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Essays on ancient egypt's technologies
Technology in the Roman Empire
Technology in the Roman Empire
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Technology application of antiquity was so advanced in some areas that only in the last several centuries has modern technology overtaken what existed several millennia ago . The massive building projects of the Giza Plateau and throughout Egypt required heavy lifting and precision surveying technology that did not exist even 100 years ago . The military equipment of ancient Rome, such as artillery machinery, was still state of the art 200 years ago . Neither Rome nor Egypt invented much new technology , but rather applied existing technology in new ways. Application of technology expanded to meet the priorities of these two civilizations and innovative application of new technology came through exchange of differing ideas and strong motivation.
An analysis of ancient Egyptian and Roman civilizations shows how advanced technology application met state priorities. Egypt’s high value for mortuary monuments and temples drove massive building projects and the technology to enable them . The strength of Rome existed because of a relentless military campaign to expand the empire supported by broad technology. This analysis will limit coverage of technology to specific areas: building for Egypt and military for Rome. These areas match the main priorities for each civilization. The time period focus for Egypt is the 1,000-year period of the Old and Middle Kingdoms (2575 to 1640 BC) with an isolationist foreign policy prior to the Hyksos when external exchange of ideas was limited . The time period focus for Rome is the period from about 500 BC to about 50 BC when the empire was expanding rapidly and each new conquest brought new ideas and technology into the empire. The paper presents key Roman military technology and motivations, key...
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Livy’s The Rise of Rome serves as the ultimate catalogue of Roman history, elaborating on the accomplishments of each king and set of consuls through the ages of its vast empire. In the first five books, Livy lays the groundwork for the history of Rome and sets forth a model for all of Rome to follow. For him, the “special and salutary benefit of the study of history is to behold evidence of every sort of behaviour set forth as on a splendid memorial; from it you may select for yourself and for your country what to emulate, from it what to avoid, whether basely begun or basely concluded.” (Livy 4). Livy, however, denies the general populace the right to make the same sort of conclusions that he made in constructing his histories. His biased representation of Romulus and Tarquin Superbus, two icons of Roman history, give the readers a definite model of what a Roman should be, instead of allowing them to come to their own conclusion.
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The Romans invented and revolutionised many innovations and technologies. Although, of all of these innovations and technologies, only one has survived unchanged for over 2000 years. Hydraulic cement-based concrete is certainly the most significant ancient Roman innovation that has come to be. Ancient Roman concrete was significant as it was cheap, and allowed the ancient world to build greater infrastructure. This in turn vitally helped revolutionise trade and many regions’ economy. Concrete also allowed long-lasting and important health systems, as well as security systems to be put into place for ancient Rome, revolutionising both health and safety across the ancient world. On top of this, to prove the significance of concrete, it is still
Marcel Le Glay, Jean-Louis Voisin, Yann Le Bohec. A History of Rome. West Sussex, UK: Wiley-Blackwell, 2009.
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Shelton, J.A. (1998). As the Romans Did: A Sourcebook in Roman Social History. (2nd ed.) New York: Oxford University Press.
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3)Dionysius, Earnest Cary, and Edward Spelman. The Roman Antiquities. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard UP, 1937. Print.
The engineering discoveries of ancient Rome have played a key role in the history of architecture and engineering. Many of Rome’s roadways, bridges, and aqueducts have been in use from the first century until the twentieth century. Many American buildings have used the Roman dome. Several major structures from early Rome still stand, including the Collosseum. These remnants of feats of Roman engineering stand as a monument to the ability of ancient Roman builders.
The construction of the Great Pyramid is still a mystery and marvel to this day, there are seven major feats that archeologists still don’t understand.