The Romans built towns with walls and gates like the city-states and what we read about in the Bible. Old wooden buildings were now made with stone, brick, and tile by the Romans. Their towns were planned. The roads were laid out neatly and crossed each other purposefully. There was a center area for meeting and for marketing, with shops and workshops.

There was a town hall and court to hear cases. There were public baths for washing and amphitheaters, those half circle, open-air theaters.

People traveled on foot and on horseback, or in carts pulled by oxen. The Romans are famous for building great roads. Roman soldiers built roads. They built straight roads except for where going back and forth made it easier to go uphill. After the Romans conquered a new area, they built a road back to Rome. It made communication and control easier if Rome had better access to these new areas. Because of this, there’s a famous saying, “All roads lead to Rome.”

Here’s picture of how Romans built their road in layers. They were built up in the middle to allow rain water to run off to the sides. Along the main roads would be milestones saying how far it was to Rome.

 

Picture Credits:

public domain