How Did the Ancient Romans Manage to Build Perfectly Straight, Ultra Durable Roads?

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Күн бұрын

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In this video:
The ancient Romans were a people famed for their architectural prowess, something no better demonstrated than by their ability to build almost perfectly straight and incredibly durable roads spanning expansive distances. For example, in Britain alone, the Romans built well over 50,000 miles of roads with the longest ruler-straight stretch spanning over 50 miles. They did all of this in an era without modern surveying tools, construction equipment, or even very accurate maps of precisely where their destination was for many of the areas. So how did they do it?
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Sources:
www.jstor.org/stable/526811
www.historyrevealed.com/articl...
www.ancientpages.com/2017/08/0...
www.thevintagenews.com/2015/1...
www.romanobritain.org/12_innov...
www.romanobritain.org/12_innov...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_r...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twelve_...
www.romae-vitam.com/roman-roa...
www.historyhit.com/why-were-r...
www.atlasobscura.com/articles...
www.ancient.eu/article/758/ro...
books.google.com/books?id=7Nq...
www.todayifoundout.com/index.p...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_r...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milliar...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odomete...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antikyt...
books.google.com/books?id=6iS...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Po...

Пікірлер: 3 000

@TodayIFoundOut 4 жыл бұрын

Thanks again to Brilliant for sponsoring this one! If Brilliant sounds interesting to you, please do go help support Todayifoundout using this link: brilliant.org/todayifoundout Thanks!

@williamoldaker5348 4 жыл бұрын

fiddled is another term for molestation.

@timspellman47 4 жыл бұрын

You can do anything if you have enough slaves and are willing to throw endless amounts of human suffering at the project.

@gaebren9021 4 жыл бұрын

I noticed that you do, 'today I found out' about food. Are you able to do a 'today I found out' on Vegemite?

@moonwalkdreamer 4 жыл бұрын

And I pay for KZfaq Premium to avoid ads ☹

@cannibalholiday 4 жыл бұрын

When I signed up for Curiosity Stream I thought it would ask me who the referrer was, but it didn't :( So you guys didn't get the credit for it. Boo. Dad loves it. He's had a heart attack and a back injury this year and has spent a lot of time on his back watching historical documentaries, so it opened up a whole new world of stuff to watch. Another Nero story to recommend: When he had his men sabotage his mothers boat so he could kill her on her way home from dinner with him. It's covered in one of the lectures available from The Teaching Company :)

@Jasonrm92 3 жыл бұрын

These dudes built a footbridge like 5 mins from my house here in Scotland and it's still in perfect condition. Crazy.

@I_Art_Laughing 3 жыл бұрын

Watch how long it lasts when someone drives 20 tons across it going 80 kph.

@bobw1678 3 жыл бұрын

@@I_Art_Laughing Exactly what kind of vehicle traffic do you think a "footbridge" is designed to handle...?

@I_Art_Laughing 3 жыл бұрын

@@bobw1678 ever wonder which part got (edited) there genius? So they built a footbridge that lasted. What an engineering marvel.

@kvltizt 3 жыл бұрын

@@I_Art_Laughing Yes.

@I_Art_Laughing 3 жыл бұрын

@@kvltizt let me build a bridge that exceeds intended load capacity by 3000%, extremely hard, low deg. rock and a naturally stable foundation and call me an engineering genius in 4000 years...

@Azula01 4 жыл бұрын

When Romans declared that Rome will last thousands of years, they took it to heart.

@maymay5600 3 жыл бұрын

pretty much

@dejavu666wampas9 3 жыл бұрын

As opposed to Herr Hitler.

@paddington1670 3 жыл бұрын

@bmhiscd1 England has a ton of Roman stuff still. King Arthur's castle walls are still standing, I forget the name of that castle, the King Arthur story is just a myth though. Lots of stone circles and road markers all over the place too

@DainHunter 3 жыл бұрын

@@paddington1670 What happened to the world? In the past they made buildings and monuments that could stand thousands of years and was very pretty to look at. Today everything is made to break within 150 years xD

@bigmanbarry2299 3 жыл бұрын

@@DainHunter castles were made to last and be so strong because if they failed your friends and family living in it could possibly be slaughtered en masse. Many castles are now ruins and its only been a few hundred years, some haven’t even shown signs of aging. You are only seeing the things that survived, you dont see the countless things that didn’t because... well they’re dust

@markbaker5599 3 жыл бұрын

I was once on a job that got halted when we came across a roman road. To the untrained eye (like mine) it looked like a rocky strata. But once the guy pointed it out, you coukd see the camber on the road and the drainage ditches at each side. In fact one of the drainage ditches was still being used as a culvert that was running under the nearby A-road. Incredible.

@AngelRaivan8579-xh4fr 4 жыл бұрын

"Join the army" they said, "see the world" they said. All I've done is dug holes!

@hadoukan722 4 жыл бұрын

Then call me a shovel because I'm diggen it -DGR

@dewiz9596 4 жыл бұрын

Where’s my Condo? - Goldie Hawn

@chocolateteapot5162 4 жыл бұрын

Asterisk

@dougmartin2007 4 жыл бұрын

Strange that so many soldiers are doing the same thing now that the soldiers of ancient times did.

@nunyabiznez6381 4 жыл бұрын

Army Corps of Engineers. Not a new concept.

@Drew-Dastardly 4 жыл бұрын

Anyone remember "NERO Burning ROM" as the best CD ripper of the 90's?

@rich1051414 4 жыл бұрын

Yeah :) Software buffer that compensated for the anemic amount of ram they put in CD burners, which caused burns to fail far too often :)

@vooveks 4 жыл бұрын

I love a bit of mundane, geek nostalgia! Yes, I remember it. Seems so long ago that we actually burned CDs...And like the other guy said, the failure rate was high, plus some of those writable CDs used to 'go off' after a year or more and they wouldn't read. Good riddance to that format.

@drigorobot 4 жыл бұрын

NOW i get it! Damn 20 years too late. xD

@bryanbeck2144 4 жыл бұрын

@@drigorobot XD saaaame

@Menaceblue3 4 жыл бұрын

NERO burning CD program was one of the greatest things invented until higher security DRM came along. Also the DVD creation/editor was awesome when you bootlegged a movie on Kazaa and wanted to make a high quality DVD with menu controls and scene selectors!

@MichaelHarrisIreland 4 жыл бұрын

In Ireland, where the Roman's never reached, the Irish word for road is Bothar. Bo meaning cow and thar meaning west or sideways. Boreen means a small road, a cow facing head on or maybe just little. Driving cows on paths caused the name of what a road was. There are roads everywhere in Ireland but none are straight. We have a phrase "it's a long road without a turning" meaning life changes. I just thought some of you might enjoy that biteen of history.

@Claytone-Records 4 жыл бұрын

Michael Harris, Mighty fine. So, would you refer to them as cowpaths?

@Claytone-Records 4 жыл бұрын

alphadawn2015 lennon, It is an exercise for Sisyphos I suppose.)

