the roman AQUEDUCTS

tools

• Chorobates
• Groma
• surveyhistory.org

chorobates

• used as a level
• plumb lines attach to find straight line 
• if windy, water level can be used
• surveyhistory.org

groma

• plumb lines line up with beacons
• match other beacons with the first
• create a perfectly straight line
• youtube: What the Romans did for us
• Arteries of The Empire

gradient

• run in a line with a very gradual slope
• 1/50 to 1/1000
• only lower a few inches every 100 feet
• brainstuffshow.com

water sources

• taken from sources in mountains
• used aqueducts to direct towards Rome
• travel up to about 40 miles
• brainstuffshow.com

through and above

• had to keep a constant gradient
• aqueducts go into the air and underground
• underground also kept clean and protected from poison
• saved building supplies with arches
• brainstuffshow.com

arches

• used less supplies
• raised aqueducts into the air
• directs pressure supposedly to the ground
• concept was perfected in Gothic cathedrals
• brainstuffshow.com, former knowledge

Untitled Slide

quote

• Sextus Julius Frontinus
• book: De Aquaeductu Urbis Romae
• says: "I ask you, just compare the vast monuments of this 
• vital aqueduct network with those useless pyramids or the
• good-for-nothing tourist attractions of the Greeks."

end of the empire?

• might have brought about downfall
• water pipes were made of lead
• possibility of insanity within Rome
• lead poisoning
• personal knowledge

in conclusion

• possibly the greatest feat of all ancient cultures
• provided running water
• made possible the Roman Baths
• possibly causing the end of Rome