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  • Ambition... Conquest

  • Lost... Murder...

  • and the power of unrivaled technology.

  • These are the cornerstones in the

  • foundation of the Roman Empire.

  • They were driven by a kind of collective

  • cultural ego. Roman's colossal

  • building projects:

  • Stadiums...

  • Palaces...

  • Roads...

  • Aquaducts...

  • span 3 continents and

  • unleash the power and promise of the

  • world's most advanced civilizations.

  • These structures became symbols of

  • that idea of Rome.

  • But while Romans

  • dominated the landscape with their

  • massive feats of construction,

  • they were ultimately powerless to

  • prevent their own self-destruction.

  • March 15th, 44 BC.

  • The most powerful man in the world

  • lay lifeless on the floor of the Roman

  • Senate.

  • As a General he nearly doubled

  • the size of the Roman Empire. As a

  • Politician he engineered a stunning

  • rise to power but now this

  • battled-scarred warrior had been

  • slayed in Rome and by Romans.

  • His name was Gaius Julius Caesar.

  • Caesar's rise to power was predicated

  • on him wanting to have the best

  • standing in the Roman State. He seemed

  • to want too much power for himself.

  • He didn't want to share power with others

  • and this is what led directly to his

  • assassination.

  • Decades earlier as an

  • ambitious young general, Caesar had

  • recognized that the road to glory in

  • Rome began on battlefields far from it.

  • His thirst for military conquest would

  • spawn construction of one of Rome's most

  • intimidating feats of engineering.

  • 55 BC

  • Julius Caesar is leading 8 Roman legions.

  • A total of 40,000 men north through Gaul.

  • A Roman Providence encompassing modern

  • France, Belgium and Switzerland.

  • He wants to go to Germania, to Germany,

  • and cross the Rhine

  • because no Roman Commander has yet done so.

  • He wants to be as great a conqueror as

  • Alexander the Great. Go beyond

  • what is known.

  • The Rhine River

  • lies on the edge of what is known.

  • For centuries

  • it has been a buffer protecting

  • Germanic tribes from Roman

  • expansion. No previous army could cross

  • it with the might needed for conquest.

  • But Caesar is unlike any previous warrior.

  • He could have gone by boat but what is

  • that for Julius Caesar to go by boat.

  • A row boat? you know Are you going to put 8

  • legions on a row boat & go across?

  • No, man! They need to march across.

  • They need to be on horseback.

  • From the engineering point of view, the

  • difficulties of constructing a bridge

  • over such a river are enormous in relationship

  • to the depth of the water and the

  • forceful current. If you bare in mind

  • that this had to be done in a short

  • period of time due to military needs.

  • The works is actually truly exceptional.

  • The bridge would need to be four football

  • fields long and sustain 40,000 soldiers.

  • Despite the Rhine's width, depth

  • and strong currents,

  • Julius Caeser is determined to succeed.

  • To cross a river that size with a bridge

  • is something which plays well with an

  • audience back at home but of course it's something that

  • plays extremely well with the audience

  • standing on the other side of (across) the river

  • who are going to be

  • awestruck when they see this happening.

  • With the speed and efficiency of a well

  • oiled machine, Caesar's soldiers

  • methodically transformed local timber into an

  • expanding bridge.

  • With every hour an

  • engineering miracle inches closer

  • to the Rhine's elusive northern bank.

  • It's almost as if a spaceship, nowadays,

  • the size, let's say, of half of Manhattan

  • capable of some magnetic device that

  • will lift buildings up in the air.

  • That would be a pretty frightening thing.

  • Something that we couldn't really grasp

  • at all.

  • The foundation of the bridge was

  • a series of wooden piles driven into

  • the bedrock of the river.

  • Each pile was a foot and a half thick.

  • Towards the middle of the bridge,

  • they had to be up to 30 feet tall

  • to reach from the surface to the bottom.

  • By driven the piles in diagonally,

  • Caesar's engineers had added

  • extra stability to the bridge.

  • When they drove the pilings in at an angle

  • and connected them, in many ways they are

  • doing what carpenters do when they are

  • building a sawhorse. With the legs angled

  • it utilizes forces to keep from being

  • pushed over making it a stable work space.