@StoicObserverS 4 жыл бұрын

That is fantastic information. Thank you!!

@BeingFireRetardant 4 жыл бұрын

@@wkdravenna Because our women are so much better looking, obviously.

@wkdravenna 4 жыл бұрын

@@BeingFireRetardant that doesn't make sense.

@Jan-mu6vs 4 жыл бұрын

I've been to Italy many times and I can tell you they have forgotten about road quality all together

@giuseppemiosi3716 3 жыл бұрын

i'm italian and i can tell you all that the best roads we have now are the the ones built by the romans and survived

@user-cl7yr 3 жыл бұрын

Same in England, the A1 our main motorway is a Roman road

@SantaMuerte1813 3 жыл бұрын

@@user-cl7yr Nope, it's merely a modern road build where the Romans had build one first. Giuseppe probably meant actual surviving ones - without modern asphalt and such

@sacciuchi 3 жыл бұрын

Eh, romans had slaves, we don't. Romans could loot a neighbouring country and build whatever they wanted with the spoils or forced labor, we can't, it's kinda against EU regulations.

@user-cl7yr 3 жыл бұрын

@@sacciuchi bloody EU regulations, can see why UK left

@Raz.C 3 жыл бұрын

I had a teacher back in primary school who once told us that you could tell the difference between roads that were laid down by the Romans, vs roads that were made by the British. She said if the road was straight, then it was built by the Romans. It's been maybe 40 years since that day, but I never forgot that anecdote, for some reason.

@uweschroeder 4 жыл бұрын

I grew up in a town founded by the Romans and over 2000 years old. Interestingly enough, the Romans weren't only good at building roads, they also built a sewer and water system in that town which is used to this day and has less leaks than modern sewer systems. It was just declared a world heritage site and I had the opportunity to go down into the "catacombs" which house the sewer channels (essentially open channels in an underground tunnel). Very impressive - if smelly :-)

@Hellheart Жыл бұрын

Wow! How old are you!? What was Julius Caesar like?

@uweschroeder Жыл бұрын

@@Hellheart What does the history of the town I grew up in have to do with my age?

@Hellheart Жыл бұрын

@@uweschroeder it was a joke... I was reading the comment like you, too, were 2000+ years old. Hence, I asked, "What was Julius Caesar like?" Your opening sentence, in the comment, could be read like you were 2000 years old.

@Bolognabeef Жыл бұрын

@@Hellheart funniest German:

@Hellheart Жыл бұрын

@@Bolognabeef nice! 🤣🤣

@shananagans5 4 жыл бұрын

They clearly had the attitude of "Build it Right, Build it Once". Now the attitude is "That's Good Enough".

@peterknutsen3070 4 жыл бұрын

The attitude is that the next election is never more than 4 (or 5 or at the most 6) years away, so why should one think in the long term, as a politician?

@WilliamJones-Halibut-vq1fs 4 жыл бұрын

The Roman roads were pretty useless. 1 they were there to send soldiers from Rome to conquer, control and carry back tribute. 2 they led to Rome but were of little commercial use. 3 after the collapse of the Roman Empire the goths ran it for 250 years and increased GDP. Rome’s population fell from 2 million to 30,000. Rome was a parasitic state. 4 Roman roads were designed for soldiers on foot not carriages. All up up the roads were of little use.

@lodbldbol 4 жыл бұрын

Of course they'd make them build it right, they were using slaves

@WilliamJones-Halibut-vq1fs 4 жыл бұрын

Super1di0t They were not using “slaves” They were using a significant component “impressed labour”. It was drafted labour for sure that but paid and intended to be released at the end of the war. Some was indentured, people that had little choice but to sign up to to feed themselves or their family. Some were POW. One guy I knew that was one of these was a Serb who was arrested for handing out anti German leaflets at a railway station in Belgrade. He was forced to work on a farm. They clearly assigned people to jobs they were suited to or to ones they weren’t likely to sabotage.

@fatetestarossa2774 4 жыл бұрын

@David Murphy indeed : (((((((((((((

@porkyfedwell 4 жыл бұрын

Answer: by not allowing 80,000 lb trucks on them.

@jac981 3 жыл бұрын

Also a warm climate. Ice is a bitch on roads

@Fred_the_1996 3 жыл бұрын

@@jac981 not on stone roads

@SantaMuerte1813 3 жыл бұрын

@@Fred_the_1996 Especcially on stone roads as the water can go into the stone or inbetween the gaps. Once it freezes, the stones move apart or fracture.

@sinisterthoughts2896 3 жыл бұрын

@@Fred_the_1996 cobble and stone roads suffer the worst. Look it up.

@Fred_the_1996 3 жыл бұрын

@@sinisterthoughts2896 the cobble roads where I live aren't affected by ice

@dariusanderton3760 4 жыл бұрын

Imagine if the Romans had developed steam train technology. The possibilities are immense.

@andyman8630 4 жыл бұрын

they did invent the steam engine! but because of slavery there was no need for it to be developed into anything useful

@sanniepstein4835 4 жыл бұрын

They didn't have coal, did they? The wood required to run a steam economy would have been rapidly exhausted.

@andyman8630 4 жыл бұрын

@@sanniepstein4835 yeah, the Romans had coal

@barriflores4097 3 жыл бұрын

Or steam power wagons

3 жыл бұрын

@@sanniepstein4835 "Necessity is the mother of invention" They'd find something I mean the ERE figured out basically flamethrowers...

@gastropod557 4 жыл бұрын

"Take me Rome country roads."

@A._is_for 4 жыл бұрын

To the time of legioooons

@Mercilessonion 4 жыл бұрын

I belonggg, west Romanian, mountain Momma take me Rome

@hadoukan722 4 жыл бұрын

On a country roam

@dadillen5902 4 жыл бұрын

You are just a little sick and it love it. 😆

@bcubed72 4 жыл бұрын

You must be "Alpine Mountain High" to come up with that!

@gweetus 4 жыл бұрын

As someone that works in civil engineering, it’s surprising how many similarities there are between ancient construction and modern methods. Tech has improved, but some basics are very similar

@bobbyhempel1513 2 жыл бұрын

Interesting enough with all the advancements and technology the quality of workmanship has gone drastically downhill I'm guessing it has to do with the attitude of the workers.

@roguesgaminguk 2 жыл бұрын

@@bobbyhempel1513 I don't think that's true at all. It's easy to look back with Rose tinted specs and think worker attitude used to be better and work quality was higher, but if you actually think about the subject we have surpassed quality speed and efficiency a hundred fold. We have never been as rich, a advanced and as humane as we are nowadays. Remember 99%of the workforce were slaves or indentured civilians

@Kevin-fj5oe 2 жыл бұрын

@@bobbyhempel1513 man, you just romanticize the roman. We could make better stuff than the romans, but it's down on the design and money available.

@suepowell1979 2 жыл бұрын

Too many pot holes today

@Bobbythebuilder789 2 жыл бұрын

@@bobbyhempel1513 i agree before romsns took pride in there architectural designs and everything they built makes designs look like shit.

