00:00:10the solution lay in three key
00:00:12architectural innovations that form the
00:00:15secret of Rome’s great monuments the
00:00:18most important is the arch the arch is
00:00:22an almost perfect design for bearing
00:00:25heavy loads and that design is so simple
00:00:28a series of wedge-shaped blocks is
00:00:31assembled together in a semicircular
00:00:33form and supported on top of two pillars
00:00:37at the side the weight of the building
00:00:40is absorbed by the Keystone in the
00:00:43center of the arch and distributed
00:00:45evenly over the entire span of the arch
00:00:48and then down into this two-sided
00:00:51pillars this allows the pillars to bear
00:00:55enormous blows and because the space in
00:00:59between the pillars is empty this
00:01:01reduces the weight of the building even
00:01:04further the arch would become a
00:01:06reoccurring theme throughout the
00:01:08building of the Colosseum on the outer
00:01:10ring ad gigantic arches 23 feet high
00:01:13form a giant ring around the perimeter
00:01:16on top of these is set another 80 arches
00:01:20on top of these is a third-tier making
00:01:24240 arches and all the Colosseum really
00:01:28is nothing but arches it’s a symphony of
00:01:32arches
00:01:33[Music]
00:01:47the organization required to achieve
00:01:50this feat of engineering was phenomenal
00:01:52but even here Rome’s engineers had a
00:01:55trick or two up their togas for them
00:01:58building was a business of mass
00:02:00production standardization is key for
00:02:03the efficient building of the Colosseum
00:02:04for example the Romans use the arch and
00:02:06the arch is repeated again and again and
00:02:09again by countless teams of builders and
00:02:12that kind of standardization is very
00:02:14akin to what we have in an
00:02:16industrialized world today so the
00:02:19breaking down of the building allows
00:02:21them to have lots of work gangs with not
00:02:24huge skills they just have to simply
00:02:26build enough in this way the thousands
00:02:31of laborers working on the Colosseum
00:02:33could be left to build their section
00:02:34with minimal supervision confident in
00:02:37the knowledge that their labors were
00:02:38being repeated all over the structure
00:02:42you’re gonna have a lot of unskilled
00:02:43laborers you’re gonna have a lot of
00:02:45bricklayers you’re gonna have a lot of
00:02:47people that have some sort of skill but
00:02:50they’re not going to be required to know
00:02:51more than a whole lot then you’re gonna
00:02:54have a lot of skilled laborers the
00:02:56people that are going to be carving
00:02:57columns people that are gonna be carving
00:02:59the statues that are going to go in the
00:03:00niches in the upper floors so you’re
00:03:02gonna have a lot of skilled craftsmen
00:03:04you can have a lot of unskilled people
00:03:06participating in this very massive and
00:03:08important construction site just making
00:03:17sure that each work gang was in the
00:03:19right place at the right time and doing
00:03:22the right thing was a challenge in
00:03:24itself
00:03:27[Music]
”