  • The sloping power offers a lot more

  • strength against the force of

  • the river and the flooding of the river

  • but it's much more difficult to drive

  • them into the riverbed

  • than it is to drive a vertical pile.

  • They would have had to work very carefully

  • with wooden frames to push them into

  • the riverbed. On the upstream side, the

  • piles leaned in the direction of the

  • current. 40 feet downstream the

  • corresponding piles leaned against the

  • current. Each set of piles were joined

  • by a long connecting beam two feet thick.

  • Lengths of timber were then laid against the

  • beams and the surface was finished

  • with tightly wrapped bundles of sticks.

  • The design of the bridge was innovative

  • but what made this engineering feat even

  • more astounding is the speed in which it

  • was built. Just 10 days after ordering

  • it's construction Caesar marched across

  • his bridge and toward his destiny. If we

  • tried to do that today, we would never

  • be able to build something like that in so

  • few days with that kind of technology.

  • We could match that feat today if we had

  • thousands of loyal, sweating soldiers

  • totally dedicated to Caesar and the

  • objective of crossing the Rhine River to

  • terrorize the Germans. Caesar had

  • estimated the size of the Germanic forces

  • at 430,000. More than 10 times the size

  • of his army. When the Germans saw the

  • Romans legions rolling over the Rhine,

  • they quickly fled to higher ground.

  • For the next 18 days, Caesar freely

  • explored the territory north of the Rhine

  • encountering no resistance. Then he

  • crossed back over his bridge & dismantled

  • it having made an unmistakeable point.

  • It is symbolic of this that Rome can go

  • anywhere. And to take it even further

  • Julius Caesar can go anywhere. Caesar's

  • bridge was an early indication of his

  • single-minded ambition

  • propelled him to unparallel power

  • but would also prove to be his downfall.

  • A decade later that ambition would

  • When he was declared Rome's first

  • dictator for life at the age of 55

  • in 44 BC whispers of assassination began

  • to whisper through the halls of the

  • Roman senate. He makes certain moves

  • that suggest that he might want to be

  • worshiped as a god that his ambition

  • goes so far beyond the limits of what the

  • Romans themselves and particular Roman

  • Senators that he was assassinated.

  • In life, Julius Caesar forever altere

  • Rome's political landscape. In death, he

  • would in body both the potential and the

  • peril of absolute power. When Caesar was

  • assassinated there was no guarantee

  • that anything would happen except that

  • Rome would fall apart completely.

  • This assassination caused an enormous

  • shock & naturally caused a great uprising

  • among the people as well.

  • Caesar's rein was a major turning point

  • in Rome's political history. His conquest

  • of Gaul greatly expanded the reach of the

  • Roman influence. His consolation of power

  • marked the death of the Roman republic

  • ruled by democratically elected Senators

  • and consuls. And the birth of an empire in

  • which tyrannical empires could rule with

  • absolute authority. Some would use their

  • power to build magnificent engineering

  • marvels. The vanity and excess of others

  • would push them empire on the brink of

  • destruction. Through it all Rome would

  • grow to the most powerful and advanced

  • civilization the world had ever seen.

  • Today Rome is a 21st century city where

  • the ancient and modern collide.

  • From Rome we can learn everything,

  • everything because Rome was the "set",

  • let's call it, of the history of the world

  • for at least 1,000 years. Rome is the

  • center of an immense empire which began

  • in Britannia and stretched to Armenia and

  • then to Africa and to Germany. It was an

  • extraordinary empire.

  • Roman legend says the city was founded

  • in 753 BC by Romulus and Remus, 2 brothers

  • that were abandoned as infants and raised

  • by a she-wolf. The 2 brothers set out to

  • build their own city on the banks of the

  • Tiber River but a disagreement as to who

  • would rule it ended in murder.

  • Remus was killed at the hands of Romulus

  • who whom the City of Rome is named.

  • It would not be the last time that

  • bloodshed produced a new Roman ruler.

