How Ancient Roman Roads Were Built

Do you know how ancient Roman roads were built? Find out the different layers that an ancient Roman road has and the materials used.

Ever wonder how ancient Roman roads were built? If you love history and architecture, you will agree that the roads of ancient Rome are epic and breathtaking, especially in terms of their intricacy. In Rome, they planned and built a network of roads that no other civilization in history had ever done before. They used technology and built them to a level that no one else had ever done. The people had to cross the plains, get over the mountain ranges, and get to their destination. They had to rise on embankments or dismantle the rock as much as needed to get there.

How Ancient Roman Roads Were Built

The Roman roads spread across three continents and reached a length of 120,000 km. How many trips around the world? Roman transposer technology was made possible by the road network. It also gave us a lot of information about the advanced design, functionality, and efficiency of Roman chariots. The Roman roads that linked their cities had a surface made out of the gravel.

There are a lot of different ways that Roman roads were made. According to the terrain, builders either dug down into the level ground or put special supports in places where the soil fell. The soil is then compacted and sometimes covered with sand or mortar to make it stable enough for the layers above.

The Different Layers of Roman Roads

1. Statumen

Statumen was a layer that was put on top of the compacted foundation soil. It was made up of large rough stones. Drainage could pass through the gaps between the slabs. From 25 to 60 cm thick, this layer was made of sand and gravel.

2. Rudus

The next layer the Rudus which is a 20-cm-thick layer of crushed rock that is about 5 cm in diameter and mixed with cement.

3. Nucleus

The third layer was the Nucleus which was a concrete layer that was actually made of gravel, cement, and sand. This layer was about 30 cm thick.

4. Summum Dorsum

Last but not least, is the last layer called Summum Dorsum, which is made up of large 15-cm-thick rock blocks. But more often, workers used fine sand, gravel, or earth in the top layer, depending on what they had available. This layer had to be both soft and durable at the same time, so it had to be both.

Remnants of ancient Roman Roads

Paved roads were very expensive, so they were usually only used in parts of cities that were near or inside them. It was common for large cobblestones of basalt laval to be used in the area around Rome when the pavement was used.