>An ancient Roman bridge spans the Wadi al Murr in Mosul, Iraq-1920
Why would they build something like this?
>>47952712
To cross the Wadi al Murr?
>>47952729
I think he's asking why the shape of it is so utterly impractical for that purpose
>>47952712
They probably built more of it, but it was salvaged for building materials in the intervening centuries.
Actually kind of impressive no-one collapsed the actual arch.
>>47952771
Oh, because it's just the middle arch of a larger structure. The actual road surface would have been much flatter.
Tall boats?
>>47952712
That is not a bridge.
Certainly not a Roman one given their engineering chops.
I'm not sure what it is for, but a Roman bridge would be utilitarian designed to allow ready foot traffick or more likely wheeled carts for trade.
This could have been part of a victory style arch if there was sufficient water traffick for it to be seen but as another anon said the materials were scavenged away leaving the bare bones behind.
>>47952800
Not likely, vaulted arches are strong because of their height, it allows better distribution of weight. Very shallow arches were hard to build before the advent of reinforced concrete.
>>47952712
>Why would they build something like this?
Because they were the Romans, the greatest empire that the world had ever seen. They may have simply done it to show everyone that they could.
>>47952780
>no one collapsed the arch
It would probably be a huge pain in the ass to do so without decent machinery, pretty much all the remaining chunks look like they're part of the actual load bearing arch. Probably be easier to just tie a bulldozer to it and pull it sideways, and by the time that was available it was a historical site.
>>47952958
>the greatest empire that the world had ever seen
Bullshit, that's not the Hwan Empire or the Proto-Finnic Holy Roman Khaganate.
>>47952712
Because Romans liked to show off their engineering prowess. And roman engineers fucking LOVED arches, since they're both a fairly strong structural element but certainly also because not just anyone could actually make a good arch at the time, so when you see one like this, you know you're dealing with someone who knows his shit.
>>47952780
>Actually kind of impressive no-one collapsed the actual arch.
Because it's neither a religious structure nor salvageable for anything of value. So save for random bombing of nearby military forces it's safe from the sandnigger blight.
>>47952989
They could have blasted it once black powder was invented, but point taken.
>>47953028
Or for an alternative example, have some motherfucking aqueduct action. Arches fucking everywhere. The Romans seriously could not stop waving their engineering dicks in everyone faces, so wherever they went they must also build arches. Arches and roads.
>>47953002
Too many /his/ memes
>>47953031
There's still a fair bit of dressed stone in the arch. As long as collapsing the arch is less labour intensive than cutting and dressing the stone that makes it up, it's impressive that it didn't get collapsed.
>>47953028
It's kind of hard to imagine the marriage of raw power, vast wealth, and technical sophistication that building must have impressed upon people looking at it when it was new.
>>47952712
>Why would they build something like this?
Slavery, getting shit done since the dawn of recorded history
>>47952799
/thread
>>47953111
>looking at it when it was new
Hence that is why a lot of civilizations threw themselves at the Romans. Especially the smelly one, they know they were the shit.
>>47953002
Mami sauna
>>47953083
>Arches and roads
And toilets, towns, villas, walls, arenas, bathhouses.... etc etc.
If you have an engineering boner as big as the Romans, you'd have no choice but to swing it.
>>47953631
Shame about the lead plumbing. But I guess they couldn't have known better.
>>47953641
At the very least, it made them a fun civilization.
>>47952712
>Hey Antonius, let's build a ridiculous bridge just for the Hades of it.
>Yea, in like a thousand years plebs will just be like "the romans were so great they surely had a plan with this
>Hilarious man
>>47952799
This you fucking retards.
>>47953641
Lead plumbing wasn't a problem for Romans because of all the calcium in the water. It calcified the insides of the pipes and made it so virtually no lead touched the water. The problem is that civilization then figured lead wasn't poisonous, and then started using lead pipes in places that didn't have large amounts of calcium to insulate the pipes.
>>47952799
That's a middle-aged bridge, not a roman one. By the way.
>>47952712
EDUCATE YOURSELF
http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/exopolitica/esp_exopolitics_r_1_07.htm
THIS IS A STAR GATE BUILT BY THE ANNUNAKI
>>47954405
Don't know why the Annunaki why using hyperdemensional wormholes to redirect the flow of the wadi al murr. Guess they really loved over engineering their irrigation projects.
>>47954497
that, or it's a sex thing.
>>47953885
it's a bit more complicated than that.
There are other forms of natural coatings and build up that can develop in lead pipes, not just calcium. Or even low calcium levels can create that buildup provided the water is not corrosive.
Corrosive in this sense not meaning at remotely the level of health hazard, just enough to dissolve the coating on the pipes.
I'm from Michigan, and learning about the details of all that became kinda thing recently.
Lead was widely understood to be poisonous at all times, what wasn't understood was how lead poisoning worked, ie that can build up over time from tiny amounts, and how tiny amounts of lead can enter the body through various means. There was never a point post romans where people thought eating a bunch of lead was fine.
>>47952712
Because they thought the shape would have some magically better structure.
>>47953028
Engineering skills they took from others mind you.
>>47953681
Imagine what your shitposts will do 1000 years from now.
>>47956588
Others who they assimilated into the Roman Empire.
Only Rome could build that shit at the time mind you.
>>47956573
>magically
Is physics magic now?
>>47956637
It doesn't feel logical so it must be
>>47956629
>>47956588
they also backed those skills up with an organized labor force. They also made some practical developments.
But they had no interest in theory, and theory development basically stalled in the western world until the Renaissance period. Who would then claim they were rediscovering the Greeks, because they didn't want to acknowledge that development was happening in the Eastern world during all this time period.
>>47953885
>>47956454
It's somewhat likely that romans used lead carbonate as an artificial sweetener. Which is related to why little kids like to eat paint chips.
>>47952799
>Cangas de onis
Gallego fag!
Why build a castle without, well, half of it? seems pretty impractical to leave that opening, and I'm not even talking tactically
