- Ancient Roman roads have stood the test of time.
Some are over 2,000 years old and still intact.
But how closely do they resemble
the highways in Europe of today?
- Come on, mate, let me in.
- No, I'm meeting my wife at Olive Garden.
- Stop hitting me!
- Well, you might be surprised.
Have you ever heard the saying, "all roads lead to Rome?"
yeah, I hadn't either before we wrote this,
but it's a phrase that's pretty much true all across Europe.
Many modern-day highways and roads in Europe,
and some in Africa and the Middle East,
still follow the same path
that ancient Romans once traveled on.
Seriously, if you live in Europe,
your morning commute could be the same road as some dude
2,000 years ago who sold wooden sandals
or tablets or something, but not the touch pad kind,
you know what I'm talking about.
The Roman Empire was one of the largest
of all the ancient empires,
and one of their crowning achievements,
aside from the first Olive Garden, was their road system.
Romans were building roads from around 500 B.C. to 395 A.D.
Using advanced paving techniques,
they laid over 50,000 miles of road,
and a lot of them are still intact 2,000 years later.
The streets I take to work were paved last summer,
and they already have potholes in them.
Great job, California.
It doesn't even snow here, like that's not an excuse.
Well-constructed roads meant that large military convoys
and citizens could travel easily.
It also facilitated trade and communication between cities,
and most importantly, it showed control.
Roads were a huge factor in how the Roman Empire
was able to expand and thrive as it did.
Unpaved roads had existed
ever since humans started migrating,
but Romans developed methods to pave and preserve roads
based on Etruscan road buildings methods.
The types of roads and the methods used to build them
depended on the terrain and the materials
that were available.
There were three main types of roads built by the Romans.
Via Terrena, a plain road of leveled earth,
Via Glareata, an earth road with graveled surface,
and Via Munita, a regular built road
paved with polygonal blocks of lava rock.
The most sophisticated and prevalent
of all three was the Via Munita.
An engineer would assess the site
and determine exactly where the road would go,
then the agrimensores would survey the roadbed.
They used two tools, a rod and a device called a groma,
which helped them measure right angles.
Then, gromatici would place the rods and the engineers would
command them to move the rods and make adjustments to
get the straightest possible line.
Other plowmen, called legionnaires,
would do finer digging using spades,
carving out the ditch, or fosso.
Mensores would...
Mensores would, bleh.
Mensores were workers who would measure out materials
so that the masons could get to work paving.
Starting a meter down,
the bare earth was pounded until it was level.
On top of that, small rocks were laid,
no bigger than a person's hand.
On top of that, concrete made of broken stones, rubble,
and lime was laid down.
Above the rougher concrete was a layer of finer concrete.
Laid on top of that concrete were the surface-level stones.
These stones were mainly basalt, or lava rock,
but differed depending on what was available.
They were fitted to create a cambered surface,
with the center of the road being higher than the sides,
effectively draining water away from the middle
and funneling it to the side of the road,
where it didn't impede carts.
The final step in Roman road building
was often installing raised walkways on either side.
These guys were making sidewalks.
Roads were standardized to around 4.2 meters wide,
to allow two vehicles to pass each other.
Guys, the Romans were smart.
At one point, there were 30 main roads leading out of Rome.
Built between 312 and 264 B.C., the Appian Way,
or what the Romans called Via Appia,
was the first major road to be constructed
during the Roman empire.
It connects Rome to Brindisi in southeast Italy.
And nowadays, it's called Strade Statali seven,
or State Street seven.
The modern-day Appian Way is still
a main thoroughfare in southeast Italy,
used by hundreds of thousands of commuters every day.
Romans prioritized straight roads over everything else,
as they are the quickest and most efficient way
to get from point A to point B.
No obstacle was too big, whether it was a river,
valley, mountain, or your mom's butt.
They found a way to build a straight road
either over it, or through it.
Romans developed successful methods
to build bridges over large spans.
Made of wood, stone, or a mix of the two,
they were built so solidly that many of them
are still around today.
One of the biggest to ever exist was Ponte Rotto,
a bridge over the Carapelle River,
which spans 700 meters, and had 10 arches.
Another famous Roman bridge is the Alcantara Bridge
in Extremadura, Spain.
It's 45 meters high and 181 meters long.
Despite being built in 104 A.D.,
this bridge is still standing,
and looks pretty good for being 1,900 years old.
For Roman engineers, a mountain wasn't gonna stop them
from making a straight road.
Not that mountain.
Although, if he was trying to stop me, I'd probably quit.
Oftentimes, impassable mountains would hinder road building.
So, Romans would dig tunnels.
Using counter-excavation, a fancy word for
digging from both sides of the mountain,
Romans were able to dig 700, 800,
and even 1,000 meter tunnels.
Sometimes tunnel projects would last for many years,
as digging through solid rock could
slow construction down to 30 centimeters a day.
All of this is in metric.
I don't know how long any of this is.
1,000 meters, that could be like this long.
I don't know.
30 centimeters, that's how tall I am.
I actually don't know.
About that much?
Maybe?
Navigating thousands of miles of Roman roads
would have been confusing without maps.
But luckily, the ancient Romans
were pretty good at drawing them.
Most guides that were used were called itinerarium,
and were pared-down maps with a sequential list of cities
a traveler would pass on a journey.
Road-goers could also rely on milestones to gauge distance.
Milestones, or miliaria, as they were called,
were large carved stones, sometimes up to two tons,
that were placed every mile.
The modern road mile actually comes from the Latin,
mille passuum, one thousand paces,
and equaled about 4,841 feet.
Wait, does that mean their paces were 4.8 feet?
How tall were these Romans?
The ease of travel on Roman roads
meant that commerce and trade were facilitated.
This created prosperity wherever the roads passed through.
Towns that had access to good roads
fared way better than other towns with less access.
Plus, Roman roads were safe from bandits,
robbers, and Hamburglars.
Other patrolmen called beneficiarii were around
to levy taxes on goods being transported on the roads
and collect tolls at provincial borders,
bridges, and mountain passes.
It wasn't always free to travel on Roman roads,
but it was a small price to pay
for increased safety and prosperity.
Modern-day cities are still benefiting from this prosperity.
A study done in 2010 discovered a remarkable
pattern of persistence, showing that
greater Roman road density goes along with
greater modern road density,
and greater economic activity in 2010.
Cities like London, Paris, Zurich, Manchester,
Frankfurt, Barcelona, Venice,
were all founded by this ancient Roman Empire
and still benefit from the roads 2,000 years later.
Seriously, I could keep going for 10 minutes
reading off cities, but I haven't had my afternoon milk yet,
and I'm drying up.
Zach, get my milk ready!
I'm almost done.
I need my milk.
Bring the cookies too, Famous Amos.
None of this Chips Ahoy bull (beep).
Roman roads have lasted to this day because of
how incredibly efficient, easy to navigate,
and well-built they are.
While many of the roads have been destroyed
or broken up over the years,
they still remain the groundwork
of modern-day roads and highways.
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I felt old saying that.