Technology in the Roman Empire
The Roman Technology reached the peak of its development between the beginning of the Roman civil wars 100 v. And the reign of Trajan (98 to 117 AD).
General
The Roman culture spread through the creation of efficient administrative structures, a unified legal system and the skills of Roman engineers and technicians in large areas of Europe and the Mediterranean region.
Although there were no epochal innovations in the field of agricultural technology, metalworking, and the manufacture of ceramics and textiles (these were developed during the Neolithic and Bronze Ages by early civilizations in the Middle East and Egypt ) in the Roman period , it was understood the Romans, nevertheless, to develop and refine known techniques. The Greek cultural area of the eastern Mediterranean provided the Roman engineers with important mathematical, scientific and other basic knowledge, with which they learned energy generation, agricultural engineering, mining and metal processing, the production of glass and ceramics, textile production, transport , shipbuilding , the Fundamentally modernized infrastructure, construction, mass production of goods, communication and trade.
Even though the prerequisites for the beginning of an industrial revolution were given in some areas during the imperial era , Roman society ultimately remained at the level of a pre-industrial society: machines were hardly developed; Slaves did the work . The scientific, economic and social causes of this development, described by various historians as the stagnation of ancient technology, are the subject of technical-historical research.
Sources
Written sources on the history of Roman technology have largely been lost. Unlike other literature, they were not given any importance. Exceptions are the technical writings of authors such as Vitruvius or works with scientific and technical content such as those written by Pliny . Roman technology and processes are also described in historical and scientific texts as well as in the works of Roman poets. In contrast to general history, equipment, tools, means of transport and other archaeological finds or images from ancient times that have been preserved for technical research are often more important than written sources.
The analysis and reconstruction of Roman technology on the basis of archaeological finds is made more difficult by the fact that in addition to stone (e.g. for oil or grain mills), iron and bronze for many devices, of all things, a perishable material such as wood was used. Here, the researcher often has to resort to pictorial representations or descriptions from Roman times in order to be able to reconstruct incompletely preserved material.
Metal tools and implements, on the other hand, have been discovered in large numbers during excavations in Roman cities or the villae in their vicinity. The processes and equipment used by Roman businesses (such as flour mills, bronze foundries and pottery workshops) can often be analyzed and reproduced in the context of experimental archeology .
Mathematical basics
Although superior place value systems similar to our modern decimal system were already known in Roman times, the tradition-conscious Romans stuck to their simple addition system as far as numerical writing was concerned, in which numbers were formed by stringing numerals - in contrast to spoken Latin, which is the same the German language used decadal numbers.
However , the Roman number system was completely unsuitable for practical computing purposes such as basic arithmetic operations or any kind of written calculations. A mechanical calculation board ( abacus in Latin ) was therefore usually used , in which units , tens, hundreds and larger numerical values could be displayed using arithmetic columns . Thus not only engineers and technicians, but also merchants, craftsmen and market vendors were able to carry out elementary calculations in a convenient way.
For everyday calculations such as commercial arithmetic, the Romans developed a more handy pocket version of the abacus made of bronze, which contained small calculating stones (Latin calculi ) and, in addition to basic arithmetic operations, also allowed fractions. In general, it was possible to use any number system on the abacus. The special achievement of the Romans consisted in the standardization of the unmanageable number of arbitrary fractions that could be used in the business world - the ounce was raised to the unit fraction.
In the Roman world, the twelve or duodecimal system originally used in Egypt and Babylonia, which had spread throughout the Mediterranean and also came to Rome via Phoenician merchants and Greek colonists in southern Italy, was used for coins, measures and weights. In addition to a weight division in ounces, twelve fractions were also typical for this system, with which the calculation of fractions could be simplified. The curved finger joints of slaves often served as "intermediate storage" for the multiplication or division of larger numerical values, and in this way recorded an intermediate result as a memorable value for their masters.
While traders, craftsmen and technicians made their calculations with ounces, an additional, finer measure was common in some areas. In the field of precision mechanics and pipe construction, the digitus or finger was used, which corresponds to 1/16 of a foot.
In other areas, too, the Romans were particularly interested in the practical application of mathematical knowledge; Roman technicians knew the approximation for and used it, among other things, to calculate pipe cross-sections. Roman surveyors were able to determine angles, inclines and slopes regardless of the simple structure of their devices.
