Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Table of Contents
Introduction Page 4
Geographical Features Page 12
City of Rome Page 14
Buildings Page 23
Society Page 29
Family & Education Page 37
Homes Page 52
Clothing Page 65
Food Page 71
Bath House Page 78
Entertainment Page 84
Writers Page 103
Art Page 107
Music Page 115
Religion & Philosophy Page 119
Christianity Page 127
Architecture & Engineering Page 130
Roads Page 137
© TheTeachersDesk.info Page 1 of 9 The Roman Empire 2-6
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Medicine Page 140
Latin Page 153
Army Page 196
Punic Wars Page 204
Law Page 207
Government Page 214
Emperors Page 222
Decline & Fall Page 239
Pompeii Page 244
Valentine's Day Page 253
Links, PowerPoints, Unit Studies, etc. Page 257
Answer Key Page 260
The Romans were master architects and built many different kinds of structures,
most of which were unknown previously. The use of the arch, vault, and dome
rank among the most important achievements of Roman architecture and
engineering. So, too, does the Roman invention of concrete. Roman architects
had to provide enormous, uninterrupted spaces to shelter the vast crowds. Had
they chosen to use the post and beam system, there would have been a forest
of columns to impede the free flow of pedestrian traffic. Therefore, the Romans
became proficient in the use of arches, vaults, and domes. Much of this
dramatic Roman work would have been impossible without the knowledge of
concrete technology.
Roman concrete was little different from the material used today; the main
difference is in the modern use of steel reinforcement. Concrete construction
was relatively economical and easily handled by unskilled labor, whose ranks
primarily consisted of slaves and unoccupied soldiers. Using a mixture that
included lime and sand, the Romans created a very strong and durable type of
concrete.
The Romans did not invent the arch, however, the arch was previously limited to
supporting small structures, such as storerooms, and people used columns to
support the roof. This design limited the size of a building so builders could not
construct extremely large palaces or buildings. The Romans created an arch
that could support huge amounts of weight by using concrete. Arches made
from concrete could support a lot of weight, enabling them to build larger and
more varied buildings.
As the Romans learned to work with cement, they were able to construct roofs
that formed a complete semi-circle
known as a dome (a large
hemispherical roof or ceiling). A dome
is an element of architecture that
resembles the hollow upper half of a
sphere. They would build the dome on
the ground and then lift it to the top of
the building. The Pantheon (a temple
dedicated to all the Roman gods in
Rome) offers an early example of a
dome; even today it is still one of the The Pantheon
largest single-span domes in the world.
Aqueducts
As cities grew, the ancient Romans needed more fresh water.
To solve this problem, they built aqueducts. Aqueducts were
built to transport fresh water into the city. These were massive
construction projects. An aqueduct is the entire conduit (a
channel through which fluids may be conveyed) from fresh
water spring to town. Where aqueducts had to cross valleys,
some were built above ground, on arches. Most of the time, they were
underground conduits, and sometimes conduits lying right on the ground.
These conduits could be made of clay or wood, covered or encrusted with
stone. The pipes inside the conduits that carried the water were made of lead,
which required vast mining enterprises and then transportation to get all this
pipe out into the field all over the empire. By 100 A.D. there were a total of nine
aqueducts that brought fresh water into the city of Rome.
2. Roman concrete was completely different from the material used today.
True False
True False
True False
a. windows
b. doorways
c. foundations for bridges
d. all the above
e. none of the above
True False
True False
True False
True False
True False
Matching: