water of the Euphrates and the Tigris. Several canals link the two rivers, and small boats used these waterways. However, the world’s first canal created purely for water transport is an incomparably more ambitious affair. Between about 520 and 510 B.C, the Persian emperor, Darius I, invests heavily in the economy of his newly-conquered province of Egypt. He builds a canal linking the Nile and the Red Sea. Its access to the sea is close to modern Ismailia, which much later becomes the terminus of another great waterway, the Suez Canal.
SELF ASSESSMENT EXERCISE 1
What is your evaluation and assessment of transport in the Ancient period?
and a leather hoot for protection of drivers, to the four-wheel carruca, which could carry a whole family.
In addition to this, many influential and wealthy Romans also employed chariots as a mean of travelling and getting around. These horse-pulled chariots had two wheels and looked like a cart. This was a favourite way for the Ancient Romans to travel because the horses could get where they were going very fast. The rich often travelled lying down in a litter carried on the shoulders of slave or seated in a sedan chair, also carried by slaves.
Soldiers and officials on important assignments would often ride on horseback. This was a fast and easy way to get around, and it was affordable for the soldiers to have these horses. To improve the travelling speed, posthouses with fresh horses were laid at every fifteen kilometers along the route and lodgings for travellers could be found about every forty kilometers. This distance corresponded to the average distance a traveler could cover each day.
For haulage purposes, these roads were less satisfactory, because the straight nature of the roads results in some steep hills. Anyone with a wagon and horse would prefer an altitude less severe than that of the Roman engineers. By the 2nd century A.D, the network spreads all round the Mediterranean and throughout Europe up to Danube, the Rhine and northern England, amounting to more than 400,000 kilometres of roads, including over 80,500 kilometres of paved roads. When Rome was at the height of its power, no fewer than 29 great military highways radiated from the city. Hills were cut through and deep ravines filled in. At one point, the Roman Empire was divided into one 113 provinces traversed by 372 great road links. In Gaul alone, no less than 21,000 kilometres of road are said to have been developed. In Britain, at least 4,000 kilometres of such roads were constructed. There were footpaths on each side of the roads.
Transport by water was also important to the Romans. They built wooden barges, boats and sailing ships that they used to travel on rivers, seas like the Nile River, Rhine River, Danube River and the Mediterranean Sea. They travelled as far as Africa, China, Britain,
Arabia and India. They built large merchant ships called cortia, which could carry up to one thousand tons of cargo. Roman ships had a single main mast, which carried a rectangular sail, although some ships also had small sails at the bow and stern. They, however, did not have rudders; instead, they were steered by oars. The Romans also built lighthouses to aid shipping. Merchant ships brought silk from China, perfumes from the Middle East, cotton, precious stones and dyes from India, spices from the Middle East and India, gold, bronze silver, copper from Britain which they used to make coins and jewellery and wheat from Egypt make bread and papyrus.
Several reasons accounted for the Romans’ preference for sea travel, if they were given a choice. First, travel on the sea was generally more comfortable than over the land because road travel was on foot, or in spring-less carriages, carts or chariots that bounced and bumped over every cobblestone. Second, roads were often frequented by bandits and one who travelled without a good company of slaves or armed retainers risked losing his life.
Third, the few inns at which a traveller could find lodging for the night were of dubious standards or quality at best and downright risky at worst. Most innkeepers were crooks, the food was bad, and the inns were patronised by cutthroats and drunks. All kinds of lice and other insects infested the beddings, and the traveller might not even find a bed at all because they were all taken by other guests by the time he arrived at the inn.
Incredible as it may sound, there were even bridges that were built during the Ancient Roman times. The bridges were built over rivers, and since there were many Roman craftsmen, they knew how to use concrete to construct roads and bridges and so they were sturdy and lasted for many years. The Romans were also famous for constructing large ditches throughout their Empire. These were drainage ditches that would allow the central part of major cities and particularly Rome (popularly called “the Area” or the
“Roman Forum”) not to be flooded. There is abundance of evidence that aqueducts and artificial water channels were extensively constructed to give water to the people of Ancient Roman Empire.
SELF ASSESSMENT EXERCISE 2
What are the major contributions of the Classical period to the development of transport?