  • Civil War is actually one of the defining

  • features of the growth of the Roman

  • The story, the tradition, of Romulus and

  • Remus is one that reverberates and echos

  • throughout Roman history.

  • Initially, Rome was one of countless small

  • kingdoms jockeying for power in central

  • Italy but unlike many of it's neighbors who

  • were suspicious of outsiders, Rome was a

  • safe haven for ambitious outcasts.

  • Romulus said that given we don't have a

  • population, I'll create an asylum,

  • I will create a sort-of a free-zone for

  • anybody: runaway slaves, pirates,

  • whomever, come and be part of this great

  • idea called "Rome" which is a very unique

  • attitude and said from the very begining

  • it seemed that the Romans were very open.

  • This openness encouraged a free exchange

  • of ideas that were engineering theories

  • imported from other cultures.

  • By borrowing the technology of others

  • like the Etruscans, Rome expanded into

  • a regional power.

  • The Romans had an extraordinary ability

  • to take from technological past

  • and adapt it to their own purposes

  • and refine it -- to improve upon it.

  • They were able to take from the Etruscans

  • the technology of road building and moving

  • water systems through tunnels of building

  • large extraordinary walls and produce

  • something that was based on Etruscan

  • technology.

  • The city's first major engineering

  • achievement was the Cloaca Maxima -- an

  • extensive sewer system that still

  • functions today 2,500 years after it was

  • constructed. The Cloaca Maxima flushed

  • run-off from Rome's city streets into the

  • Tiber River. Engineers also used the

  • underground pipeline to drain the marsh

  • land between Rome's hilltop villages.

  • There they build the "forum", Ancient

  • Rome's hometown district.

  • The construction of the Cloaca Maxima is

  • the key event in transforming Rome from

  • a series of tribes living on desperate

  • hills around a swampy marsh into a

  • centralized, unified culture. The new

  • Roman forum that resulted from the

  • draining of the Cloaca Maxima really

  • allowed that culture to consolidate in one

  • central place.

  • While Rome's culture was consolidating the

  • influence the city had over it's neighbors

  • began to grow. By the 4th century BC,

  • Roman controlled most of central Italy.

  • And it's engineers were called on to

  • develop a transportation infrastructure

  • that would connect the expanding empire.

  • In antiquity there were basically to modes

  • of transportation through the countryside.

  • Either on horseback or walking or in

  • carts or by ships. Roads as we understand

  • them today didn't exist before the Roman

  • Empire.

  • That all changed in 312 BC when the

  • Via Appia was built.

  • Rome's first national highway stretched

  • 132 miles from it's capitol to it's

  • southern province of Compania. To plot the

  • straightest and fastest route down the

  • coast, Roman engineers used a specialized

  • surveying instrument.

  • The Roman's relied on the tool called a

  • "Groma" which was a vertical pole that

  • stood in the ground with across on the top

  • and you could sight along this cross to

  • line up two points in a straight line.

  • The big difference with Roman roads and

  • modern roads is that the Roman's couldn't

  • survey a corner so they were all dead

  • straight then they would turn a sharp

  • angle then go dead straight in another

  • direction.

  • The challenge, of course, will building a

  • dead-straight road in any direction is

  • that you come to hills and valleys and

  • you had to cross them. So, if they had to,

  • then they'd cut straight through the

  • mountains in order to take the road

  • straight through.

  • Once the ideal path was cleared, a broad

  • trench was dug and filled in with sand and

  • boulders to form a solid foundation. Next,

  • went a layer of gravel compacted with clay

  • or mortar. The top surface was a layer of

  • thick paveling stones angled to allow

  • the water to drain off the side.

  • For the first time, a stable paving was

  • made. It was a paving that could stand

  • the "test of time". It could withstand

  • the frequent travel of wagons as wellas

  • subsequently, that of all the armies.

  • The roads were incredibly intimidating.

  • You could look at a road and think,"I

  • wonder how long it would take a couple

  • of legions, 10,000 guys, down this road

  • and into my backyard. I think I'll think

  • twice before I start any nonsense with

  • Rome.

