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The solution lay in three key architectural innovations that formed the secret of Rome's great monuments. The most important, is the arch.
The arch is an almost perfect design for bearing heavy loads. And that design is so simple. A series of wedge-shaped blocks is assembled together in a semi-circular form, and supported on top of two pillars at the side. The weight of the building is absorbed by the key stone in the centre of the arch, and distributed evenly over the entire span of the arch and then down into these two side pillars. This allows the pillars to bear enormous loads. And because the space in between the pillars is empty, this reduces the weight of the building even further.
The arch would become a reoccurring theme throughout the building of the Coliseum. On the outer ring, 80 gigantic arches, 23 feet high, form a giant ring around the perimeter1. On top of these is set another 80 arches; on top of these, is a third tier, making 240 arches in all.
The Coliseum really is nothing but arches; it's a symphony of arches.
The organization required to achieve this feat3 of engineering was phenomenal. But even here, Rome's engineers had a trick or two up their togas. For them, building was a business of mass production.
Standardization4 is key for the efficient building of the Coliseum. For example, the Romans used the arch, and the arch repeated again and again and again, by countless5 teams of builders and that kind of standardization is very akin2 to what we have in an industrialized world today.
So the breaking-down of the building allows them to have lots of work gangs with not huge skills. They just had to simply build an arch.
In this way, the thousands of laborers6 working on the Coliseum could be left to build their section with minimal7 supervision8, confident in the knowledge that their labors9 were being repeated all over the structure.
You are gonna have a lot of unskilled laborers, you are gonna have a lot of bricklayers, you are gonna have a lot of people that have some sort of skill, but they are not gonna be required to know more than a whole lot. Then you are gonna have a lot of skilled laborers, the people that are going to be carving10 the columns, the people that are going to be carving the statues that are gonna go in the niches11 in the upper floors. So you are gonna have a lot of skilled craftsmen12, you are gonna have a lot of unskilled people participating in this very massive and important construction site.
Just making sure that each working was in the right place at the right time, and doing the right thing, was a challenge itself.
wedge: A piece of material, such as metal or wood, thick at one edge and tapered13 to a thin edge at the other for insertion in a narrow crevice14, used for splitting, tightening15, securing, or levering. 楔子
toga: A loose one-piece outer garment worn in public by male citizens in ancient Rome. 托加袍
The arch is an almost perfect design for bearing heavy loads. And that design is so simple. A series of wedge-shaped blocks is assembled together in a semi-circular form, and supported on top of two pillars at the side. The weight of the building is absorbed by the key stone in the centre of the arch, and distributed evenly over the entire span of the arch and then down into these two side pillars. This allows the pillars to bear enormous loads. And because the space in between the pillars is empty, this reduces the weight of the building even further.
The arch would become a reoccurring theme throughout the building of the Coliseum. On the outer ring, 80 gigantic arches, 23 feet high, form a giant ring around the perimeter1. On top of these is set another 80 arches; on top of these, is a third tier, making 240 arches in all.
The Coliseum really is nothing but arches; it's a symphony of arches.
The organization required to achieve this feat3 of engineering was phenomenal. But even here, Rome's engineers had a trick or two up their togas. For them, building was a business of mass production.
Standardization4 is key for the efficient building of the Coliseum. For example, the Romans used the arch, and the arch repeated again and again and again, by countless5 teams of builders and that kind of standardization is very akin2 to what we have in an industrialized world today.
So the breaking-down of the building allows them to have lots of work gangs with not huge skills. They just had to simply build an arch.
In this way, the thousands of laborers6 working on the Coliseum could be left to build their section with minimal7 supervision8, confident in the knowledge that their labors9 were being repeated all over the structure.
You are gonna have a lot of unskilled laborers, you are gonna have a lot of bricklayers, you are gonna have a lot of people that have some sort of skill, but they are not gonna be required to know more than a whole lot. Then you are gonna have a lot of skilled laborers, the people that are going to be carving10 the columns, the people that are going to be carving the statues that are gonna go in the niches11 in the upper floors. So you are gonna have a lot of skilled craftsmen12, you are gonna have a lot of unskilled people participating in this very massive and important construction site.
Just making sure that each working was in the right place at the right time, and doing the right thing, was a challenge itself.
wedge: A piece of material, such as metal or wood, thick at one edge and tapered13 to a thin edge at the other for insertion in a narrow crevice14, used for splitting, tightening15, securing, or levering. 楔子
toga: A loose one-piece outer garment worn in public by male citizens in ancient Rome. 托加袍
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1 perimeter | |
n.周边,周长,周界 | |
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2 akin | |
adj.同族的,类似的 | |
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3 feat | |
n.功绩;武艺,技艺;adj.灵巧的,漂亮的,合适的 | |
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4 standardization | |
n.标准化 | |
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5 countless | |
adj.无数的,多得不计其数的 | |
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6 laborers | |
n.体力劳动者,工人( laborer的名词复数 );(熟练工人的)辅助工 | |
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7 minimal | |
adj.尽可能少的,最小的 | |
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8 supervision | |
n.监督,管理 | |
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9 labors | |
v.努力争取(for)( labor的第三人称单数 );苦干;详细分析;(指引擎)缓慢而困难地运转 | |
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10 carving | |
n.雕刻品,雕花 | |
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11 niches | |
壁龛( niche的名词复数 ); 合适的位置[工作等]; (产品的)商机; 生态位(一个生物所占据的生境的最小单位) | |
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12 craftsmen | |
n. 技工 | |
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13 tapered | |
adj. 锥形的,尖削的,楔形的,渐缩的,斜的 动词taper的过去式和过去分词 | |
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14 crevice | |
n.(岩石、墙等)裂缝;缺口 | |
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15 tightening | |
上紧,固定,紧密 | |
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