@Balrog-tf3bg 2 жыл бұрын

The main reason our roads don’t last long is heavy vehicles constantly driving over it, and water seeping in and freezing, thus creating potholes due to the asphalt being typically one large solid substance. If you’re using cobblestones there’s more room for water to freeze and expand

@wadeguidry6675 4 жыл бұрын

"On a long and Roman highway, East of Omaha" "You can listen to the Nero, Fiddle out as one long song....."

@alejandroaguilar4693 4 жыл бұрын

I read that one singing hehe

@johnbarber4549 3 жыл бұрын

Okay, that's good, really good. Thank you for that. Metallica did it better than Bob Seeger.

@kalebsut 3 жыл бұрын

Also works for hotel california

@johnmontt5285 3 жыл бұрын

@@johnbarber4549 shut your mouth n never speak on Segar like that

@MaryAnnNytowl 3 жыл бұрын

@@johnmontt5285 hey, no one said Seger sucked or anything. All they said was that Metallica did it better. That's a matter of taste, and not a knock on Seger. I love both versions, but the newer version is still my favorite of the two. Again, no knock on Seger. 🙄

@larryscott3982 4 жыл бұрын

1-2 meters deep hand dug is deep. That’s a huge volume of material.

@SonofSethoitae 4 жыл бұрын

Really though, if you have a few thousand men doing the work, each man only has to move a little bit of earth. The Roman legions used to build wood forts basically overnight Edit: spelling

@Claytone-Records 4 жыл бұрын

Matt TheChosen, Kind of like some of the stuff I did in the army.

@ErgoCogita 4 жыл бұрын

_"1-2 meters deep hand dug is deep. "_ Hand dug doesn't necessarily mean with bare hands. Still a huge volume but tools greatly expedite the process.

@Claytone-Records 4 жыл бұрын

ErgoCogita, Give me a shovel any day.

@larryscott3982 4 жыл бұрын

ErgoCogita Yes “by hand” meant absent power. Isn’t this pre Iron Age? So perhaps a description of the those tools. Bronze shovels and bronze picks? I know bronze tools were used in Egypt. Even slavery labor and criminal labor, it’s quite an achievement.

@iamzid 4 жыл бұрын

as a road construction worker i can say with fair certainty that the Roman method is better than current methods. the main difference is that typically new roads consist of sand covered with gravel and paved. starting with larger stones that get smaller towards the top layers would provide a superior base.

@shonifari5783 4 жыл бұрын

If you go in Italy you can find that the main highways of the cities have exits that are always called with a cardinal number. But given that these places names are so common I've never paid attention it. One example is Settimo Torinese which is in Turin and literally means Seventh From Turin and its because of the romans. Another one is Sesto San Giovanni which is in Milan. There are towns named like that everywhere and people rarely know why

@sempertemper6017 3 жыл бұрын

There are even too for the bridge s....nearby my house in centro of Italy there is a Town called pontecentesimo....It means that Is 100 th bridge from the Rome.....and i stay only 130 km at north of Rome in regione of Italy called UMBRIA

@davidgray3321 Жыл бұрын

Back in the 1960s when a little boy at private school in England, the teacher emphasised the brilliance of Roman road building including an explanation of the different materials used. The implication was clear, worthwhile Great societies build well. The British used to and an Indian gentleman I recently met said how good the old British bridges are in India. Now we struggle to run things in the U.K, as a society we are going backwards, you can see and feel it happening.

@clutchyfinger 4 жыл бұрын

The History channel should make a 5 part series about why it might have been aliens.

@5jerry1 4 жыл бұрын

~ Being the History Channel, it would wind up being about Hitler.

@cagedtigersteve 4 жыл бұрын

@@5jerry1 Hmmm. Interesting. So Hitler was an alien.

@Rumpleskin 4 жыл бұрын

Used to love that channel.now it's about aliens or how somebody smuggled Hitler to South America in their prison wallet

@nates9536 4 жыл бұрын

Hi, I'm from the history channel, don't mind me, just writing down all of these juicy facts from you experts and scholars

@xxkillshot5xx 4 жыл бұрын

Literally came to this video for this comment. xD

@JaelaOrdo 4 жыл бұрын

“I came, I saw, I built some awesome roads.” -Some Roman guy

@ottovonmlgbismarck9882 4 жыл бұрын

Augustus

@Alex-un1pk 4 жыл бұрын

-Appius Claudius Caecus

@eltyo340 4 жыл бұрын

slave*

@gortnewton4765 4 жыл бұрын

Jae Caesar "Veni, vidi, Alteras feci tanta viae."

@chrisl.5637 4 жыл бұрын

You're nearly right. its actually "Veni, Vedi, Concreti"! I came I saw I concreted.

@b.w.22 3 жыл бұрын

Visiting Italy, you’ll come across Roman things you’ve never heard of that will blow your mind. Like mount Sapon where they performed certain sacrifices and below it, where the fat and ashes mixed, they found certain waters cleaned clothes better. Yeah, they invented soap there and the way soap works is called “saponification” because of that mountain. But what staggered me was a time we were driving through a mountainous area and every so often you’d see one that was almost like the skeleton of a mountain with huge boulders all around. My mother explained to me that the Romans would bore tunnels all through the mountain, then divert a river into them and break the entire mountain up to mine what they wanted. This might not sound too crazy until you see the scale of what they could do. These guys could break up entire enormous mountains with their engineering.

@missmarasmenstrualmuffmunc2085 Жыл бұрын

On a side note the romans were the first civilization to change the atmosphere of the planet with their immense industry mainly mining silver, silver also has lead mixed in and scientists can take ice core samples and see a significant rise in atmospheric lead during the height of the Roman empire and a drop after its decline.

@missmarasmenstrualmuffmunc2085 Жыл бұрын

Ruina Montium. I fully believe that if the Roman empire would have survived the middle ages we would have colonized other planets by now. But humanity was not and is not to this day ready for unification, were too greedy and self centered. It's a shame out of the 1000 years of history of the western Roman empire all you hear about was the decadence of the last couple hundred. You don't hear about how western culture recieved it's military, industry, culture and government from the romans, you just hear about Nero and Caligula. It's a shame really.

@Paul-ou1rx 4 жыл бұрын

In hindsight, I can appreciate the foresight needed to accomplish this.

@kabkab8441 4 жыл бұрын

One day while walking along one of these roads I saw an ancient sign that read VII - XI. So I stopped in and purchased a Big - Gulp.

@azanathwhateley7235 4 жыл бұрын

@keirfarnum6811 4 жыл бұрын

kab kab You mean a gulpae magnum?

@varana 4 жыл бұрын

@@keirfarnum6811 Noun and adjective have to agree with each other, so either "gulpae magnae" (which is plural for some reason) or "gulpum magnum" (which sounds weird) or "gulpa magna" as a nice compromise. :D

@kabkab8441 4 жыл бұрын

keir farnum Thanks for the correction.