  • By the time of Julius Casesar in 44 BC,

  • Rome controlled most of western Europe

  • and north Africa.

  • It had defeated Carthage a century earlier

  • making it the Mediterranean world's-lone

  • super power.

  • Caesar's eventual successor was

  • his great nephew Octavian who was renamed

  • Augustus & crowned Rome's first

  • "imperator" or "emperor".

  • Under Augustus the Roman road network

  • expanded to reach the furthest corner

  • of the empire and with the highways paved

  • it was time to build new destinations.

  • Under Augustus we can we popping up

  • everywhere was Roman style cities

  • equipped with forum, a theater, with an

  • amp-theater with a basilica and all of the

  • other markers of what made a Roman city.

  • To the recently conquered natives of the

  • provinces, the new cities were a powerful

  • endorsement of the Roman way of life.

  • People flocked to the new cities -- these

  • urban centers which were symbols of

  • civilization, higher standard of living,

  • incredible jobs, and that is where the

  • money resided and with today people will

  • go where the jobs are. Ultimately the

  • people within these conquered nations

  • would really embrace these Roman ideas.

  • The Rome City itself was the greatest

  • image creating device, I believe, that the

  • Roman's had & those cities survive today:

  • London, Baunei, Paris are all testimates

  • to Roman's expansion of it's culture

  • through its cities.

  • Roman's engineers had a secret weapon that

  • enabled them to build bigger, stronger and

  • faster than anyone else. Waterproof

  • concrete mixed with a volcanic sand called

  • "Pozzollana".

  • Early concretes were just a simple

  • lime-water mix which although they would

  • set, they weren't very strong and indeed

  • the particles in the early concrete could

  • easily break apart but in Roman concrete

  • the pozzollana sand reacted with the

  • lime and it makes a concrete quite like a

  • modern concrete. Much, much stronger.

  • The mortar of the hydraulic type,

  • instead of the air-intrined mortar which

  • was formally used introduced a material

  • which possessed an enormous about

  • of resistance. It could sit in water, as

  • well, it was durable and proved itself

  • the fundamental element in the

  • development of Roman architecture.

  • During the age of Augustus, this

  • concrete solidified Rome's "choke hold"

  • on Western Europe allowing Roman builders

  • to dominate the landscape with massive

  • man-made mono-lifts. One in particular

  • would revolutionize daily life in Rome

  • for centuries to come.

  • By the 1st century AD, Rome had emerged

  • as Europe's sole-super-power.

  • And as the Roman's expanded their empire

  • outward, they also looked inward and used

  • their superior engineering skills to

  • improve their quality of life within the

  • walls of the capitol city.

  • Of all the achievements of Rome's

  • engineers, none were as life altering as

  • running water.

  • Rome's system of water distribution was

  • a quantum leap to anything which had come

  • before it.

  • In the capitol city, 11 aqueduct lines

  • guided a steady stream of fresh water to

  • its citizen carrying a combined

  • 200,000,000 gallons a day into the city

  • from mountain springs miles away.

  • What the aqueducts did was really

  • revolutionize the daily life of Roman

  • citizens, not just the gardens and the

  • villas of the wealthy or the palaces

  • of the empires, but the average Roman.

  • So much water was available in the city

  • of Rome, and this sustained an enormous

  • population.

  • The aqueducts fostered a growth of a new

  • urban culture with a constant stream of

  • water. Up to a 1,000,000 people were able

  • to live cleanly and comfortably in the

  • capitol city.

  • As the water from the aqueducts which can

  • flush out the human filth and keep your

  • city clean. This is another reason why

  • the Roman's think they are superior

  • because they are cleaner than everyone

  • else.

  • No single emperor can claim credit for the

  • success of the aqueducts.

  • They were built over the course of

  • several centuries.

  • But it was the disfigured, stuttering

  • emperor Claudius who arguably had the

  • greatest impact on Rome's water supply.

  • Before he assumed power, Claudius had

  • been royal "laughing stock" who was

  • considered an "invalid" and even hidden

  • from the public eye.

  • Well he had an awkward gait. He constantly

  • moved his head and his laughter was

  • excessive and he was not very graceful

  • and above all, he also had a problem with

  • salivation and such, possibly making him

  • look quite unpleasant.

  • In spite, of his short-comings, Claudius

  • was cunning enough to seize power when

  • and unlikely opportunity presented itself.

  • In 41 AD, most of the royal family was

  • murdered to avenge the bloody rein of

  • Claudius' nephew, Caligula. But Claudius

  • was spared after he was found cowaring

  • behind a curtain.

  • With his life hanging in the balance, he

  • managed to bribe Rome's Praetorian guards

  • into proclaiming him "emperor". His bribe

  • would change the course of Roman history.

  • Once he became emperor, he seemed to have

  • ruled in many ways, by our standards,

  • well. He clearly was not a stupid man.

  • During the rein of Claudius the emperior

  • took several surprising steps forward.

  • On the frontier his legions conquered

  • Britannia. Something that even Julius

  • Caesar failed to do.

  • And back home he built to major aqueducts.

  • The "Aqua Claudia" and the "Anne Novias"

  • which dramatically increased the

  • amount of water following into Rome.

  • Aqueducts are not that complicated in

  • theory, that is water seeks it's lowest

  • level and therefor that you can run water

  • from a slope in any area to another area.

  • So, that is a pretty simple premise that

  • everyone would have known but the practice

  • of creating an aqueduct is another thing.

  • The Romans engineered their aqueducts to

  • approach the city on a gradual declining

  • angle or "gradient". That gradient was

  • just inches every 100 feet. The slope of

  • the aqueduct had to be calculated from

  • great distances of 20, 30 sometimes

  • even 40 miles from the source in the

  • mountains to the city themselves that had

  • to be consistent, they couldn't deviate

  • from it regardless of what the terrain

  • was. Now, to maintain the water's decent

  • through high mountains, Roman engineers

  • dug perfectly angled tunnels through them.

  • When the pipeline reached low valleys,

  • they were elevated on stone walls. If the

  • walls needs to be higher than 6 1/2 feet

  • off the ground, the Romans saved building

  • materials while still adding strength by

  • perfecting an ancient building concept:

  • "The Arch".

  • The arch revolutionized architecture in

  • the ancient world by permitting far

  • greater spans than allowable before. They

  • basically changed the spatial conception

  • totally of Roman architecture. Arches were

  • built around a temporary wooden framework

  • that held each stone in place until the

  • keystone was laid int he center. The

  • keystone evenly distributed down each side

  • of the arch allowing builders to stack

  • additional stones above it.

  • Arches are an improvement on building

  • just a straight wall in a variety of means

  • both in their efficiency, their strength.

  • The arch, of course, takes much less

  • material to build. Arches are very strong

  • in supporting things like roofs and

  • aqueducts and whatever you wanted

  • to build on top of them.

  • 6 mile column of arches carried the

  • Aqua Claudia across the valleys on it's

  • way to Rome.

  • The aqueduct would have had a covered

  • roof, of course, if you could take the

  • roof off, you could see the water like a

  • river coming towards the city.

  • After reaching the city, each aqueduct

  • emptied into 3 holding tanks. 1 for the

  • public drinking fountains, a 2nd for the

  • public bath and a 3rd reserved for the

  • emperor and other wealthy Romans who

  • paid for their own running water -- a

  • concept that was well ahead of its time.

  • Basically, every home by the 1st or 2nd

  • century AD of any means had running

  • water. This is astounding because the

  • entire span of the Middle Ages didn't have

  • this! With the construction of the Aqua

  • Claudia and the Anne Novias, Emperor

  • Claudius had revitalized Rome's system of

  • water distribution. His public records was

  • one of success but the choices he made

  • in his private life would ultimately lead

  • to his downfall.

  • The tradition of Claudius was he was

  • uxorious, that he loved his women and his

  • wives in particular too much and was

  • subservient to them.

  • He sent shockwaves through the empire

  • when he married his own niece, Agrippina,

  • the conniving sister of Caligula.

  • Agrippina came from a line of ambitious

  • and popular and powerful women.

