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

Check out Brilliant: http://brilliant.org/todayifoundout

If you happen to like our videos and have a few bucks to spare to support our efforts, check out our Patreon page where we’ve got a variety of perks for our Patrons, including Simon’s voice on your GPS and the ever requested Simon Whistler whistling package: https://www.patreon.com/TodayIFoundOut

This video is #sponsored by Brilliant.

→Some of our favorites: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLR0XuDegDqP10d4vrztQ0fVzNnTiQBEAA
→Subscribe for new videos every day!
https://www.youtube.com/user/TodayIFoundOut?sub_confirmation=1

Follow Simon on social media:

https://www.instagram.com/simonwhistler/

Never run out of things to say at the water cooler with TodayIFoundOut! Brand new videos 7 days a week!

More from TodayIFoundOut:

The Curious Case of Famed Philosopher Jeremy Bentham’s Body

The Curious Case of the “Law of the Tongue”

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?

Want the text version?: http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2019/09/how-did-the-ancient-romans-manage-to-build-perfectly-straight-ultra-durable-roads/

Sources:

https://www.jstor.org/stable/526811
http://www.historyrevealed.com/article/international-history/why-did-romans-build-straight-roads

Why Did Ancient Romans Build So Many Straight Roads?


https://www.thevintagenews.com/2015/10/05/do-you-know-why-the-romans-built-straight-roads-now-you-will/
http://www.romanobritain.org/12_innovations/inv_roads.htm
http://www.romanobritain.org/12_innovations/inv_roads.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_roads
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twelve_Tables
https://www.romae-vitam.com/roman-roads.html

Why Were Roman Roads So Important and Who Built Them?


https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/the-beautiful-network-of-ancient-roman-roads
https://www.ancient.eu/article/758/roman-roads/
https://books.google.com/books?id=7Nq25uJOP1oC&pg=PA123&lpg=PA123&dq=Cocceius+tunnel++width+and+height&source=bl&ots=WQ1axPxDk2&sig=ACfU3U1n3OMIL9rJHLllKJrpZah2sBwLxQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjJg7CHtqzkAhV3JzQIHaD2CHIQ6AEwA3oECBgQAQ#v=onepage&q=Cocceius%20tunnel%20%20width%20and%20height&f=false

Nero Didn’t Fiddle While Rome Burned


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_roads#Milestones_and_markers
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milliarium_Aureum
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odometer#History
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antikythera_mechanism
https://books.google.com/books?id=6iS8BwAAQBAJ&pg=PA39&lpg=PA39&dq=tiberius+traveled+from+rome+to+nero+distance+of+in+24+hours&source=bl&ots=Ei9YkjFyOl&sig=ACfU3U0OZBKl8fhcCbye9FqRUIOph0GM4w&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjPsInkjbHkAhVxHDQIHc2jBRAQ6AEwCnoECDMQAQ#v=onepage&q=tiberius%20traveled%20from%20rome%20to%20nero%20distance%20of%20in%2024%20hours&f=false
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:PompeiiStreet.jpg

He quit his job to build toy cars. Then a millionaire called. Six months ago, 164Luke walked away from his...
Messi chased his last World Cup. Spain made sure history had other plans. Spain beat Argentina 1-0 in extra time...
No blueprints. No wheels. No explanation left behind. 4,600 years ago, someone stacked 2.3 million stone blocks...
A week of island festivities marks the start of MrBeast’s married life MrBeast, also known as Jimmy Donaldson,...
A single stray hair can destroy a chip worth half a million dollars. That's not a metaphor. It's Tuesday inside...
The safari started before the plane even landed. Within minutes of touching down in the Masai Mara, DownieLive...
Somewhere in the most isolated corner of Iceland, there is a hotel so remote that some guests arrive by helicopter....
One of the greatest careers in football history just reached its final chapter on the World Cup stage. Cristiano...
Love Science Experiments? You Need to Watch This Video! Science gets seriously exciting when experiments go from...
Curious about what really lies behind the headlines of Epstein’s infamous Little St. James? Join adventurer Aburob...
What if Mars once had roaring waterfalls taller than anything on Earth? Discover the evidence of a...
Think your daily AI interactions are harmless? Think again. Every prompt to an AI chatbot consumes water, and with...