The Roman Empire developed its fortune starting by a people of farmers and merchants.
During the second Triumvirus, in the second half of the I Century BC, two big alliances face in a struggle for the power.
In an attempt to acquire the most credit along the Senatus against Mark Antony, Octavian, the heir of Caesar, builds up a movement of poets and artists, to recall the old Repubblican virtues and to fight his opponent ideals, based on the oriental culture.
One figure of that movement is Virgil, the author of the Aeneid. But also another artist was present: Vitruvius, author of De Architectura.
It is the oldest treatise ever found about the subject of Architecture, and it contains many reference to the extensive water management expertise of Roman Engineers.
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| Pont du Gard |
Inside books VIII and X he described aqueducts as well as dewatering machines and other instruments of that age which were involved in the process of distribution and transportation of the water.
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| A part of an old Roman Water Wheel, found in Spain, that testifies the technological level reached by the ancient civilization. It is on display at the British Museum. |
