Roman Water Transport: Pressure Lines

In Roman times long distance water transport was realized by means of aqueducts. Water was conveyed in mortared open channels with a downward slope from spring to destination. Also wooden channels and clay pipelines were applied. The Aqua Appia, the oldest aqueduct of Rome, was constructed in the third Century BCE. During the Pax Romana (second Century CE), a time of little political turmoil, prosperity greatly increased, almost every town acquiring one or more aqueducts to meet the rising demand from the growth of population, the increasing number of public and private bath buildings, and the higher luxury level in general. Until today over 1600 aqueducts have been described, Gallia (France) alone counting more than 300. Whenever a valley was judged to be too wide or too deep to be crossed by a bridge, pressure lines known as ‘inverted siphons’ or simply ‘siphons’ were employed. These closed conduits transported water across a valley according the principle of communicating vessels. About 80 classical siphons are presently known with one out of twenty aqueducts being equipped with a siphon. After an introductory note about aqueducts in general, this report treats the ancient pressure conduit systems with the technical problems encountered in design and function, the techniques that the ancient engineers applied to cope with these problems, and the texts of the Roman author Vitruvius on the subject. Reviewers noted that the report is rather long, and it is. Yet to understand the difficulties that the engineers of those days encountered in view of the materials available for their siphons (stone, ceramics, lead), many a hydraulic aspect will be discussed. Aspects that for the modern hydraulic engineer may be common knowledge and of minor importance when constructing pressure lines, in view of modern construction materials. It was different in Vitruvius’s days.

A estátua de Augusto de 'Prima Porta' como a personificação do Império Romano em livros didáticos de História

Este artigo analisa os usos da imagem da estátua de Augusto de Prima Porta nos conteúdos referentes a Roma antiga nos treze livros didáticos de História do primeiro ano do ensino médio aprovados pelo Plano Nacional do Livro Didático (PNLD-2018). Parte-se de uma pergunta fundamental: a quais tipos de Império Romano essa estátua é associada no corpus documental selecionado? Para respondê-la, foram cotejadas todas as reproduções da estátua de Augusto de Prima Porta presentes nos treze livros didáticos de História do PNLD-2018. As imagens coletadas serão analisadas em conjunto com os textos que as acompanham, e não como dados isolados. Argumentarei que a exposição da estátua de Augusto de Prima Porta é associada à configuração de um império inabalável e expansionista, construído a partir da Pax Romana.

Pax Americana: Palestine and the Middle East in the Trump Era

Peace between Israel and the Arab world appears to be progressing like never before. It started with the UAE, followed by Bahrain and Morocco, and then with Sudan. A “new” Middle East is finally becoming a reality. Yet, on the other hand, the colonization of Palestinian land is progressing at full speed ever since President Trump recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and moved the American Embassy there. During both the Embassy move and the so-called Abraham Accords with Arab countries and throughout the Trump era, biblical language has been employed. This paper will examine these political developments and biblical connotations. At the heart of the issue lies the question of what constitutes real peace. This paper argues that ‘the deal of the century’ was a form of Pax Romana rather than Pax Christi.

‘They Make a Desolation and They Call It Peace’

Chapter 9 (‘“They Make a Desolation and They Call It Peace”: Re-Examining the Nature of the Imperial Peace’) reviews the concept of Assyrian peace that became popular over the years to describe the prospering economy during the period of Assyrian control, when no internal wars or imperial campaigns are evident. The information provided in the previous chapters, however, casts some doubts on the applicability of the term for the period under discussion, since the provinces in the southwest were devastated, and only the regions outside the official boundaries of Assyria prospered. Subsequently, the chapter re-evaluates not only the pax Assyriaca, but also the general concept of ‘imperial peace’ which was ‘imported’ from Rome (the pax Romana) into almost all imperial contexts.