Summary of Engineering an Empire Rome

Rome - Engineering an Empire tells the story of the expansion of the Roman Empire by means
of amazing engineering feats. One of the more impressive anecdotes of this History Channel
production is that the Roman aqueducts procured more water for the city of Rome during the
Empire than New York City could supply its inhabitants in 1985.
The production is sleek, seamlessly flowing from historical period to engineering
accomplishment to imperial biography, using on-site photography, drawings, and actors to
recreate interpersonal relations.
Chronologically, the first engineering accomplishment in the Rome - Engineering an Empire, is
the creation of a great sewer system, the cloaca maxima, which allowed the hilltop villages to
consolidate, but the story presented by Rome - Engineering an Empire begins with the end of
the Republic and Julius Caesar, whose engineering marvel was the building of a 1000-foot
wooden bridge over the Rhine River in 10 days for Caesar's legions to cross. Military needs
also dictated the construction of the famous roads of the Roman Empire. These roads weren't
straight just for the sake of speed, but because the Romans lacked surveying tools that would
allow them to make curves. Roman aqueducts, based on simple physical principles, were also
straight line constructions, tunnels through mountains, and bridges over valleys, with the
famous Roman arch construction used to limit the amount of material needed.
Although Claudius wasn't the only emperor to work on aqueducts, the program credits the
emperor with the Anio aqueduct, while describing both his reign and his relationship with his
wife Agrippina. This ties one engineering feat with the next, the pleasure palace of the Golden
Palace (domus aurea), constructed by Agrippina's son, the Emperor Nero. Nero's murder of his
mother ties in with a later segment on the Emperor Caracalla who killed his brother before the
eyes of his mother.
Between these two emperors, Rome - Engineering an Empire covers the building feats and
careers of the good emperors, Vespasian, Trajan, and Hadrian, builders of the Colosseum or
Flavian Amphitheater; builder of a column celebrating his conquests and an early shopping
mall with 150 storefronts, and rebuilder of the forum; and the wall up to 30 feet high in places
that crossed the entire width of Britain.
Rome - Engineering an Empire premieres September 5, 2005, at 9 p.m. Eastern time on the
History Channel