@BadgunmusicII 4 жыл бұрын

Μεγάλη γέλια - Google Translation

@CommonSenseBodybuilding 4 жыл бұрын

As a Brit who grew up with the classic Roman road stories THANK YOU for finally covering this.

@pmchamlee 3 жыл бұрын

Mr Whistler, I could [and have] listened to you for hours. Much obliged for your efforts. 🤠

@DenatiousT 4 жыл бұрын

It amazes me that you say “davinsy” then immediately correctly pronounce antikythera

@markbaker5599 3 жыл бұрын

I noticed that. "Davinsy"? Really? Who hasnt heard of da vinci?

@not2busy 4 жыл бұрын

I guess by now you're generally banned from any establishment hosting a quiz night.

@zadok23 4 жыл бұрын

And any general knowledge based game show.

@hatonhatsoff 4 жыл бұрын

zadok23 he could make so much money with his level of knowledge

@TannerSwizel 4 жыл бұрын

No one could ever fill Alex Trebek's shoes the day he is no longer Jeopardy's host, but Simon Whistler might be the closest anyone could get to filling Trebek's shoes.

@calichef1962 4 жыл бұрын

@@TannerSwizel Oh, yes! Simon would be a WONDERFUL Jeopardy! host once Alex decides to retire. Trebek has just battled cancer but I don't think he is quite ready to retire.

@mikaelgaiason688 4 жыл бұрын

He's reading information off a cue card that was researched by other people... Are you guys really that gullible?

@seancollings 4 жыл бұрын

How was the Roman Empire cut in half? With a pair of Caesars Edit: All those likes for a dumb dad joke....

@LuinTathren 4 жыл бұрын

BRILLIANT! I'm stealing this!

@JordanScottMills 4 жыл бұрын

Never heard it and not historically familiar enough with the roman empire to even know if its true but still got a good chuckle #dadjokeoftheyearnomination

@scotthappy6885 4 жыл бұрын

what the hell that joke was on a tv at my school during lunch on friday

@rogeriopenna9014 4 жыл бұрын

Caesar was a cognomen, with origin already not certain at the time of Gaius Julius, but suspected origin meaning exactly a c section, because the word means "to cut"

@rhodesianwojak2095 4 жыл бұрын

@@scotthappy6885 hm

@serbannicolau3489 4 жыл бұрын

"No one to conquer this year?! Then build a road!"

@Hermenie 3 жыл бұрын

Basically. The Hadrian wall was built because the emperor Hadrian knew that when soldiers get bored they get rowdy, and that tended to be bad for the locals. So to keep them occupied he made them build the wall. The same was probably true for roads

@SirWussiePants 3 жыл бұрын

Building roads was critical to conquering nations. So much easier to move troops and supplies than through forests and bogs

@megannewman8917 3 жыл бұрын

Larry Roux, you can't conquer the earth if you don't conquer the earth 😂🤣

@DainHunter 3 жыл бұрын

@@megannewman8917 haha i see what you did there

@thelonesomewanderer8359 3 жыл бұрын

the romans and ancient egyptians really were fascinating civilizations.. their craftsmanship is still unmatched to this day.

@lawrencetaylor4101 4 жыл бұрын

There is a Portuguese village near a stone quarry built by Julius Ceasar. They still use the bridge built by the Romans. They have other bridges built in the last 30 years that the same trucks use and have had to rebuild those bridges.

@profharveyherrera 4 жыл бұрын

5 minutes of Roman roads, 15 of Nero's history. I'm not complaining, I really enjoyed both!

@philloynes 4 жыл бұрын

Informative. I know loads about Roman times already, but learned loads from this.

@Loyudo2 4 жыл бұрын

Run tens of thousands of vehicles, many of which weigh over 35,000 pounds, going over 60 miles per hour every day and see how well they hold up.

@leowang8961 3 жыл бұрын

I get your point however our modern roads can't last over millennia like the roman roads, even in perfect conditions. also the Romans had underwater cement, and many other things.

@TheWeatherbuff 4 жыл бұрын

Are any of these dudes still around? My county apparently cannot fix the washboards on the dirt roads in my neighborhood. Excellent episode, Simon! Thank you.

@magistrumartium 4 жыл бұрын

I live in a city with bad roads, many pot-holes. Every spring and summer they fill in the holes and repave some roads. Every year. They don't do a good job like the Romans did. They don't want to, obviously. This way they can keep employing people to fix roads every year; they value the quantity of work, not the quality.

@TheWeatherbuff 4 жыл бұрын

@@magistrumartium I think you're right. Same deal here. I live in a rural area near Denver, and the roads are dirt because many people have horses. They don't want paved roads. Fair enough, but the county could run a blade over them once in a while and take out the washboards. My truck is going to rattle apart one of these days.

@dosmundos3830 4 жыл бұрын

21st century vehicles would pound the shit out of those old roman roads. lol

@celinak5062 4 жыл бұрын

@@magistrumartium Doesn't the US also have some weird budgeting laws And almost no gas tax

@efs83dws 4 жыл бұрын

Actually the gas tax pays for about 90 percent of new road construction and maintenance.

@ram.64 4 жыл бұрын

As a surveyor in the modern age, hearing the ingenuity of ancient world surveyors leaves me in awe. Being one of the most vital part of any construction, surveying is mostly overlooked in any analysis but this video makes an effort to point it out. 👍👍

@ian7666 4 жыл бұрын

Surveyors: Serveying is the most vital part of any construction Diggers: Digging is the most vital part of any construction Builders: Building is the most vital part of any construction 😬

@ram.64 4 жыл бұрын

@@ian7666 I appreciate what you're saying, I'm not trying to sound smug or somehow diminish the importance of the other processes. However, none of the construction steps you've mentioned can be done without a survey in place. Granted, digging in your back garden or erecting a shed might not require one (even though legally it is required in most places), but there's no construction happening if you don't know where the thing you want to build has to go. More than that, there's no design being made without a topographical survey of the location you're trying to build on. Obviously every job is important, but the point I was making was that surveying is mostly overlooked in cases like this and I am happy it was given some prime-time for once.

@neilgoodman2885 4 жыл бұрын

Mr. Whistler, Thank you so much again for sharing your brilliance.

@opinioncounts5490 Жыл бұрын

As it’s said, “if it’s worth doing, do it right” a good rule to go by. I was a engineer, and had a Swiss engineer here for observing our road construction for a couple weeks. The Swiss and Germany, have very few if any pot holes, as she stated the Swiss go down 12 feet, with layers of large and small rock, before the driving layer is finished. In US we are lucky to start 1 to 2 feet with very little base, giving us the famous “pot holes” we enjoy patching each year.

@FlintSparkedStudios Жыл бұрын

Major road on my commute was shut down last summer to be completely redone. They finished it in November. As of May, they are patching potholes in it already. 🙃

@johnn.2017 Жыл бұрын

Can't wait until we (here in Florida) start mixing in the radioactive waste from phosphate mining into our roads! Great solution for those companies to sell their radioactive waste. It's a win/win; what could go wrong?

