invention the overshot waterwheel it utilized water eight times more efficiently than the traditional undershot waterwheel with this mill the Romans could produce enough flour to feed the entire population of ancient are a minimum of twelve thousand people every day here in Ostia large volume and lower costs meant more profits and as the Empire spread more people enjoyed the Roman lifestyle but the concept that increased food production propelled yet another industry clay drinking cups were common in ancient Rome but the coarse clay soaked up tastes and retained odors absorbing oils and juices it provided a breeding ground for bacteria class on the other hand was odorless tasteless and hygienic so once glassblowing was discovered around 50 BC in one of Rome's other colonies modern-day Syria the process spread across the empire in just 40 years and a new industry was on the rise countless Roman glass artifacts found in the Cologne area indicate the city's past as an epicenter of glass production traders carried glassware from Cologne throughout the empire it soon became another mark of refinement for the Roman lifestyle in order to understand how the Romans met the demand we asked a modern glassblowing company to demonstrate the Roman technique even today glass is blown basically the same way the ancient Syrians did it put a blob of melted glass on the end of a long tube blow air down the tube until a bubble is formed here is where the Romans introduced a simple but ingenious innovation rather than shape the bubble by hand they used a mold with a mold a team of glass makers could turn out large volume at high speed the molds are now often made from metal the Roman production concept has changed very little 2,000 years later the Romans still contribute to meeting the demands of the marketplace but the Romans did more they refine the material by inventing techniques to create some of the finest treasures of the ancient world like this masterpiece to this day experts can't agree on how it was made one researcher experimented for over 40 years he believes he's found the answer through innovations like using a mold in glass making the Romans raised a simple handicraft to industrialized mass production long before Henry Ford to understand how the Romans achieved their technological edge researchers analyzed contemporary analogues and reconstruct remnants of their culture still some of their most stunning achievements remain a mystery like this marvel of Roman craftsmanship called caged glass fowl not in Rome but in tombs along the border they are luxurious in their detail but their purpose remains clouded however researchers believe that if they can determine how cage glass was made they will learn more about the craftsmen and the ancient Roman civilization that supported them I went to see a man who has spent 40 years of his life searching for the lost Roman technique Joseph felt Saul uses tools that are in essence the same as those used by the Romans all he's added is electricity in cage glass a lace-like layer is supported above an inner core by small struts there are several theories on how cage glass was created and hair veldt cell has experimented with them all he spends hundreds of hours creating replicas while searching for the final answer we're one yes yes this is making me extremely nervous because if I make one mistake here then her Versalles going to be very upset with me and secondly makes me think of the dentist some of his colleagues believe that the Romans made the basic form by blowing one glass into another her volts of doesn't agree when he replicated an earlier Roman treasure the famous Portland VARs her vessel found a clue the Portland VARs is decorated with figurine cameo cuts cameos were a popular Roman jewelry technique so hair veldt soul is convinced that not glass makers but jeweler's had the skills and tools to create these treasures in his opinion Roman craftsman made Cage glass by cutting away from the surface of a thick-walled vessel to create the two layers by creating replicas of Roman objects we can learn a vast amount about the technology that went into them the only thing hard enough to cut glass is a diamond and we know for a fact that the only diamonds in ancient times came from India so to make this the Romans had to sustain a traffic that went many thousands of miles to the east and then there's the sheer laboriousness of the exercise this requires many many months of skilled labor we learned from that that the Romans use the technology not only to make their life safer and easier but more comfortable this is not a necessity it's a luxury the whole point of this object is this if you've got it you flaunt it and it went further than personal possessions the Romans used their skills for yet another effect intimidation frontier settlements like Xanten relied on it the legions stationed here were often outnumbered by the local Germanic warriors ten to one to compensate researchers believe the Romans augmented their superior training and war machines with another strategy psychological warfare what made their technologies such an effective tool of empire for the Romans was not just the technical difficulties that enabled them to overcome but its political even its psychological impact the ability to build big to build a building such as this one made a massive impact on the Germanic tribes that lived in these parts in effect it said we are the Romans this is what we are capable of and we're here to stay the message is unequivocal any barbarian that takes on the Roman Empire is a very silly barbarian Zann turns Harbor Temple is a clear statement the Romans firmly believe their structures embodied the power and glory of the Empire and along with temples arenas spoke of Roman might and engineering superiority no colony was complete without one but I was interested in the more practical side of the big building strategy how'd they do it eventually a replica in the park gave me the answer the drum crane was an essential tool in the Roman build big strategy through an ingenious system of pulleys and winches this remarkable machine reduced lifting force at every stage if lifting 4000 pounds the first two pulleys with five rollers each divided the force needed by one-fifth the well drum divided the force again by five then the winch reduced to one tenth so four Romans each using only four pounds of lifting power could easily raise four thousand pounds of whatever using this astonishing machine here is the ingenuity that gave the Roman architect so much muscle with this he could think and build big Roman builders were also incredibly adaptable they built what was needed with what they had that wasn't always an easy task Roman buildings meant solid