  • She was in some ways the Cleopatra of her

  • age. She was headstrong, proud and

  • ambitious. She was terribly ambitious.

  • After having been surrounded by emperors

  • her whole life, Agrippina was "hungry"

  • for her own taste of power. She used all

  • of her physical and political charm to

  • obtain it.

  • And once the aging Claudius was under her

  • spell, she used her only son as a means to

  • only perpetuate it. Agrippina's main

  • intent in seducing Claudius to become

  • Emporeress was to ensure her son would

  • exceed to the throne.

  • In 50 AD, Agrippina had convinced Claudius

  • to name her son from a previous marriage

  • as his heir instead of his own biological

  • son. 4 years later, Emperor Claudius was

  • dead. Poisoned by a mushroom and his

  • wife's ambition. Overnight, Agrippina had

  • gone from being the wife of 1 emperor to

  • the mother of another.

  • His name was "Nero", a 16 year old tyrant

  • in training who would engineer disaster!

  • 64 AD, a small fire spreads to a week long

  • inferno that reduces huge swamps of Rome

  • into ashes and leaves thousands homeless

  • and walking the streets. The fire of 64...

  • The fire of Rome was "something"..

  • It was an enormous fire. The fire burned

  • almost 3/4's of the city and since the

  • entire city was comprised of houses,

  • particularly of the poor and was built

  • with a lot of wood, everything went up in

  • smoke.

  • Number one on the list of arson suspects

  • is the emperor himself. Nero was

  • supposedly seen playing his lyre at the

  • top of a nearby tower as the fire raged.

  • He said to have looked at the fire as if

  • it was a spectacle and to have gone to the

  • tower of maecenas and recited the fall of

  • Troy.

  • The tradition is that Nero was fiddling

  • while Rome burned. His actions after

  • the blaze were just as incriminating.

  • Nero confiscated a third of the charred

  • city as his own personal property and

  • set out to build the empire's most

  • extravagant monument to self-indulgence--

  • a palace complex covering 200 acres of

  • downtown Rome.

  • Rumor starts to spread that he had set

  • the fire intentionally so as to clear a

  • portion of the city where he could build

  • his palace.

  • Nero blamed the fire on his new religious

  • cult called the Christians and had

  • hundreds of them strung and burned to

  • death in the streets of Rome. This was

  • just the latest in a string of horrifying

  • acts that solidified Nero's dysfunctional

  • legacy. He served up the head of one of

  • his ex-wives to his new wife as a present

  • on her request. And then later kicked her

  • to death when she was pregnant in a fit

  • of rage. Most of the acts for which Nero

  • is infamous come after one of the most

  • heinous acts one can commit-- the killing

  • of one's own mother.

  • Agrippina, who had orchestrated Nero's

  • rise to power by killing her husband

  • Claudius, was antiquity's most overbearing

  • mother. She expected to share power

  • equally with her son.

  • He decided to eliminate his mother. He

  • tried several ways. The first time he

  • to poison her 3 times but she had taken

  • some potent antidotes and was able to

  • survive. Shortly there after he was

  • watching a nomockia which is a navel

  • show where sea battles were reenacted

  • and ships were sunk. It was there he

  • became inspired. He had the idea of

  • using one of those ships to facilitate

  • his plan.

  • So he rigged a ship which picked up

  • Agrippina and ported her to the bay. Then

  • at precisely the right time, the ship sank

  • but even this wasn't enough to silence

  • this lady. This virago, if you will,

  • because Agrippina managed to swim to

  • safety. Eventually Nero was forced to send

  • some of his hired assassins to kill her.

  • It was at that point, he got rid of her

  • once and for all. As they closed in

  • Agrippina ordered the guard to stab her

  • in the womb. She said, "Strike here first,

  • this bore Nero." Very dramatic!

  • Nero was haunted by visions of his

  • mother's ghosts for the rest of his life.

  • Visions which pushed him further into

  • madness. Nero as time goes on becomes more

  • and more lonely and perhaps more and more

  • paranoid and more and more cruel. It was

  • in the midst of his deepening delusions

  • that Nero began building the empire's most

  • lavish "pleasure palace"on public land and

  • with public money.