Energy sources
Five different energy sources were available in the Roman Empire: human muscle power , animal muscle power, water power (since the Augustus principle), wood and charcoal as fuel, and wind energy . The latter was only used in shipping, on land it played no role - probably because the rapidly changing wind directions were viewed as an obstacle. The steam power was - although theoretically already in the Hellenistic world known - not used for production processes. The low degree of mechanization of the Roman economy made the replacement of manual labor by the development of new energy sources and the associated use of machines not appear as a conceivable step towards increasing productivity.
Many devices were powered by human muscle power - the hub of pottery as well as the Roman cranes construction industry, heavy loads often moving with the help of treadwheels. Merchant ships used the wind to move with sails, warships , which had to maneuver independently of the wind, were driven by rowers, as were many cargo ships and boats. The transport of goods within the Roman cities was mostly carried out by human carriers. Due to the often narrow streets, sedan chairs were the preferred means of transportation for the wealthy.
As in the entire Mediterranean area, the pulling and carrying power of animals - especially oxen , donkeys and mules - was used for agricultural and transport purposes in the Roman Empire . The use of horses was initially limited to the military and circuses , but they increasingly played a role in transportation.
Thanks to improved grain mills - the so-called " Pompeian Mill " used the principle of rotation for the first time - donkeys and horses could now be used for the laborious and monotonous work of grain grinding instead of human labor. Often old and weakened animals were used to move the flour mills.
Roman sources document the use of water power for pumping water with bucket wheels and for water mills. Vitruvius describes bucket wheels driven by the flow of a river. This was a simpler mechanism in which the drive wheel also served as a bucket wheel. Watermills were designed more elaborately - in order to be able to transfer the rotary motion to the millstone, a corresponding mechanism in the form of gears was required.
In Rome a large number of watermills were built on the slope of the Ianiculum on the Tiber and fed by an aqueduct . In late Roman times a similar complex with eight mill houses on a steep slope was built near Arles . Here, too, the constant flow of water was ensured by an aqueduct. Sources from the Merovingian period lead to the conclusion that water mills were often used in late antique Gaul . Palladius recommended landowners to build water-powered mills in order to be able to grind grain independently of human or animal labor.
After the mills on the Ianiculum were destroyed when the Goths invaded in 537 , water mills were installed on two firmly moored ships on the orders of the general Belisarius . The strong current of the Tiber created ideal conditions for the use of such ship mills , so that their number was quickly increased to ensure the supply of the Roman population. This particular form of the water mill was also widely used during the Middle Ages; the last copies in Rome were not shut down until the 19th century.
Apart from grinding the grain, water power was still used in Roman antiquity to saw stone and marble blocks. The mechanical sawing of marble was not possible with the usual rotary motion of water mills; what was required was a back and forth movement. Such a transmission mechanism is first detectable in the Hierapolis sawmill (late 3rd century AD). Similar power transmission mechanisms with a crank and connecting rod, albeit without a gear drive, are known from archaeological excavations of two stone sawmills from the 6th century AD in Gerasa ( Jordan ) and Ephesus (Turkey). A written testimony to the ancient operation of water-powered marble saws near Trier can be found in Ausonius ' poem Mosella from the late 4th century AD. A text passage written around the same time in the work of Saint Gregory von Nyssa indicates the existence of marble sawmills in the Anatolian region , so that a wide spread of such industrial mills in the late Roman Empire can be assumed.
The main fuel used was wood and charcoal. Coal was also occasionally used, especially in areas where there were seams close to the earth's surface and mining hardly caused any problems. However, this fossil fuel was only used when there was an acute shortage of wood, as its use, among other things, led to a deterioration in quality when smelting copper.
In addition to private households that cooked over wood fires, fuels were mainly needed by commercial operations, for example for the smelting of ores, the forging of iron and the manufacture of ceramics and glass. In addition, the thermal baths with their hypocaust heating systems have been important customers for wood since the imperial era. Despite the great demand, no sustainable forestry was operated, so that the forest stock in many areas was greatly reduced or completely cut down. In ancient Greece, however, there were already estates that had specialized in the production of firewood.
lighting
Lighting is one of the technical areas in which there has been practically no innovation in the course of Roman history. The hearth fire, pine shavings, pitch torches and oil lamps , and more rarely candles made of tallow or wax, were used as sources for artificial lighting .