@jmchez 4 жыл бұрын

"Decimate" has come to mean, "almost complete destruction". However, it meant to eliminate one tenth of something as in killing one tenth of garrison as punishment.

@christelheadington1136 4 жыл бұрын

So the true meaning is closer to the truth.

@keirfarnum6811 4 жыл бұрын

jmchez I can’t help but think that whenever it’s used incorrectly, as in “ the entire town was decimated!” And I’m like, you mean one tenth of the entire town was decimated?

@Dwayne_Bearup 4 жыл бұрын

@@keirfarnum6811 If the town was decimated then it was reduced by 1/10th. If 1/10th of the town was decimated then the town was reduced by 1/100th....

@TodayIFoundOut 4 жыл бұрын

@keir farnum But you see it's not used incorrectly. It is the people who say it's *only* correct if referring to 1/10th that are incorrect. While it is true that was once the definition, starting all the way back in the 17th century the generic “kill/destroy” definition started popping up and became quite common in the 19th century and on through to today (according to the OED). As for today, Oxford gives the following definitions for decimate: “to kill large numbers of animals, plants or people in a particular area. To severely damage something or make something weaker” Websters includes, among other definitions: “to cause great destruction or harm to.” The word has evolved its definition. :-) -Daven

@Alex.becker28 Жыл бұрын

Maybe it was actually used the opposite of what you explained. Instead of destroying 1/10th of something, perhaps it was used to describe when all but 1/10th of something was destroyed. Said differently, when only 1/10th of something remained.

@zionrios2205 4 жыл бұрын

Romans: builds perfectly straight 50 mile road without any accurate maps or proper surveying equipment Me: burns easy Mac for a third time

@briansinger5258 4 жыл бұрын

Dan Ryan Women were still cooking back then. (Another secret to a functional society perhaps. 🤷🏻‍♂️)

@MonkeyJedi99 4 жыл бұрын

@@briansinger5258 So were soldiers.

@eugenetswong 4 жыл бұрын

You didn't have surveying equipment or maps either. That's cool.

@MonkeyJedi99 4 жыл бұрын

@@eugenetswong Maps are just a drawing meant to represent the ground. - And no surveying tools? Every dangle a weight on a string (yo-yo even)? You used a plumb line. - Balance a stick on your finger? a level. - Hold your hand or finger up at arms length to try and see how big or far away something is? You just used a surveying tool. - pull a string taut between two points? Straight line tool. - - - You don't need leaser or devices with optical lenses to survey, not do you need anything much better than a lodestone and a reliable pace to make a decently accurate map.

@eugenetswong 4 жыл бұрын

@@MonkeyJedi99 I was just joking that Ricky Bobby burnt his cooking without the use of surveying tools. My humour isn't usually that good. That being said, I actually apprecite your explanation. It's good to know what can be done with simple technology and walking.

@marytataryn5144 4 жыл бұрын

@ 8:17 Wow, I didn't know a "mile" meant 1000 paces. Learned something new, yay! Thank you Simon's researcher! There are nuggets in all your videos guys. (@9:59 There are "way stations" in BC too. The town of 100 Mile House, 170 Mile House etc for resting the horses.)

@mangojulie123 4 жыл бұрын

DAMN! The massive amount of planning and work involved in that era just boggles the mind.

@cherrydragon3120 3 жыл бұрын

I mean... society was a thing. And with enough human minds working together instead of trying to kill each other all the time. One can achieve great things

@a_literal_brick 4 жыл бұрын

I like how you have a picture of a curved road for the thumbnail

@jaydoublegee2831 4 жыл бұрын

Well to be fair... 95% of Roman roads were straight, but at least 5% of their roads were gay, and a few were kinda questioning...

@DavidGarcia-oi5nt 4 жыл бұрын

Bet you'd know lots about that 5% struggle

@jaydoublegee2831 4 жыл бұрын

Mike Hunt Some roads were in the closet LOL

@samueljohnstone3028 4 жыл бұрын

You do know that it was the Ancient Greeks that invented the joy and art of love making, it was the Romans that invented it with women😂😂😂

@jacksons1010 4 жыл бұрын

@@DavidGarcia-oi5nt ...says the guy who's YT name suggests...yeah. ;-)

@celinak5062 4 жыл бұрын

Lol

@peterm.eggers520 4 жыл бұрын

Thanks, very much enjoyed this episode.

@stevecastro1325 3 жыл бұрын

When Simon says “corn”, he means the European definition of corn, which means most grains. Maize corn arrived after 1492.

@zenon459 3 жыл бұрын

Thanks

@jeffsmith8197 3 жыл бұрын

Good observation! Also, the Europeans got tobacco, tomatoes, coffee and cocaine, among many other things, from the Americas after 1492.

@Burt1038 3 жыл бұрын

Oh good, i thought he was referring to Korn, the band.

@Dunkelzeitgeist 3 жыл бұрын

Well yes because he’s European and this is about European history, see a pattern?

@shannonolivas9524 4 жыл бұрын

@4:37 "and cut the price of corn in half" Had to look this up. Apparently in British English "corn" is a general word for any type of grain, whereas in American English corn refers specifically to maize. In Warhammer English, Khorne refers to something else entirely.

@TodayIFoundOut 4 жыл бұрын

That's actually how maize got the alternate name corn. :-) -Daven

@shebbs1 4 жыл бұрын

Even better: all grains can be used to make beer! 🍻

@cshairydude 4 жыл бұрын

And in metal English Korn is something else again.

@johnb166 3 жыл бұрын

@@TodayIFoundOut"14:38, he said corn!!" Definitely sent me down a rabbit hole trying to figure out how he could get that wrong. Did not realize corn does not mean maize.

@wesleytownsend8214 4 жыл бұрын

This channel never ceases to amaze me. It has been in my top 3 creator list for a long time. Super impressed again. Thank You! All the best to you and yours!

@SentientHoodii 4 жыл бұрын

"what's your favourite song?" "1, 000, 000 paces"

@SirWussiePants 3 жыл бұрын

I would walk 500,000 paces and I would walk 500,000 more

@JK-ff6zc 3 жыл бұрын

Thank you for these excellent videos. I wish they were required viewing for all politicians making "infrastructure" decisjons.

@XxCrescentxXYoutube 4 жыл бұрын

I love learning everything about ancient Rome, can you please make this a series? You go into so much detail and I appreciate that.

@Expat47 4 жыл бұрын

We stood on a part of Via Egnatia in Northern Greece just last month. You could still drive it today.

@MrAmptech 4 жыл бұрын

As long as you use those roads at a horses walking speed they are fine. They are quite bumpy. A modern smooth surface creates a sealed top which suffers from the changes in temperature and humidity.. Particularly in more polar locations which have water freeze in the small cracks.

@dockaos924 4 жыл бұрын

The earth was flat in roman times, they would find it more difficult now that the earth round

@Arterexius 4 жыл бұрын

Nah, the earths shape was mostly agreed to be round. Even the ancient greeks thought so

@benkeller6027 4 жыл бұрын

If you ever read a history book, you would know that the 'ancients' had very advanced knowledge and already were upto date concerning astronomy and an awareness that the Earth was round and was not the centre of the universe. The Roman Church/Established Religion wanted a dumb populace to live in a denial of reality and accept the apparent 'truth' according to a 'holy scripture' that was written long after the supposed life of their 'messiah' to establish a society easily moved by words from dead men.

@jamest39 4 жыл бұрын

If the world was not round why was Atlas depicted holding a globe on his shoulders?

@hadoukan722 4 жыл бұрын

@@jamest39 What does it feel like to have the whole weight of the world on your shoulders? Atlas shrugged

@Zman44444 4 жыл бұрын

Ben Keller to pick your brain, how intelligent do you think the ‘ancients’ were...? Because fuck... the pyramids are a thing still... Roman roads... the Greeks measuring the earth’s circumference to be ~400 or so Km off. I singlehandedly believe that the fire to destroy the Library of Alexandria really took out a chunk of how much we knew about them. Edit: Sorry to rant, but didn’t the Greeks (don’t quote me) ask every ship entering a harbor for their books, transcribed them and made copies to collect?

@2degucitas 4 жыл бұрын

There are some roads in Edinburgh that are stone and still going strong.

@KyleInOklahoma 4 жыл бұрын

*_I love history~i live just couple of hundred feet from an 8th century Catholic Church. Was in use til recently when we got a bigger, granite Church._*

@davidstone9154 3 жыл бұрын

Sand (with filter fabric beneath it to keep the flora from growing up through it) crushed stone, and pavers with sand brushed into the joints is the best imaginable way to build a road or walkway or sidewalk. The same types of roads and sidewalks still exist from their original state all over the world. The Romans were very much THE pioneers of masonry work and techniques that we use today. The Roman arch is still used in the field of masonry in fact, and the key stone is of course what ultimately bears all of the weight of the arch and everything above. In my experience the lead mason is always the one to stand beneath the arch once the wooden arch brace is removed, and I have worked on many huge masonry job sites and never seen an arch fail!!

@CriticalRoleHighlights 4 жыл бұрын

To be fair, all you need in order to build a rudimentary straight road out of flagstones is two large nails and a very long piece of string. You put one nail where you start and another where you finish and just follow the string.

@jamesahern9864 4 жыл бұрын

How long of string, ropes or chains do you think they had? Even a 1degree difference at every "nail" would be a deviance.

@AdimasCrow 4 жыл бұрын

Not to mention wind

@scottmantooth8785 4 жыл бұрын

string is...MAGICAL

@pattygreen8064 4 жыл бұрын

@@jamesahern9864 they don't need to be long at all just need to stagger a second string so it run parallel to the first

@jkoeberlein1 4 жыл бұрын

I grewup in the country and we lived off a dirt road. It was graded just like a roman road with center higher than the edges with gutters on both sides. It lasted okay but a neighbor decied to grade it flat. Every winter after that the road became a quagmire in a couple of places. Those Romans knew a thing or two.

@mattm7220 4 жыл бұрын

I gotta be honest, I never once even considered that there was a literal interpretation of the phrase until Simon started talking about playing a violin - I always thought it was "fiddle" as in "to fiddle around with something"/"waste time".

@katherinetutschek4757 4 жыл бұрын

Yeah me too, like be idle or hesitate

@b.w.22 3 жыл бұрын

I think the term fiddle, as in violin, and “fiddling with something” come from the same thing. Like how your hands look when playing a violin is fiddling with it. Kinda funny how that came about, but curiously “fiddle” is an older word for the instrument than the word “violin” and what you use to play it is a “fiddlestick.”

@JuanRodriguez-km9hl 3 жыл бұрын

Great show

@chrisnemec5644 4 жыл бұрын

Re: The Gromer: there was a documentary a few years ago that compared the gromer to modern surveying techniques. The gromer was to determine a straight line between a point and 60 meters out. The gromer was only off by about 20 centimeters.

@con_boy 4 жыл бұрын

I spent years as a kid doing surveying and my dad was a great repository of good info.. I asked him about this.. he said a) basically three sticks on hill tops is all you need.. you make the middle guy walk back and forth etc.. b) measurements were transmittable.. the roman numerals were also visible at extreme distances and numbers could be passed back and forth easily.. i. e. XII can be made in a body shape.. with a simple sort of body shape you can effectively "talk" up 2 miles away.. (i.e with a confirmation being possible)

@neiltappenden1008 4 жыл бұрын

Still haven't a clue

@con_boy 4 жыл бұрын

@@neiltappenden1008 one roman goes to the horizon, one stays where he is, one goes half way, they communicate with hand signals and can even "demonstrate" numbers as numerals are body shapes. Then the rear most roman hops on past the two after lining them up. To help understand it, maybe you need to actually try doing a survey. It's obvious within about 5 minutes of not being in an office 2 mins.

@ReaperCH90 4 жыл бұрын

Have never thought of that, but this makes perfect sense

@b.w.22 3 жыл бұрын

I think, perhaps, some confusion is arising less from what you’re saying but from what you’re talking about: you say you asked your dad about “this,” but this video talks about all sorts of things, including Nero and the great fire in Rome! Are you describing how they made their roads so straight? Or how they went over mountains? It’s certainly interesting, but I’m not sure which challenge of road building this applies to. Maybe you were replying to someone else and it became its own comment? I do like the notion that Roman numerals are easily mimicked with a body: Is this something your father intuited or did he learn about it somewhere?

@con_boy 3 жыл бұрын

@@b.w.22 my point is: the Romans had an entire holistic system for EVERYTHING except mass production. It was based on practicality in a largely illiterate world, but where the "standard narrative" that get parrotted (as nauseum) breaks down is where people, who've never been outside and done a hard day's job, or trekked anywhere dangerous, assume woeful platitudes about the hard core world conquerers who all still had the same IQs as today.

@voleNTV 4 жыл бұрын

Alright Simon. After a couple years watching this channel and Biographics and TopTenz I've finally subscribed. I finally remembered too. Appreciate all thr useless trivia you've given me. Cheers!

@MultiSciGeek 2 жыл бұрын

Fascinating!

@TheGodlessGuitarist 4 жыл бұрын

One of the coolest thing I have done to date is stand on the marble Roman road leading from Ephesus to its former bay, where you can still see the marks of the chariots in the road. It is a remarkable experience. You feel strangely connected to these people of the past. I also have one of the major Roman roads of Britain running right past my house :o)

@TheMattc999 4 жыл бұрын

That is pretty amazing how modern that really is. They built their roads, then the horse stations and inns pop up along the route, followed by carriage repair shops, and eventually entire towns being developed along the road, initially to built to serve those using the roads, entirely due to the roads. That seems to be a thoroughly modern concept, and here the Romans are perfecting it 2000+ years ago. Amazing.

