I once watched a documentary on Pompei...it was laid out in lots and blocks very similar to modern cities. I thought that was amazing.
What we need is LieDAR. We could use it on democrats, and republicans, and judges. We could use it on the media, but that would probably break it.
Not only did the Romans invent highways, but they also invented toll booths.
Well, I learned about hobnails today. Linked is a picture of an old Roman boot.
However, as we are seeing with pax Americana, as other regions catch up in weapons technology, our ability to project and secure practically every region on earth is eroding. The dollar system is entirely dependent on this leverage, which is why it is imperative we maintain control over MENA petro regions.
In Roman times, once the regional provinces were able to develop and deploy comparable arms, the manned forces - which were always capable, especially the Germans, just outmatched - were able to begin securing victories. (Which of course resulted in the Germans eventually defeating Rome and occupying the core regions (Catalonia/Milan) where they are still dominant today in the core economic centers of those countries.
In fact, after the fall of the empire, weapons technology was so evenly spread that it allowed for the growth and spread of city-states during the medieval era. It wasn't until central states once again became technologically dominant (again through metallurgy ie canon) that nations and empires were again able to be constructed. Constantinople fell because the Turks were able to deploy the largest canon built to date - they simply pulverized the walls until they were breached. It also helped that anyone with a clue had long departed back to the West.
Maybe if the Roman Empire hadn’t collapsed, industrialization would have happened over 1000 years earlier.
“RutNutting” Roman roads with LiDAR ping....
I was stationed in Aviano Italy in the late 70s. Going up the alps you could see the still functioning Roman aqueducts. Also Trieste is part of the Italian Riviera with absolutely beautiful Beaches. I remember going there in the middle of winter with fellow Airmen. We would walked down the middle of the streets with our cases of beer and 54 liter Demijars of Wine through this eerie totally empty beautiful town.
One of the great controversies of WWII was Churchill advocating for the cancellation of Anvil, the invasion of Southern France and eventual link-up with Eisenhower, in favor of leaving the troops in Italy under Alexander to fight through the mountains and Gothic Line into the Po Valley, over to Trieste, up the Gap and somehow beat the Russians to Vienna and Budapest. When Roosevelt and Marshall turned him down, with Brooke's support, he later proposed a landing near Trieste to do the same operation.
The problems were manifold. The Germans had proven in Italy to be masters of defensive warfare in the mountains. The roads and railroads were thin if not poor. Inside the Gap there was only room for two divisions to maneuver, so "shooting" the Gap was not feasible. North of Ljubljana there were more mountains and passes to force. And if the Allies pulled it off, of what value was Vienna compared to the Ruhr and a path to Central Germany and Berlin?
Churchill was a great wartime leader, but the war plans were better left to others.
This technology was conceived by Sarah Parcak, an Egyptologist and professor at the University of Alabama Birmingham. It’s since been used to make astounding discoveries all over the world. Like the five mile long canals the ancient Egyptians dug (since reclaimed by the desert) from the Nile river to the Giza plateau to move the huge blocks of stone bound for the pyramids inland by water. And forts and other lost encampments the Romans built along Hadrian’s wall.
i.e. Roman Arithmetic