For the outside area, pitch torches came into consideration as a storm-proof light source. Hurricane lanterns were also known in which a candle was lit in a horn cylinder. The luminosity of the lamps could be regulated by pulling up or lowering the cylinder; metal caps were used to extinguish the candle. Unharmed hurricane lanterns were discovered in victims of the Vesuvius eruption in Pompeii who tried to escape the inferno.
The most luminous devices in Roman times were the lighthouses, which were mainly operated in the vicinity of the important seaports. Here a fire burned in front of a concave mirror and - in the case of Pharos of Alexandria , for example - was still visible for dozens of kilometers.
The interior lighting was more difficult. In order to increase the poor light intensity of the lamps, there was only the use of a large number of lighting points - for example, standing or hanging lamps and candlesticks with several oil lamps were used. In the south of the Roman Empire, olive oil was widely used as a fuel and was partly imported into the northern parts of the empire. Simple clay lamps that were mass-produced were affordable for everyone; lamps made of bronze were also made. The small clay lamps had a side opening for the wick, while oil could be refilled through a hole in the lid. As a rule, the oil burned smoke-free and - if topped up in good time - also gave unlimited light. More complex lamp models with an automatic refill device have been handed down.
Candles, which were usually made of rolled fabric and soaked with wax or tallow, were not so practical because they burned short. Candelabra with spikes, as they are still used today, were used as holders. Candles were particularly widespread in the north, where olive trees were not available as oil suppliers.
production
Agricultural engineering
The ancient societies were without exception agricultural societies with a predominantly rural population and agriculture as the most important branch of the economy. The wealth of the wealthy Romans consisted mainly of land holdings, with which high incomes could be achieved. Most of the tax revenue of the Roman Empire came from the rural regions.
A significant part of the rural Roman population produced primarily for their own needs. The smallholder subsistence economy in central Italy only began to change with the increase in population and the emergence of urban centers. In other, more sparsely populated regions without adequate transport routes, it remained unaffected by this development.
The supply of the larger cities - Rome already had 800,000 inhabitants in the first century - could only be ensured through structural adjustment, in the course of which country estates close to the city or on trade routes began to satisfy the growing demand through market-oriented forms of production. Very often this was combined with a specialization in certain agricultural products such as wine or olive oil (the latter also being used for lighting purposes). There were first approaches to the division of labor. While slaves made up the bulk of the farm laborers, the peak demand for labor at harvest times was also covered by free small farmers and day laborers. In addition, large imports from other parts of the empire were required to meet Rome's needs for grain, oil, and wine.
In contrast to the small farmers, who clung to traditional methods and devices for their own supply, the large agricultural goods basically had a need for innovations in the field of agricultural technology, whereby in practice new technology was developed in addition to the improvement of known agricultural devices. The landowners paid little attention to technical innovations. Their agricultural knowledge was often comparatively poor, and the works of Roman agronomists that have survived contain hardly any descriptions of agricultural implements or methods of cultivation.
Varro and Columella , like their Greek counterparts, limit themselves to treating slaves. The decisive factor for the productivity of agricultural goods was mostly not seen as agricultural knowledge or the lack of use of technology, but rather the use and supervision of slaves. An exception is Cato, who in his De agricultura work describes the use of technical equipment such as oil presses and mills on an estate in detail and devotes a lot of space to the acquisition costs and the delivery of the technical equipment, as well as Pliny with his Naturalis historia , which in her agricultural Part of the technical innovations such as the wheel plow from Raetia, a harvesting device from Gaul and the screw press dealt with.
As a preserved relief from Arlon shows, the Gallo-Roman mower ( vallus ) consisted of a two-wheeled carriage axle on which a box was mounted. The lower edge of the trough-shaped box formed a comb-like toothing. A draft animal was harnessed between a long drawbar and pushed the mower in front of it. The height of the cutting board could be changed by lowering or raising the drawbar. Ears of grain that got between the gripping teeth were torn off and caught in the box. This device, mainly used in the Gallic provinces, facilitated and accelerated the harvest by using oxen or donkeys. According to Palladius , however, its use was limited to flat fields, and the straw that remained on the fields had to be dispensable for the farm.
