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P What we’re going to do today is really at the heart of history. We’re going to look at the physical remains of a civilization and try to use them to see what we can learn about the people who left them behind. Basically, we take objects and make guesses about the people who built and used them. So, what I want to do is to talk about the system of roads built by the Romans, as an example. First off, we know that the Romans built a lot of roads, about 53,000 miles worth. And they built really good ones. Some of them are still in use today, in fact. That’s pretty good, considering that we’re talking about a system that was put in place as long ago as around 450 BC. So, what can we guess about the Romans based on their numerous, well-constructed roads?
S1 We already know that Rome was an empire, don’t we? They constantly took over the lands and governments of other groups. Are the roads related to that?
P The roads they built allowed them to travel quickly and over great distances. How is that related to them as an empire? What does that say about the sort of empire they had? Well, only an empire interested in constant expansion would bother with making really good roads. Think of it this way: If you want to be able to take control of other countries, you need to be able to move your armies rather quickly. The roads allowed for that. In fact, Romans used their armies to build the roads in the first place. So, there we have one solid guess based on the roads. The Roman Empire wanted to expand.
There is an interesting fact about the roads. Basically, if you walked along any of the main ones, you’d eventually get to the capital. If you were going in the right direction, you would get there, of course. What does that tell us about the Romans? They were afraid of insurrection.
They saw it this way: They were afraid that the roads between the people they controlled would allow them to better communicate with one another and then plan ways to get rid of the Romans. So, all the main roads were constructed to simplify travel between the capital and the outlying areas, but not between the outlying areas themselves. The Romans not only wanted to take control, but they also wanted to keep it. You can see that they felt they would have to fight for it. Who can blame them, really?
S2 But not everyone in Rome was a part of the military. Can the roads tell us about other parts of Roman culture?
P The answer is yes. The Romans managed to write all sorts of laws for the correct construction and use of roads. A proper road had to be eight feet wide but a full sixteen feet along any corners. This allowed for commercial traffic both ways. I’ll talk about this more later, but you should know that the Romans loved to build really straight roads, which could have caused potential problems, because a tot of the roads had to go over private property. So, they made a law that anyone could enter private property, basically trespass, as long as they stayed on the road. What does this sort of thinking tell us about the Romans? I think that it’s fairly easy to see, don’t you?
I want to tell you my favorite thing about the Romans. Now, imagine you can have a road go over a hill or around it. Going around is better, because if you go over, you end up with a really steep road. Most likely it’s too steep for anyone to use, let alone try to push a cart up. It may be straight, but it’s also more like a monument to effort and not something practical. We can see something about the Romans when we look at some of their straight and unusable roads. They were rather stubborn. The fact that they eventually started to go around mountains, and not over them, though, shows that they, in the end, preferred practicality to perfection. So, there you have it.
P They saw it this way: They were afraid that the roads between the people they controlled would allow them to better communicate with one another and then plan ways to get rid of the Romans. So, all the main roads were constructed to simplify travel between the capital and the outlying areas, but not between the outlying areas themselves. The Romans not only wanted to take control, but they also wanted to keep it. You can see that they felt they would have to fight for it. Who can blame them, really?
Why does the professor say this
P Who can blame them, really?