What The Ancients Did For Us: The Romans (History Documentary) Step back in time to discover how the world was shaped by the ancient Chinese, the Mesopotamians, the Arabs and even the Ancient Britons. Adam Hart-Davis presents an epic history of ancient inventions and is joined by his team of roving reporters on the move around the globe as they delve into the beginnings of civilization. Who invented beer, bread and the wheel? How did the Egyptians align the pyramids so accurately? Did you know the ancient Greeks measured the circumference of the earth, invented robots and the first computer? This epic new series begins in the Middle East with a set of amazing inventions from The Islamic World and the series finishes with the Britons. Along the way we will meet the Chinese, the Aztecs, Maya & Incas, the Romans, the Indians, the Mesopotamians, the Egyptians, the Greeks. Nine programmes examining the military, technological, social, architectural and medical advances of each era and its peoples, What the Ancients Did for Us traces some of the defining moments in history and the key inventions that shaped our world today. THE ROMANS Rome was founded on the banks of the Tiber in 753 BC and for a thousand years the western world was ruled from within its walls. To support this vast Empire the Romans created complex infrastructure and used the techniques of mass production, centuries before the industrial revolution. In this programme Adam Hart-Davis will find out how the Romans managed to do so much, so long ago and discover just what the Romans did for us. For a start they created the first professional, salaried army and invented fearsome war machines. To move around the Empire they constructed thousands of miles of roads and we find out what it actually takes to build one of these. They built amphitheatres and race tracks and in the process brought gladiatorial games and equine sport to every corner of their empire. They pioneered the mass production of glass and double glazing, and created enormous aqueducts that fed water from distant sources into the heart of their cities and bath houses, created clever heating systems, and flushing toilets. They produced vast quantities of marble veneer to clad their cities and recent evidence suggests they cut the stone using multiple bladed water-powered saws. To move such heavy material they constructed cranes and invented the first ball-bearings. But perhaps their one invention that has had the biggest impact on the modern world more than anything else is concrete, they used it everywhere from houses to bridges, (it would set hard under water), and without it they couldn't have built the Pantheon and its vast domed roof unsurpassed in size until the 19th century.

• published: 23 Sep 2013
• views: 82