The influence of slaves on technical progress in agriculture has not yet been clarified. It can hardly be assumed that the availability of cheap labor could have hindered the innovation process, since, for example, presses have been improved in their efficiency and completely new devices such as the threshing slide or the rotary mill have been developed. Perhaps the slaves saw little advantage for themselves through the use of improved technologies and thus, although familiar with the respective production processes, hardly contributed to new technical developments. What is certain, however, is that the development of Roman agricultural technology was closely linked to that of handicrafts. Plowshares and other parts of equipment, which were initially made of wood in antiquity, were always forged from iron in the Roman Empire. Suppliers were the urban trades or craft slaves on the country estates.
Mining and metal processing
Various metal extraction and processing methods were used in the Greek and Roman worlds to meet the needs of the military, agriculture, handicrafts and construction industries. Precious metals, but also copper, were of central importance for the coinage of the Roman world.
The Romans used a variety of metal implements or parts for agricultural purposes, such as iron or bronze spades, hoes, sickles, scythes, and plowshares. Metal components were required for larger presses and the mills used to extract olive oil.
Blacksmiths, carpenters and bricklayers used metal tools in their craft. Until the early imperial era, metal brackets were used to connect the individual stone blocks for larger building projects, which were mainly built with natural stone. The total weight of the clamps installed for the Colosseum is estimated at around 300 t. Medical instruments of the highest precision were made for doctors and surgeons.
Water pipes as a central component of the infrastructure of Roman cities required the production of large quantities of lead pipes, so that lead extraction was systematically promoted. There were also countless everyday items such as lamps, metal vessels, kitchen utensils, keys and chains.
Large lead ingots, sometimes weighing more than 80 kilograms, were used for representative purposes and had been manufactured and inscribed with inscriptions since the lead deposits were opened up in the province of Britain. There were also smaller bronze sculptures, mostly made as votive offerings, as well as larger bronze statues for public and private use. The Roman army required swords made of iron and armor with helmets, breastplates and greaves made of bronze. In order to equip a Roman legion with weapons and armor, more than thirty tons of pig iron had to be processed.
Open pit mine in Hispania
The mining areas of Hispania have been supplying gold, silver and copper for export since Greek times. For gold mining, mines with shafts and galleries were created, as well as above-ground terraces on which the mined rock was crushed with stone hammers in mortars.
The local tradition of washing mined ores in specially constructed watercourses was further developed by Roman engineers into open-cast mines that were spectacular for ancient conditions. Here is mainly Las Médulas to name where 300 million tons of alluvial rock were mined and the mines in the valley of the Duero.
For mining activities of this magnitude, huge pits were dug, in which targeted collapses could be caused by undermining with water. Hills were unceremoniously drilled through and removed by water power - a process that the Romans called ruina montium . The water required was brought in from great distances via a network of pipes.
Ecological aspects
Roman mining was not only associated with major environmental pollution and often inhuman working conditions in Hispania. Usually slaves and criminals were used for ore mining, who had to endure underground for long periods of time during the Roman Empire and suffered from a lack of oxygen, dust, smoke from their lamps and mine gases. The mortality of the miners was correspondingly high. However, since the Principate under Augustus, the use of free tenants and wage laborers has also been documented, whose working conditions, for example , were regulated by law in the lex metalli Vipascensis (handed down from Hispania, around 100 AD). Mining settlements could often offer the same amenities as smaller Roman settlements, such as a bathroom.
The health dangers of lead processing were well known. Vitruvius mentions the pale skin of the lead workers and the poisonous fumes that result from pouring lead.
Roman mining was not only associated with significant changes in the landscape, but was usually so intensively pursued that at least the deposits of precious metals in the Mediterranean and Western Europe were already exhausted in antiquity. The immense need for charcoal as a fuel for ore smelting was mainly covered by the wood of young trees without sustainable forestry being carried out. The reduction in forest cover in the Roman Empire associated with metal production is estimated to be more than 5000 hectares annually.