@duanesamuelson2256 3 жыл бұрын

It happened long before Rome also...a trade trail from point a to point b...some enterprising person or group starts an inn or ferry (basically a raft with ropes to pull from one side to the other) to relieve traders of a few mass produced flint tools...

@angxliiceditz2504 2 жыл бұрын

Wow! This is so cool, super sick omg 😎😎

@Bobrogers99 4 жыл бұрын

You covered a great deal more than the title. I won't comment further on that. It's interesting that so many modern roads are lacking in durability and would never last 100 years, much less 2,000 years, without frequent reconstruction. To be sure, megaton trucks didn't use Roman roads, but a bigger factor is cost. The Romans had millions of workers, both slaves and idle soldiers, to make the base really deep and solid, and they didn't have to pay for seizing land by eminent domain. Today's roads are often built by the lowest bidder as cheaply as possible. And it shows. I've also observed that a typical highway overpass has a lifetime of about 50 years, whereas there are Roman bridges that are still in use today.

@kingslushie1018 4 жыл бұрын

Holy shoot I was JUST DOING research in Roman road building yesterday!!!!

@cmdraftbrn 4 жыл бұрын

*queue xfiles*

@kanyekubrick5391 4 жыл бұрын

*holy shoots*

@vguyver2 4 жыл бұрын

I wish you success. I am constantly amazed at their designs for durability. Even there walls and sewers are still functional today even past two thousand years.

@Claytone-Records 4 жыл бұрын

Where was this?

@kingslushie1018 4 жыл бұрын

V Guyver thank you! I appreciate the support.

@TheEDFLegacy 4 жыл бұрын

That wasn't a bonus fact... That was a second episode! Thanks for the very detailed information on Nero!

@donwall9632 4 жыл бұрын

Great stuff

@carlthornton3076 3 жыл бұрын

Very Good!!!

@charlesdeens8927 4 жыл бұрын

It always amazes me how fast you guys pump out such informative and well researched content. Thank you for your brilliant channel.

@scottmantooth8785 4 жыл бұрын

you can do such things with an an amazing talented staff that possesses an exceptional degree of extreme cleverness

@ploxxybb 4 жыл бұрын

they should teach illinois how to build roads

@tylerchaney1533 4 жыл бұрын

Wisconsin too!!!

@BothHands1 4 жыл бұрын

Same with Florida. Our highways have been a mess for years now, completely destroying my tires

@whirving 4 жыл бұрын

Romans weren't allergic to taxes like we are in the USA. Roads are expensive and don't pay off in the short term, but look what the Freeway system did for commerce in the US and how the Autobahn (the first modern highway system) affected Germany.

@christelheadington1136 4 жыл бұрын

@@tylerchaney1533 ...and Ohio, and the rest of the Midwest.

@ianpage2509 4 жыл бұрын

As a resident of Illinois I think they aught to teach how to not have corrupt governors

@neophytealpha 3 жыл бұрын

Autobahn and US Highway system use similar ideas, with mile or Kilometer markers, rest areas, etc. Interstate highways have rest areas every 50 miles. Also certain areas are made straight on purpose.

@42Oregon Жыл бұрын

The Sign works and Simon says DaVinci wrong. OG Whistleverse content here!!

@JeremyWS 4 жыл бұрын

I really like watching your videos. I always learn something new. Did you know that the names for the majority of imperial units come from Rome? This includes: mile, feet, pounds, gallons, etc. It is kind of interesting the history of the imperial units. I do like that system.

@sempertemper6017 3 жыл бұрын

@Anthony even soldier came from Latin soldo that Is even a italian Word for cash dinero.....

@sempertemper6017 3 жыл бұрын

@Anthony then words Chester from castrum.....history from historia.....names from nomem......65% of anglo Saxon words come from Latin.....

@Peizxcv 4 жыл бұрын

Ancient Near East, India and China all have similar paved roads as Rome. I wonder if the construction is the same just differs on material available locally.

@madogthefirst 4 жыл бұрын

Even Roman roads differed based on what materials were in the region.

@dougmiles1058 4 жыл бұрын

If all three were indeed building roads using the same technology, the former Persian Empire, bordering both China and India, becoming the Parthian Empire when Rome had its empire, was situated in the middle of them. There was trade of goods and maybe ideas. Perhaps a question should be who built their roads this way first?

@dperry19661 4 жыл бұрын

Seeing how thats how roads are made now, it might just be the only way to economically do it.

@meh78336 4 жыл бұрын

I expect it was something akin to Bush reading kids stories while the twin towers were being destroyed, true but not without reason. Probably Nero was playing music when he was notified or was waiting for transport to the city, or even as a means to calm his nerves (look at bush's face when he is left with nothing to do while he waits, speaks volumes to the merit of doing something in such a helpless situation) with time and rumour and negative image, changing the story.

@ehrldawg 4 жыл бұрын

Another vid I didn't know I( needed to see.

@damonbryan7232 4 жыл бұрын

Romans build roads to last 2000 years. Modern roads don't last 10 years. An 10 years to build.

@Ryodraco 4 жыл бұрын

To be fair, ancient Roman roads didn't have to deal with hundreds to thousands of multi ton vehicles traveling at great speed over them each day.

@Ryodraco 4 жыл бұрын

@@Mostlyharmless1985 In a bit more detail, potholes happen because of the substrate underneath the road moving/collapsing, causing the road above to weaken and collapse. The water that this hole allows to collect hastens the process.

@Mostlyharmless1985 4 жыл бұрын

Ryodraco not to mention the fact that even Roman roads required maintenance and repair, they were made ever bit built to a price that modern roads were, it’s just they didn’t have the same materials we have access too. It’s not unusual to see the same pothole forming year after year because the earth underneath the road shifts. People also never notice the miles and miles of road that aren’t under maintenance and need of repair that they drive across every day. My own street had the same tarmac for nearly 60 years. We didn’t get a new sheet until after they ripped it up to change the utilities.

@vguyver2 4 жыл бұрын

@@Ryodraco also the concrete used by Romans was entirely different. Roman roads don't weaken from rain and snow. Our concrete does break apart like limestone when exposed to the two and it's all due to the materials recipe used by Romans in the concrete manufacturing making the difference. The secret ingredient wasn't discovered until a few years ago, it was volcanic Ash and rock, but in what amount they used in the mix is still being figured out.

@KryssLaBryn 4 жыл бұрын

@@vguyver2 Apparently the water they used in the mix was sea water, not fresh, and that made a difference as well. They never specified *salt* water, though (one supposes simply taking it as a given), which is why we only figured out *that* factor very recently as well.

@williambeaumont1312 4 жыл бұрын

Check out the Pantheon. Solid concrete, still in good shape. They made fairly dry concrete using lime and volcanic ash. They had slaves carry the concrete in baskets and it was strapped into the forms. Their concrete was superior to the concrete we make today.

