The Incredible Ancient Romans When most people think of the Romans, they think of a culture of warriors who were bent on conquering the world. Actually, they never did conquer it, but conquered , much of Western Europe, Southern Europe, North Africa, and the Near East, which was no minor feat. The Roman army was feared by many countries in their time. While they were great fighters, they were also great builders and engineers. Where ever they went, they built and many of the countries they conquered became better places to live because of this engineering. Today we are finding the ruins of the Roman period in every country they went into. A find was made in the Netherlands relating to what I said. It was a Roman road and canal. It was thought they were built to move soldiers, weapons and building materials. It is believed the canal linked up to the Rhine river. It is also believed these can be dated to be about 2,000 years old. Archaeologists are almost certain the canal connected the city of Nijmegen to the Rhine. The ruins were found in Oosterhout south of Rotterdam. The ruins were found when work on the Wolferen-Sprok dyke began. Since the canal was 33 feet wide it was felt it could easily have carried the Roman ships of that period. An interesting find was made on the Spanish Balearic Island of Menorca. It was a cache of Roman weapons. The Romans had conquered the island. Digging has been conducted for over 5 years at the site by the Institute for Research in Archaeology and Historical Heritage. It wasn’t only weapons which were found, there were some medical tools. Some of them look like modern tools, especially the dental tools. The weapons included projectiles, knives, and other weapons. A bronze spatula was also found. One strange thing about the Romans was they worshiped Janus who was sort of the god of doorways, gates and such, beside other things and gates to the city were sacred. If they sealed a gate, they would deposit high value items. Perhaps this is why the weapons were found. In 12 B.C. Julius Caesar decided to commission the building of the Theatre of Marcellus and its ruin can still be seen in Rome. It held 20,000 people in an open air venue and had an intricate design which included stairways, ramps and a stage with a backdrop. What is even more interesting about it was the fact it became the model for other Roman buildings of this type including the coliseum, one of the most famous buildings in the world. The Romans were very famous for their management of water resources and their aqueducts are famous the world over. They even figured out how to get water to go uphill. As amazing as this sounds, the aqueduct of Segovia in Spain which was built by the Romans was in use from about 50 A.D. until the 1900s. No mortar was used in its construction. It runs over eight miles of hilly land. Can you imagine a modern water delivery system lasting this long? When New York started to build a new water tunnel, they said they were building it because one of the other tunnels was too old and leaked, it was built over 100 years ago. It has been said the most amazing constructions of the ancient Romans were the system of aqueducts. The city of Butrint in Albania is an ancient Roman city. It is located about 12 miles from Sarande. It is inside a park. Funding from the Rothschilds and Sainsburys provided the funding to save the city and make it a tourist attraction. There is a bathhouse and aqueduct present among Greek and Byzantine ruins. The Romans were very big on bathhouses and they had heated water in them. Slaves were expected to feed the furnaces under the water to keep the water hot. The ancient Romans are also known for their prolific road building and their roads can be found in many different places. Some Roman roads are still in use. It is estimated these ancient people built about 250,000 miles of roads. But along with the roads, they also built some fantastic bridges. The bridges were extremely strong and were built using the Roman arch. Some of their bridges were in use for over 1,000 years. Their buildings which used concrete in construction are sometimes stronger today than when they were built because of the type of concrete they invented. It continues to harden over time and can dry under water. This is why the Pantheon and Colosseum are still standing. Archaeologists in Scarborough, England have uncovered a sprawling Roman ruin. It could be the only example of this type of construction ever found in the former Roman Empire. The foundation has a very large circle in its center and three large rectangular rooms connecting on three sides. The other side seems to have a large doorway into the circular area. If this was a home, it must have been built for a very important and rich person. Also, it may not be a home and the experts could be wrong. Perhaps soldiers were stationed there and the circular area was a barn, and the rectangular rooms a living quarters. Anyway, it seems the structure was very grand. There is another building near it which could be a bathhouse. One of the stories I found interesting has to do with World War II. As we all know the British suffered when the city of London was blitzed by the Germans. It was a tragedy. As the workers were clearing the debris from the bombs, they were finding some ancient Roman ruins. They were finding ruins which dated back to the second century A.D. In those days London was called Londinium. When the Londoners decided to create a large construction project in the heart of London, they found the area used to be a riverbed. In that riverbed were thousands of Roman relics. Roman coins found in strange places in the United States have led some people to think perhaps the Romans made it to here. There are stories you never seem to hear about where people claim to have found urns full of Roman coins. The Romans used to bury their money since there were no banks around in those days. These types of finds are not just from some person dropping and losing a Roman coin. To add icing to the cake, some Roman coin finds have taken place in some really isolated places.
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