At the height of its powers, the Roman Empire achieved a great number of engineering feats, including the development of sturdy bridges, tunnels, and other infrastructure. These bridges and tunnels were key components of what is indisputably Ancient Rome’s most fascinating, and most useful, structures: aqueducts.
Aqueducts were channels used to transport water to cities and other highly populated areas, which were then used for drinking, irrigation, powering mills, and for filling public baths and fountains. Roman emperors recognized the importance of these aqueducts, so although it required tons of manpower and money to build one, they funded and supported these public works projects regardless. Elaborate, extensive networks of aqueducts were erected across the empire, from France to North Africa to Turkey. The longest aqueduct, the Zaghouan Aqueduct in North Africa, was over 132 km (82 mi) long. In a time before construction vehicles and heavy machinery, these aqueducts were quite the engineering marvel! They worked by cleverly utilizing gravity to transfer water (see diagram below).
Many of these centuries-old structures remain standing to this day, a testament to the planning skills and the ingenuity of the Ancient Romans. In fact, some aqueducts are still in use today; the Aqua Virgo Aqueduct is used to supply water to Rome’s famous Trevi Fountain!
Sources:
https://www.ancient.eu/Roman_Engineering
https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/roman-aqueducts/
https://www.britannica.com/technology/aqueduct-engineering
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zaghouan_Aqueduct
https://www.crystalinks.com/romeaqueducts.html
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