@5amH45lam 4 жыл бұрын

The images you've sourced are superb, but rather small onscreen. Perhaps full screen them and VO the images. Jumping from inset to full screen, as and when you're making a particular point that correlates with the image. Just a suggestion! Otherwise, superb, as ever. Fascinating insight. Thank you for sharing your great work. 👍😊

@Willy_Tepes 4 жыл бұрын

I have a friend who thinks everything in the past was done by aliens. When I explained how you can measure the circumference of the equator with a stick and a clock his mind was blown.

@mugwump7049 4 жыл бұрын

It's staggering how many people have unlearned basic high school knowledge...

@Willy_Tepes 4 жыл бұрын

@@themichael3410 I am sure that after our civilization has collapsed and someone finds the remains of our buildings and technology, aliens will be their obvious explanation.

@mugwump7049 4 жыл бұрын

@@themichael3410 I suspected as much but I've seen enough flurfers and other tinfoil hat weirdos to know there are real people like this. That said, I was talking about OP's friend.

@Willy_Tepes 4 жыл бұрын

@ablackprep Of course I did, it is easier to visualize stuff when you are high. I even did the math in my head.....which was probably the part that really blew his mind. LOL The ancients had very simple tools to measure distance, angles and time, but if you do it correctly the methods are extremely precise. Most involve only sticks and string.

@Willy_Tepes 4 жыл бұрын

@@themichael3410 So you don't think the human race managed to create a advanced civilization in the millions of years they existed, and only just got off their butts 10 000 years ago? With that amount of time, we could have had many previous human civilizations that maybe were even more advanced than ours, all without any alien interference. The ruins themselves show evidence of highly sophisticated machinery and machining processes. These are not hand cut stones or hand drilled holes. But it would also be strange if any metal tools from that era would not have been recycled into other stuff, so unless we find a relatively intact crane or stone milling machine from 10 000 years ago, we must judge by the ruins and artifacts themselves. Try asking some stone quarry experts about the amount of time and labor these ancient ruins represent. It is no piece of cake moving a 2000 ton block of stone down one hill and up the next, unless they at the time of building were by the sea and not high in the mountains. There is clear evidence of much higher sea levels too, so I think there is some error in the climate models. I've seen coastline at 450 meters many places around the equator. There is no need to presume an alien influence on these ancient people, as we have already in just 10 000 years progressed from stone tools to atomic weapons and gene editing. It seems probable to me that we were once at a comparable technological level as today, and were almost wiped out by a global extinction event that also affected many other species.

@toyfreaks 4 жыл бұрын

I'd love to see Roman aqueducts covered in this amount of detail. Possibly the greatest step forward to modernity!

@matthewmcclain1316 4 жыл бұрын

Seriously. When I saw the title I was expecting a fair amount of coverage of the aquiducts. Sup with that?

@SG-sz5vh 4 жыл бұрын

The main road in downtown Bayeux, france is a repaved, original location, perfectly straight Roman road.

@waltsears 3 жыл бұрын

Great video. Thanks. So, what happens today when one of these ancient Roman roads needs repair? Are there modern artisans that repair it in a way which maintains its historical nature (hopefully)? Thanks.

@bspeers76 2 жыл бұрын

The letter allegedly from Seneca to Paul is now generally regarded to be a forgery. Otherwise, this was a solid, very interesting video. One thing that fascinates me is that their roads required little or no maintenance (as evidenced by their existence after thousands of years of neglect!), whereas modern roads seem to be under repair almost as often as not. Of course, automobiles put a lot more stress on a road than horse wagons, but still...

@Zorros2ndCousinTwiceRemoved 4 жыл бұрын

One phenomenon, two phenomena. One millennium, two millennia.

@AceSoulz 4 жыл бұрын

Is something wrong with the syncing of the video? I can notice subtle stutters and several de-sync? I can notice one at around 2:50. Correct me if I'm wrong.

@PlaneBoy2520 4 жыл бұрын

AceSoulz same here

@BothHands1 4 жыл бұрын

I saw it too, i thought my internet was just messed up, but yeah there were a couple stutters in the video

@Gothead420 4 жыл бұрын

And i thought it was the editing, or something...xD

@frozeneevee 2 жыл бұрын

Roman architecture is honestly amazing.

@Biscuits514 4 жыл бұрын

That bonus fact was amazing

@Rusikulya 4 жыл бұрын

Did they use ultra sophisticated equipment like a thread?

@maikel6035 4 жыл бұрын

Thread? Easy with the sci fi terms guy.

@michaelackron2232 4 жыл бұрын

Exactly. A string line. Or, (the eye see's straight) Place one stack in the ground and another further away, within reasonable distance. The 3rd stack place at even a further distance. Simple, look down the 3 stakes, adjust one or another stakes to form straight line(road). So That took 3 stake and good eye site to make a straight line that can carry on forever with only 3 stakes, a hammer and an eye. Simple.

@michaelackron2232 4 жыл бұрын

Or, (the eye see's straight) Place one stack in the ground and another further away, within reasonable distance. The 3rd stack place at even a further distance. Simple, look down the 3 stakes, adjust one or another stakes to form straight line(road). So That took 3 stake and good eye site to make a straight line that can carry on forever with only 3 stakes, a hammer and an eye. Simple.

@SgtHappyHands 4 жыл бұрын

It really is very interesting. The more you learn about history, the more you learn that humans have changed very little. Recorded history is less about how we used to be and more about how we still are. Just under specific circumstances. Take away much of our modern knowledge and our modern connectivity... and especially our modern comforts... and anyone born today would be just like any of those Romans. Or any of the people from ancient Damascus for that matter. In fact, I believe some people posit that we are very, very similar to people even 50,000 years ago. One side of Behavioral Modernity I believe.

@TodayIFoundOut 4 жыл бұрын

Ya, the most mind blowing thing there is that humans we commonly depict as "cave men" that lived tens of thousands of years ago intelligence wise and looks weren't really different than us. They simply lacked a proper education and the tools we've developed in the interim. ;-)

@SgtHappyHands 4 жыл бұрын

@@TodayIFoundOut "The clothes make the man" takes on a whole new meaning now.

@franklyanogre00000 4 жыл бұрын

@@TodayIFoundOut In fact their social structures and interpersonal drama were as deeply complex as they are on Desperate Housewives.

@cointrickrTM 3 жыл бұрын

I've wondered about this for years

@saldan3985 4 жыл бұрын

It's interesting to me how we see the people of the past so lowly, They're just a bit smarter than we thought.

@Zealot_of_Omnissiah 4 жыл бұрын

I also find it strange how people of the past are underestimated, there were allot of brilliant people, they just didn't have the technology we have now, that's the main difference.

@jasonhenry8067 3 жыл бұрын

As far as reasoning and problem solving goes, people were probably smarter then they are today.

@psiangel 3 жыл бұрын

@@jasonhenry8067 yes..... Witch trials, slavery, wars, famine, plague medicine sure were a great display of reasoning and problem solving...

@jasonhenry8067 3 жыл бұрын

@@psiangel Because that never happens anymore... outrage mobs, human trafficking, antivaxers are just a thing of the past...

@psiangel 3 жыл бұрын

@@jasonhenry8067? And?