painted walls and ceramic tile roofs the model was Rome on the frontier traditional building materials were difficult to come by and expensive to import so to meet the colonists expectation to live in the Roman Way Builders had to be creative architect and researcher Peter Kinsler pointed out some evidence of just how innovative the Roman builders had been at Xanten Peter how old is this wall well this walls probably built being built in the second century AD so what you can see here it's the foundation and then you get the outer surface ah so originally this wall was entirely covered with the stones like this exactly you've got stones like this row by row and this is just a core why didn't I just build the wall of stones well it's far too expensive and it takes far too long what you do is you build up a phase of stones like this and then you pour in Roman concrete called aposematism behind mm-hmm here like in so many Roman constructions concrete was the key they used it everywhere for anything perhaps what makes it one of the Romans greatest inventions is the adaptability of the recipe the first most important ingredient is lime such as a limestone and the limestone is burned in a furnace and what you get is quick lime this powder with quick lime you add water and then you get slick lime or lime putty the next step is you add sand if you mix it up that's a basic mortar in Roman times now is this waterproof this is not waterproof in Rome builders discovered that using pots alone in cash from a nearby volcano made the concrete waterproof so without volcanic ash frontier builders had to change the recipe they came up with a splendid idea now what you have very often is broken tiles right so you can melt iron and use it a second time you can melt glass use it a second time but you cannot reuse fired tiles what they did was actually to grind the tiles and you have broken tile material just very fine and you added you mix that in and that does the same job as pozzolana exactly what you get is a hydraulic lime motor and this hydraulic lime motor it's waterproof you use it for basins or aqueducts and you can use it for foundation walls it might not look like much but this stuff is quite literally one of the building blocks of Empire scale efficiency innovation and don't forget shock-and-awe were at the heart of roman empire bill and though these ideas were manifested on an impressive level in the colonies the city of Rome was the benchmark for everything little wonder that it was there that Roman technology and innovation reached their peak technology alone wasn't enough to build the Roman Empire it took more it took ideas while the colonies mirrored Roman ways the standard was always set in Rome it was there where some of the biggest ideas about scale innovation and organization took shape the Coliseum is the largest of 186 Roman amphitheaters we know and it is certainly the most impressive it was here where technology supported a darker side of the Roman lifestyle at the games the gruesome spectacle stays in this arena included slaughtering humans and animals by the thousands call it PR for the empire at the Colosseum the Romans showed off their might it would take years of patient research to uncover the clever system the Romans used to produce their festivals of shock and awe we are here in the basement maybe I was a big bubble from the system dr. Heinz Jurgen Bester was always fascinated by the Colosseum and its bloody history for 80 years he researched written records and studied Clues left in the ruins trying to understand the role technology played in the horror that took place here his search led him to the Coliseum basement and some intriguing grooves in the walls we are here of the right side the small corridors and here came animals and we am here one place for the English when he pieced together the puzzle a startling picture emerged the grooves supported a system of winches used to lift bears and wolves and yes lions and leopards onto the arena floor trap doors opened that became Rams for taunted animals to charge up and join the spectacle their ingenuity can be found in every detail and we of years of are insured banks for the bench beautiful yes bill Astoria the pillar would rest in here how did it turn around with the vet dr. Bester explained that the base of each winch was round and so was the bottom of the pillar they touched only in one tangent point making it easier to turn the pillar and lift the weight off wider so it would swing around beautifully smoothly brilliant really dr. Bester developed sophisticated graphics that reveal the secrets of the system like clockwork eight workers on 28 winches 256 people in all rechoreograph Tanna system including pulleys levers and ropes that raise 28 cages in split second intervals sliding their deadly Freight up from the basement to join the horror taking place above we have here the next slide ah pause of all icy nicey for the cage huh yeah this is the slide yes up which the cage would yes yeah so every ten yards the whole thing was completely symmetrical so all the way around I've never been in a building that aroused such mixed emotions on the one hand this is a place of awesome colossal beauty and then there's the thought of what actually happened here the blood the cries the fear and the pain this basement was if you like the special effects Department of the Roman world the special effects for a horror movie the difference being that here the horror was real well for their ability to adapt simple technologies into complex systems created the foundation for the Roman Way and a standard of living unparalleled in ancient times Roman roads and bridges connected and created the Western world the Romans leave behind a legacy of grandeur and an appreciation for bold innovations whether expressed through architecture art or craftsmanship the Romans inspire us you can still hear the echoes and see the traces of ancient Rome we are all in a sense inheritors of the Roman legacy whether it's the necessities of our life or its luxuries in that sense it is fair to say that we are all a little bit Roman Oh Oh you

Channel: Mantikore420

Views: 588,435

Rating: 4.6917362 out of 5

Keywords: what the ancients knew, rome, roman culture, ancient, ancestors, history, Documentary, glass blowing, ballista, jack turner

Id: BNbGjI-MEXE

Length: 49min 31sec (2971 seconds)

Published: Sun Dec 30 2012

Reddit Comments

[u/DoingIsLearning]

Thank you for sharing, it was a good watch and good content!

[u/Kuzbell]

This is a pretty awesome documentary. Worth to watch.

[u/lerba]

The doc finished off leaving me confused with a roman soldier's hand gesture. Nevertheless a great watch!

[u/pele889]

That bath scene was real weird..