  • You'd have to imagine the whole essential

  • park has transformed into Bill Gates

  • personal estate and "pleasure palace". And

  • this is in the part of the city where the

  • rich and the affluent and the people who

  • once had their homes. It was shocking.

  • Nero bled the provinces dry to get money

  • for that. And also in Rome he demanded

  • money from the rich.They had to bequeath

  • him their money and that they would be

  • "offed". It must have been a very scary

  • time to be alive. Nero's golden house

  • was built on the pain and sweat of forced

  • labor. In Ancient Rome, slavery was a

  • common and acceptable practice. 1 in every

  • 3 people was a slave. Rome's achievements

  • would be unthinkable without slave labor.

  • This slave labor was part of what

  • generated the funds necessary to maintain

  • and expand an emperor. There is no

  • question that slave labor was also

  • very significant for the building of

  • these grand projects that really defined

  • the essence of imperial Rome.

  • Nero's new palace would reflect his

  • god-like perception of himself. It was

  • designed to evoke a sprawling seaside

  • villa in the heart of the city. Vineyards,

  • gardens and pastures for wild animals

  • would cover what was Rome's downtown

  • crossroads. The center of the complex

  • would be a man-made lake and pavillon

  • with covered walkways a mile long. A vast

  • 150 room wing of that pavilion still

  • survives today bared beneath modern Rome.

  • It's cavernous interior demonstrations

  • mastery of another engineering innovation-

  • The vaulted ceiling. A "vault" is nothing

  • more or less than an arch which has been

  • extended along an axis.

  • Once you've built that framing one time,

  • move that framing, build another, move

  • the framing, you have a long vault --

  • very efficient way to build for Romans.

  • When the Domus Aurea was completed after

  • just 4 years, Emperor Nero said, "Finally

  • I can live in a house worth of a

  • human-being." The surviving remnant is a

  • dank shell of the decadent palace he

  • inhabited. These brick and concrete

  • chambers were once trimmed in gold and

  • covered in with colorful frescoes and

  • priceless gems. There were semi-precious

  • and precious gems embedded in the ceiling

  • so there is lapis lazuli and rock crystal

  • that was just put up to catch the light.

  • And in building the Domus Aurea, Nero is

  • showing that he is not like good emperors

  • -- generous with his personal resources

  • and I think that this is one of the things

  • that leads to his downfall. His behavior

  • was so far off the scale in terms of

  • senators and people in Rome expected out

  • of their emperor that I think he

  • ultimately paid the price.

  • In 68 AD, just months after he moved into

  • the Domus Aurea, Nero was overthrown by a

  • tide wave of opposition.

  • He was declared a "public enemy"by the

  • senate and hunted like a fugitive by his

  • own guards.

  • As they closed in on him, Nero slit his

  • throat with the help of a loyal slave.

  • His last words were, "what an artist dies

  • in me."

  • Nero died like the grand eloquent actor he

  • always wanted to be. A tragic actor upon a

  • tragic stage.

  • So, his final words really do complete a

  • picture of someone who saw them self not

  • as an emperor but as a star.

  • After Nero's death, the Roman's sought to

  • bury any memory of him and his oppressive

  • rein. By 104 AD, his golden house was

  • filled in and covered with dirt and

  • rubble. It would form the foundation of a

  • bath complex built above it by the Emperor

  • Trajan. For the next 1,300 years it lay

  • buried and forgotten beneath a changing

  • city.

  • Then in 1500 a sinkhole led explorers into

  • the belly of the ancient beast. Inside

  • renaissance artists drew inspiration from

  • its bizarre frescoes. The very word

  • "grotesque" that we use today is actually

  • an artistic term that is used to describe

  • these strange creatures that they saw

  • down there that were part human, part

  • beast, part architecture, part decoration.

  • The Domus Aurea is an enduring testiment

  • to Nero's chilling rein. One marred by

  • mass murder and extreme self-indulgence.

