Aqueducts

The Romans were prodigious builders and expert civil engineers, and their thriving civilization produced advances in technology, culture and architecture that remained unequaled for centuries. Aqueducts used gravity to transport water along stone, lead and concrete pipelines and into city centers. Aqueducts liberated Roman cities from a reliance on nearby water supplies and proved priceless in promoting public health and sanitation. Romans did not invent the aqueduct, Egyptians, Assyrians, and Babylonians did, but the Romans perfected them. Some aqueducts, built over 1,000 years ago, still stand today.