Civil Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
i rst century BC. Such large scale building construction enterprises were, of course,
also well positioned to take up contracts for carrying out major public works, e.g.
the erection of temples, theatres, public baths etc.
However parallel with this development in the private sector, the Roman state
with its ever increasing wealth and its idealogical programme of “monumentalising”
itself, instituted and continually expanded its Public Works Department (
Opera
Caesaris
). h is development was sealed during the principate by Augustus and made
manifest by his appointment of Agrippa as Minister of Works (
aedile
). Equally
the expanding state expanded another organisation of builders. h e Roman Army
maintained a large, highly competent corps of engineers, which was in ef ect a
construction corps. And it was not unusual for this personnel to carry out civil
building projects as the occasion demanded.
With these developments the Government of the Roman Empire in the i rst cen-
tury AD was in a position to carry out any public works project by direct operation
of governmental resources. h is is not to say that public building projects were no
longer held out to private contract. h ey were and were ef ectively taken up, but
such contract work continued alongside direct government building.
At this stage another dimension enters into the development of the Roman build-
ing industry—that of historical geography. Whereas the Roman government monu-
mentalised the City of Rome during later Republican times by the proceeds extorted
from its conquests, the Imperial Roman Government repaid in kind by providing,
assisting, supporting public building throughout the provinces of the Empire. h e
i nancial mechanism employed was of a i duciary nature—i.e. it remitted taxes,
levied special taxes or sanctioned municipal impositions. It did not make direct
monetary advances. However it supplied manpower both professional (architects,
master builders) and labour (sometimes convicts or slaves). Also it could arrange
for an eminent patron/overseer of the works in the person of some celebrated (and
wealthy) dignitary of the region who was thereby bound to oversee the comple-
tion of the project. Additionally it could place army personnel at the service of
the municipality to direct and carry out the work; and, very signii cantly, with the
Imperialisation of major quarries the Roman government donated prefabricated
units of masonry, notably monolithic columns, to monumental building projects
throughout the Empire (v
infra
, pp. 212, 213). In this way Roman Imperial build-
ing in the provinces has let remains such as are a wonder and amazement at the
present day, both in respect of their magnii cence and of their dispersal over a vast
territory (cf J.B. Ward Perkins, pt 3, “h e Architecture of the Roman Provinces”;
R. Macmullen, “Roman Imperial Building in the Provinces,” pp. 207-17).
h e Emperors most active in asserting the humanity, dignity and magnii cence
of Rome by way of monumental building in the provinces were Augustus, Tra-
jan and Hadrian. However, during the third century AD, the tide of af airs ran
His-
torical
& geo-
graphical
develop-
ment of
Imperial
Roman
building.