  • When that rein ended the Roman Empire

  • faced an uncertain future. Every emperor

  • from Julius Caesar to Nero had been a

  • descendant from a single bloodline. Now

  • for the first time, rule of the emperor

  • was left up for grabs. No one was sure

  • what was going to happen next except that

  • it was going to be bloody and it wasn't

  • going to be very good until it was over.

  • 69 AD Emperor Nero lay dead. Killed by his

  • own hand. For the first time since the

  • murder of Julius Caesar, Rome is left

  • without an heir to the throne. A power

  • struggle erupts between the emperor's

  • top general's who turn their armies

  • on each other in a bloody bid for power.

  • The ultimate victor is Vespasian -- a

  • simple straight-talking General who

  • commanded legions in the volitale outpost

  • of Jedidiah.

  • He is not of royal blood and he is nothing

  • like is tyrannical predecessor. Vespasian

  • was the anti-hero. He was as different

  • from Nero as one could get. He had come up

  • 'through the ranks and he was a practical

  • hard-bidden man who was averse to

  • pretension and proud of it. Vespasian

  • is the kind of guy that would much rather

  • watch a football game than go to the

  • opera. Unlike Nero who exploited the

  • skills of engineers for his own colossal

  • vanity projects. Vespasian would put

  • Rome's greatest architectural minds to

  • work for the people. He would start by

  • draining the massive lake that Nero had

  • built on his palace grounds. On that site

  • would rise Rome's most famous engineering

  • marvels. A place where all the chaos that

  • consumed the city could be channeled. It

  • would be called the "Flavian Amphitheater"

  • or as we know it, "The Colosseum". So

  • the statement that Vespasian made was

  • I am taking a space which is only for the

  • private space for a bad emperor and now I

  • am transforming an area into a public

  • space which would then be used for the

  • enjoyment of all the people of Rome. So

  • that was a very bold piece of propaganda.

  • Gladiators have been spilling blood in the

  • name of entertainment for centuries but

  • the people of Rome were hungry for bigger,

  • bolder spectacles.

  • The Colloseum would give the gladiators

  • a state of the art killing field and the

  • games would take on a level of carnage

  • never before seen in history. This was the

  • big venue.. the entertainment came to you.

  • Everything from animals from the furthest

  • corners of the known world to captives

  • from far away lands could be brought to

  • a central location, to your favorite box

  • seat and right in the center of the city.

  • It's undoubtedly the biggest amphitheater

  • in the world. An exceptional monument

  • for its dimensions. It's also exceptional

  • for the organization of the work in which

  • it was built.

  • Construction on the Colosseum began in

  • 72 AD. It was financed by the sale of

  • precious relics taken from the Jewish

  • Temple during the Vespasian sacking of

  • Jerusalem. 12,000 Jewish captives were

  • brought back from that campaign to build

  • the amphitheater. They would have worked

  • under tremendously harsh conditions and

  • would have been worked long and hard

  • and to the end. They poured more than

  • 6,000 tons of concrete and hauled huge

  • travertine building blocks to the site

  • from a quarry 20 miles away. As the

  • building progressed up higher they would

  • use less of the strong and expensive

  • limestone and more of the cheaper

  • ingredients that were lighter in weight.

  • The Romans had quite the sophisticated

  • wooden cranes and devices for lifting up

  • the stones and they would be able to do

  • that quite easily from the ground and up

  • to great heights. In just 8 years, the

  • imposing structure grew to 160 feet tall

  • dwarfing all that surrounded it. It's the

  • tallest ancient Roman structure ever

  • built. This is the amphitheater of the

  • capitol. So, what was Rome? Rome was a

  • city that was so much larger than any

  • other city. So much richer. So, that came to

  • symbolize the power, engineering, the

  • wealth of Ancient Rome.

  • Roman amphitheaters were constructed from

  • a surprisingly simple framework

  • incorporating 2 Greek theaters back to

  • back to form one 360 degree theater in

  • the round.

Ambition... Conquest

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B2 中高級 美國腔

羅馬。 帝國的工程 1/2 (Rome: Engineering an Empire part 1 of 2)

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    童洋 發佈於 2021 年 01 月 14 日
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