Roman civil engineering has lessons for the modern world
The concrete used was self-healing and anachronistically green
The Romans were master builders. Many of their works, from the Pantheon (pictured above) and the Colosseum in Rome itself, to the Pont du Gard in southern Gaul and the equally impressive aqueduct of Segovia, in Spain, have withstood the ages. What damage has been done to such constructions is more often the result of stone robbery than structural failure.
This article appeared in the Science & technology section of the print edition under the headline “Concrete propositions”
From the January 14th 2023 edition
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