Roman Engineering

  • The Colosseum

    ByDominik Szobak

    The Colosseum stands where a lake used to be. Nero had an artificial pond dug in the gardens of his palace; Vespasian drained it and built an amphitheatre for the public on the site. The gesture was legible to every Roman: a tyrant’s private pleasure ground returned to the city. The name is Nero’s too…

  • Pantheon

    ByDominik Szobak

    This dome is still the largest unreinforced concrete dome in the world. Not “was” — is. After nineteen centuries, nobody has built a bigger one without steel inside it. The Romans managed it by varying the concrete as they went: heavy travertine aggregate at the base, and at the crown, pumice light enough to float…