Ceramic production
Ceramic vessels were widely used in ancient times. Wine and oil were mainly transported in amphorae. Ceramic containers were also predominantly used for storing food. In Greece, the upper class used tableware made of painted ceramic, which was only increasingly replaced by silverware in the Hellenistic period. In the Roman Empire, however, only ceramic dishes were affordable for the general public. Here the terra sigillata was particularly popular as a high-quality ceramic. Ceramics of coarser quality were used in the kitchen. It was mostly made without the use of a potter's wheel; more important was their heat resistance. Some workshops had specialized in the manufacture of ceramic oil lamps.
A number of location factors were decisive for the establishment of pottery workshops. Quality ceramics like the Roman terra sigillata were made from certain types of clay that were only available in a few areas. The important centers of Greek and Roman ceramic production - Corinth, Athens, Arezzo, La Graufesenque, Lezoux and Rheinzabern - were therefore located in the vicinity of the corresponding storage facilities in order to minimize the transport costs for the procurement of raw materials. It also had to be possible to meet the fuel requirements on site if possible. The proximity to wooded regions was an advantage to ensure the supply of firewood. In addition, pottery kilns could also be fired with straw. A third important criterion was the proximity of the sales markets, or at least their accessibility by means of good transport connections.
See also
literature
- Moses I. Finley : The Ancient Economy. Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag, Munich 1977 (dtv scientific series)
- Heinrich Pleticha and Otto Schönberger : The Romans. History and culture from A-Z . Gondrom, Bindlach 1992
- Helmuth Schneider : Introduction to the ancient history of technology . Scientific Book Society, Darmstadt 1992
- Grewe, Klaus: “The relief representation of an ancient stone saw machine from Hierapolis in Phrygia and its significance for the history of technology. International conference 13.-16. June 2007 in Istanbul “ (PDF; 2 MB), in: Bachmann, Martin (Hrsg.): Structural engineering in ancient and pre-ancient Asia Minor , Byzas, Vol. 9, Istanbul 2009, ISBN 978-975-807-223-1 , p 429-454
- Ritti, Tullia; Grewe, Klaus; Kessener, Paul: “A Relief of a Water-powered Stone Saw Mill on a Sarcophagus at Hierapolis and its Implications”, in: Journal of Roman Archeology , Vol. 20 (2007), pp. 138-163
- Wilson, Andrew: "Machines, Power and the Ancient Economy", in: The Journal of Roman Studies , Vol. 92 (2002), pp. 1-32
Web links
- Traianus - Technical investigations of Roman buildings
- Roman overland transport - horse, harness, wagon
- Greco-Roman science and technology
- Roman lighting technology
- roman pottery
Individual evidence
- ^ Helmuth Schneider: Introduction to the ancient history of technology. Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt 1992, pp. 30–31
- ↑ Schneider (1992), p. 30
- ^ Fritz Kretzschmer: Pictorial documents of Roman technology. Düsseldorf: VDI-Verlag 1983, p. 7
- ^ Heinrich Pleticha and Otto Schönberger: The Romans. History and culture from A – Z. Bindlach 1992: Gondrom, p. 437
- ↑ Pleticha / Schönberger (1992), p. 437
- ↑ De architectura 10,5,1
- ↑ (1.41)
- ↑ Ritti, Grewe, Kessener (2007), p. 161
- ↑ Ritti, Grewe, Kessener (2007), pp. 138–163
- ↑ Ritti, Grewe, Kessener (2007), pp. 149–153
- ^ Wilson (2002), p. 16
- ↑ Schneider (1992), p. 49
- ↑ Schneider (1992), p. 50
- ↑ Kretzschmer (1983), p. 46
- ↑ Pleticha / Schönberger (1992), p. 217
- ↑ Schneider (1992), p. 52
- ↑ Pliny: Naturalis historia , book 18, 172, 296, 317, cf. Tailor (1992)
- ↑ Kretzschmer (1983), pp. 52-53
- ↑ Claude Lepelley (Ed.): Rome and the Empire. The regions of the empire . Hamburg: Nikol 2006, p. 134
- ^ JF Healy: Problems in Mineralogy and Metallurgy in Pliny the Elder's Natural History . In: Tecnologia, economia e società nel mondo romano . Como 1980, pp. 163-201
- ↑ Schneider (1992), pp. 95-96