Don't ignore the extremes. Before coming to conclusions with statements like "Romans didn't know X", "Romans couldn't do Y", reflect on what you mean: you are r

Don't ignore the extremes. Before coming to conclusions with statements like "Romans didn't know X", "Romans couldn't do Y", reflect on what you mean: you are referring to the general and ignoring the rare extremes. I bet you could find a few people in the whole empire who knew about more advanced math and even the number zero. You could also find the best craftsmen to make intricate gears, and forge strong magnets. Indeed, that's how things would go in the old times. Masters would protect their secrets, and only if you had the money to hire them, you'd get the exquisite work. That's why, sometimes the know-how would be lost; like the examples for masterful crafts in the other posts. In short, they didn't have the scientific and industrial revolution that we had. In their times, the masters were able to make money out of their knowledge and eliminate competition through secrecy. So, with enough money in hand, you could do a lot better than what was available to an ordinary person in the Roman times