The Aqueducts of Rome are civil engineering marvels. The eleven main aqueducts eventually had the capacity to bring somewhere between 600 and 1000 mega litres of water per day to the city. This is somewhere around 200 gallons of water per head of population every day – this is far more water than the average American uses today. But even in modern terms the Aqueducts would have cost an enormous sum to construct and in real terms it would have cost far more in ancient times to build them than it would today as they did not have the advantage of the huge leap in productivity that modern technology brings to the engineers of our world.

Moreover, the earlier aqueducts were built long before Rome became a world power. So why was it so important to have such an abundant source of water – brought from so many miles away to a city that sat astride a large river? The essential problem was that Rome is a city of hills and to haul water from the Tiber to reach a population of over one and a half million, spread over several square kilometres would have required enormous resources in slaves, mules or ox wagons. And as the city grew the river would become increasingly polluted and dangerous to drink.

So the question is – would Rome have been able to take its unique place in history, without the importation of water on such a grand scale? To provide an answer for this, we must first understand that any great city has a life force of its own, far greater than the sum of its constituent parts and in many ways the city acts just like an organism. In favourable conditions of reasonable security, it will grow unrestrainedly until it reaches the limit of the basic resources that its constituent population depends upon for survival, such as supplies of water, food, fuel, clothing and the availability of suitable land and materials for the construction of shelter and amenities etc.

In the pursuit of its manifest destiny and in order to rise above the status and size of just another typical well-to-do Mediterranean city-state of a few tens of thousand citizens, Rome had to secure and expand its sources of supply for each of these essential resources. As the power of the state grew, so did the city and thus it became necessary to seek ever more far-flung stocks of these vital commodities and facilitate their efficient delivery to the growing urban population and then continue to develop them progressively, as the state itself expanded its supremacy over the known world.

Unless this process had been embarked upon from an early stage, Rome would have stagnated, long before achieving world domination. There is still much remaining of these wonderful structures in the modern city and many other treasures beside, that celebrate the skill and and technical expertise of Roman engineers and architects. It is said that all roads lead to Rome – so take one of them. You owe yourself a visit

I was once a builder of bridges, waterways and roads, but now call myself writer. I have loved many cities and called several my home. But then there was Rome! Come visit my website http://www.how-to-make-mosaics.com and I shall show you all the wonderful treasures of the Eternal City.

Steve

Bone Thugs N Harmony – 7th Sign

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