3 ms·

Is that thing about 2m excavations actually true though? I read that it was actually a bit of a legend that started by somebody mistaking the construction proce

Is that thing about 2m excavations actually true though? I read that it was actually a bit of a legend that started by somebody mistaking the construction process of foundations for villas with those of roads, and it just became assumed knowledge. Obviously they were paved, but as I now understand it they were far simpler than the several layers I’d seen in history picture books in primary school! Otherwise the amount of material even a short stretch of road would need would be utterly impracticably huge.

defrost 1y ago
From a civil engineering perspective, across thousands of km of Roman roads a statement like "and sometimes needed excavations up to 2m deep" would be true but uncommon. ( There's always going to be that vast length of bog, to long to justify going around, that needs crossing ) The main point here is that other large road systems existed at the same time as Roman roads.