Roman

ConcreteRoss Nightingale Session 2

The Rock

Hi, It’s me FRED!

I invented concrete.

Don’t Believe him!

It Was Me

Roman Concrete = Opus Caementicium

1st used basic lime mortar – made with slaked lime & sand or fine gravel. (Slaked Lime = kiln heated limestone, quicklime, water added)

- Used to bind rocks, seal walls, cisterns etc

About mid 1st c BC – discovered the benefits of Pozzolana (volcanic ash) added to mix

This was Roman Concrete

The Recipe 1

Vitruvius – Roman Engineer

General Construction – 1 part slaked lime to 3 parts pozzolana

Layered in place with aggregate – either sand or fine gravel

Horse hair was often added to stop cracking

Barrel Vaults

Arches

Domes

Basilica of Maxentius / Constantine

Artists view inside Basilica of Maxentius / Constantine

Concrete vaults and arches enabled building of

the colisseum

Aqueducts

Rome’s Sewer the Cloaca Maxima

& Roman Latrines

Domed spaces

Eg. Pantheon

The Recipe 2

Vitruvius – Roman Engineer

Underwater Construction – 1 part slaked lime to 2 parts pozzolana

Formed Hydraulic Concrete which set underwater

Enabled building of harbours and bridges

The Submerged Remains of Herod’s Harbour

One of the earliest uses underwater

Artist’s Reconstruction of Herod’s Harbour

Opus Incertum Opus Reticulatum

Opus Quadratum

Decorating Boring

Concrete

& Marble

Pompeii

Without Concrete could Rome and its empire have become so

great?

Huge builds

Domes

Harbours

Bridges

Sewers …