HISTORICAL ROMAN

INVENTIONS THAT SHAPED THE

MODERN WORLD
By Group 2
 INTRODUCTION
The Roman Empire may have fallen centuries ago, but its
influence on modern society is still felt today.
From roads and aqueducts to concrete and central
heating, the ancient Romans were responsible for many
inventions that have stood the test of time and continue
to shape our world.
 INTRODUCTION
These innovations made life easier for the people
of ancient Rome and laid the foundation for many
of the technologies we take for granted today.

Roman inventions are still very much around us

today. But where and why?
 ROMAN NUMERALS
Roman numerals originated in
ancient Rome but survived for
some uses after the end of the
Roman Empire.
Seven fundamental symbols
from the Latin alphabet are used
in the number system: I, V, X, L,
C, D, and M, representing 1, 5,
10, 50, 100, 500, and 1000
respectively.
 ARCHES
The arch directs pressure
downwards and outwards, creating a
solid passage underneath it that can
support heavy structures.
This is called compressive stress
because the shape of the arch
compresses the pressure of the
weight. The arch allowed ancient
builders to make larger, more
complex buildings that could hold
more space and people.
 ARCHES
The Romans commonly used arches
with circular tops, called rounded
arches made of stone, and series of
round arches side by side, called an
arcade.
In the first centuries BC, Romans
discovered how to use arches to
construct bridges, aqueducts, and
buildings, expanding infrastructure
across the Roman Empire.
 HYPOCAUST
The hypocaust system was an early
underfloor heating that worked
similarly to modern-day central or
radiant floor heating. These systems
distributed heat from an
underground fire throughout a space
beneath the floor raised by a series
of concrete pillars.
 HYPOCAUST
It’s important to note that these
systems were expensive and were
usually only used in public buildings,
large homes owned by wealthy
Romans, and in the thermae, or
Roman baths, which featured heated
floors and walls.
Today, the basic concept remains
unchanged and is still used in places
like Turkish baths.
 ROADS
Romans built roads that weren’t just
a mix of gravel and rocks. The
Romans used a combination of dirt
and gravel with bricks made from
hardened volcanic lava or granite,
making the roads immensely strong
no matter the weather.
 AQUEDUCTS
Romans built aqueducts to bring
fresh water from neighboring
sources into their growing cities and
towns. While earlier civilizations in
Egypt and India also used
aqueducts, the Romans truly
mastered the technology.
A dream for modern
environmentalists is the technology-
enabled water transport from the
source to the point of use using little
more than the power of gravity.
 POSTAL SERVICE
The Romans invented an early form
of a postal service
Around 20 B.C. Emperor Augustus
established the cursus publicus, a
system by which messages and
notices could be transferred
between provinces with the help of
horses and vehicles such as the
horse cart called rhedæ.
 NEWSPAPER
While Romans cannot be credited
with creating a modern system of
daily paper newspapers, they did
have something similar. They often
inscribed news of current affairs on
papyri or wax slabs, which were
placed in public spaces.
This publication was called Acta
Diurna or ‘daily acts’ and originated
as early as 131 B.C.
 THE CODEX: FIRST BOUND BOOK
During the Roman Empire, writings
were typically carved into wax slabs
or on scrolls.
Instead of a scroll that could be up
to 32 feet (10 meters) in length and
had to be unrolled to be read, Julius
Caesar commissioned one of the
very first bound books — a collection
of papyrus — to form a codex.
THE CODEX: FIRST BOUND BOOK

The early Christians widely used this

Roman invention to make codices of
the Bible, technology-enabled, and
the bound book later spread to other
areas along with Christianity. And
the rest, as they say, is history.
 JULIAN CALENDAR

The Roman republican calendar

contained 355 days. It was a lunar
calendar, and to make up for the
discrepancy between the lunar
calendar and the solar year, an
intercalary month consisting of 27 or
28 days was added once every two
years.
 JULIAN CALENDAR

To correct this, in 46 B.C., Julius

Caesar introduced a new form of a
calendar system that had 12 months
and used a cycle of three years of
365 days, followed by a year of 366
days (leap year). The Julian Calendar
also moved the beginning of the
year from March 1 to January 1.
 SEWAGE & SANITATION
These consisted of a mixture of
masonry, early concrete, and in some
circumstances, lead piping.
The drainage pipes were connected
and flushed regularly, with the water
running off streams. Romans also used
covered gutter systems and public
bathrooms, ensuring the streets were
clear of human waste. This improved
the aesthetics of large population
centers and drastically enhanced
public health.
 SEWAGE & SANITATION
With the fall of the Western Roman
Empire, the ability to build and
maintain these structures was
rapidly lost, with many post-Roman
nations in Europe regressing
hundreds of years in terms of
sanitation. They would only develop
similar systems over a thousand
years later. Some systems, like the
Cloaca Maxima in Rome, would
continue to be used today.
 CONCRETE
While generally considered a
modern invention, concrete has a
very long and exciting history. While
not technically invented by the
Romans, they improved upon older
techniques to make an incredibly
versatile and robust building
material.
The Romans also used it far and
wide within the Roman Empire and
played a vital role in its development
to the modern day.
 CONCRETE

Using a mixture of volcanic ash,

lime, and seawater, they developed
a mix to add structural integrity to
their buildings. They did something
right, as many of their buildings still
stand today.
Some types of Roman concrete
could be set underwater.
 EARLY FORM OF
APARTMENT
The Romans invented early forms of
apartments
Due to population pressures, Rome
was perpetually in need of more
space for housing. Instead of
building new homes outward,
architects proposed stacking six to
eight apartment blocks around a
staircase and central courtyard.
 MEDICAL TOOLS
The design of some tools, such as
the vaginal speculum, did not
change significantly until the 19th
and 20th centuries.
Romans also used tools such as
forceps, syringes, scalpels, and bone
saws made by specialist
manufacturers that resemble their
21st-century equivalents.
 MEDICAL TOOLS

The Romans also created some of

the earliest treatises on medical
procedures, most notably the work
of Galen. His work would prove so
revolutionary that medical
practitioners would use him as a
reference for hundreds of years.
 CONCLUSION
From engineering marvels like
aqueducts and arches to the amazingly
stable concrete that stood the test of
time, the ancient Romans truly
succeeded in inventing and innovating
their way to become one of the most
prominent empires of the ancient world.
 REFERENCES
https://www.ancienthistorylists.com/rome-history/top-10-ancient-
roman-inventions/
https://interestingengineering.com/innovation/19-greatest-
inventions-of-the-roman-empire-that-helped-shape-the-modern-
world
https://www.worldatlas.com/ancient-world/these-ancient-roman-
inventions-are-still-used-today.html
 GROUP 2
Bayani, Aisa
Beria, Reu Paul
Cinco, Mary
Lucero, Aezel Marian
Maadil, Alfadz
Omar, Samerah
Ramos, Mark Vell
THANK YOU!