Article

2004-11-04 Europe

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Posted by Mark Espinola 2004-11-04 2:20:47 AM|| || Front Page|| [11134 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 The Romans had lube?

Posted by Howard_UK 2004-11-04 5:52:18 AM|| 2004-11-04 5:52:18 AM|| Front Page Top

#2 They had a lot of surprising stuff, most of it with no explanation left of how they developed it.

Potato jam. Condoms. The Pantheon, straight roads, aqueducts, tunnels, and shafts. There is no record of how and when their engineers evolved their designs to near perfection.

We know a lot of what went wrong, though.

Posted by Kalle (kafir forever) 2004-11-04 6:55:31 AM|| [http://radio.weblogs.com/0103811/categories/currentEvents/] 2004-11-04 6:55:31 AM|| Front Page Top

#3 condoms?!

Posted by Howard_UK 2004-11-04 7:25:52 AM|| 2004-11-04 7:25:52 AM|| Front Page Top

#4 They had sheep and paper Howard.

Posted by Sock Puppet of Doom 2004-11-04 7:33:31 AM|| [http://www.slhess.com] 2004-11-04 7:33:31 AM|| Front Page Top

#5 A bit like current day Derbyshire, then.

Posted by Howard_UK 2004-11-04 7:38:10 AM|| 2004-11-04 7:38:10 AM|| Front Page Top

#6 Potatoes?!!!

Straight roads were achieved using quite simple triangluation techniques, essentially the same as Victorian cartographers employed. Adam Hart-Davis said so.

Posted by Bulldog 2004-11-04 7:40:10 AM|| 2004-11-04 7:40:10 AM|| Front Page Top

#7 We know a lot of what went wrong, though What I find fascinating is how in less than a generation (and perhaps much less time) all the Roman technologies - pottery, iron working, building, plumbing, etc. just dissapeared from Britain around 425 AD and didn't reappear for over 500 years.

BTW, I recall the Romans used animal intensines as condoms.

Posted by phil_b 2004-11-04 8:00:34 AM|| 2004-11-04 8:00:34 AM|| Front Page Top

#8 This discussion reminds me of the claim that the ancient Egyptians must have had unknown techniques to be able to polish large stones to incredible flatness. It's very simple really: you put the roughly flat side up, pour water on the top, and instruct your slave to polish everywhere the water doesn't puddle.

Posted by Tom 2004-11-04 8:13:36 AM|| 2004-11-04 8:13:36 AM|| Front Page Top

#9 Sheep intestines.

Howard I was thinking New Zealand.

Posted by Sock Puppet of Doom 2004-11-04 8:20:44 AM|| [http://www.slhess.com] 2004-11-04 8:20:44 AM|| Front Page Top

#10 There is more to Roman roads than the fact that they were rather straight. I didn't mean the adjective to limit the scope of their achievement to that aspect.

I'm not claiming the Romans had unknown, magical techniques. I'm saying we don't have any record of how they evolved their techniques. And flat stones are a lot less impressive than the Pantheon or an aqueduct system -- these constructions require a lot of design and planning, rather than lengthy slave labour.

Posted by Kalle (kafir forever) 2004-11-04 8:23:46 AM|| [http://radio.weblogs.com/0103811/categories/currentEvents/] 2004-11-04 8:23:46 AM|| Front Page Top

#11 Slaves? I think most of that stuff was actually built by the Roman legions. Some slave labor could have been employed however.

Posted by Sock Puppet of Doom 2004-11-04 8:35:58 AM|| [http://www.slhess.com] 2004-11-04 8:35:58 AM|| Front Page Top

#12 The Pantheon was Greek, too. Just to pick holes.

Posted by Bulldog 2004-11-04 9:38:36 AM|| 2004-11-04 9:38:36 AM|| Front Page Top

#13 Oh no it wasn't. Bummer. Apologies. Must've been getting it confused with the Acropolis. Inspired by Greek architecture though. Ahem.

Posted by Bulldog 2004-11-04 10:01:59 AM|| 2004-11-04 10:01:59 AM|| Front Page Top

#14 You say "Pantheon" and thought "Parthenon." Happens all the time.

Roman girlies used to wear bikinis and eat hamburgers when they went on holiday to the Isle of Capri...

Posted by Fred 2004-11-04 11:17:11 AM|| 2004-11-04 11:17:11 AM|| Front Page Top

#15 Thanks Fred - exactly. Would you believe Roman / Romano-British girls also wore bikinis on the banks of the Thames? They've found at least one such leather number in the London mud. It's finds like that that make history come to life. To me, anyway.

Posted by Bulldog 2004-11-04 11:28:07 AM|| 2004-11-04 11:28:07 AM|| Front Page Top

#16 Any pictures .com? Just scientific curiousity.

Posted by whitecollar redneck 2004-11-04 10:01:13 PM|| 2004-11-04 10:01:13 PM|| Front Page Top

#17 Any pictures .com? Just scientific curiousity.

Posted by whitecollar redneck 2004-11-04 10:01:52 PM|| 2004-11-04 10:01:52 PM|| Front Page Top

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