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More than any other pre-modern culture, the Romans are associated with achievements in engineering. The Pantheon, the Colosseum, the Pont du Gard- landmarks that seem to defy gravity and time. But sometimes even the Romans failed to complete their most ambitious undertakings. Today's video tells about three such unfinished megaprojects. Number three: moving the Tiber. Without the Tiber, Rome would never have existed. The city grew up around a river crossing, and during its centuries of prosperity was fed by grain barges that were hauled upstream.
However, almost every year, heavy rains caused the river to flood. About three dozen floods were so serious that ancient historians recorded them. Cassius Dio, for example, describes a flood that occurred in 54 BC. In 1100 BC, the Tiber rose sharply, flooding not only the low-lying parts of the city, but also many areas that rarely suffered from floods. The walls of the houses, made of mud bricks, got wet and were crumbling. Those who did not make it to higher ground drowned in their rooms or were swept away by the current.
Buildings weakened by the flood continued to collapse for many days afterward. Such destruction was only the beginning. Large floods often destroyed docks and granaries, causing mass famine. Entire streets with shops were destroyed. Mosquitoes bred in the puddles, and the floods seemed to have gotten worse over the centuries, perhaps due to deforestation and erosion. To end the floods on the Tiber and the constant problems caused by the heavy barge traffic between Rome and Ostia, Julius Caesar proposed two plans to change the course of the Tiber. The more radical of these involved directing the river into a canal directly under Rome. The canal was to pass through the Pontic Marshes, parallel to the coast
, and finally reach the sea near Terracina, more than 60 km to the south. Caesar's more feasible plan involved diverting the Tiber around Rome. A diversion canal was to be opened upstream from the city, cut around the Vatican Hills, and returned to its original course far downstream. By reducing the risk of flooding, this project would open up the low-lying plains along the Tiber for future development, at least that's what Caesar hoped. He was killed before the work could begin. Augustus settled for a less grandiose but more practical solution- deepening the riverbed. During the reign of Tiberius, another serious flood inspired a plan to reduce the flow of the Tiber by diverting some of
its tributaries. One tributary was planned to be redirected north into the Arno River. The other was to be dispersed, divided into many channels. Another tributary was planned to be dammed. Protests from affected river towns forced the Senate to reject the proposal. The Tiber continued to flood Rome until modern embankments were built in the late 19th century. Number Two, Nero's Corinthian Canal. Sailing east from Italy, Roman ships, which almost always kept to the coast, were forced to take a detour around the Peloponnese, the southernmost part of the Greek peninsula. Besides adding several days to the journey, going around the Peloponnese was dangerous. Many ships, including the one carrying the antikythera mechanism, fell victim to the shoals and
storms of Cape Malea. The only way to avoid going around the Peloponnese was to cross the Isthmus of Corinth. Measuring 6 km wide at its narrowest point and rising almost 100 meters in a ridge, the isthmus was connected by a causeway-a track that allowed ships, and more often cargo, to be transported from sea to sea by oxen. Diolk could be used to transfer entire fleets. Mark Antony, the grandfather of the triumvir, used it to tow his ships in the initial stages of his campaign against the Cilician pirates . Octavian did the same before Actium. However, dragging ships across the isthmus on wheeled carts was a long and difficult task. So, starting from the Archaic period of Greece, plans for building a canal were discussed.
Besides the obvious difficulties of cutting through the massive rock, ancient engineers believed that the sea on the western side of the isthmus was higher. They reasoned that any canal would fill with a violent flood of water that would flood half of the Aegean Sea. Julius Caesar, never one to make small plans, reportedly considered the idea of building a canal across the isthmus. Just like Caligula. Only Nero was megalomaniacal enough to actually start this project. We'll discuss his disastrous attempt to do so after a quick word about the sponsor of this video.
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side, workers advanced 1,300 m from the coast. In places, the depth of the trench reached 30 m. On the western side, the excavation reached 2 km deep into the land. The third excavation began across the mountain range in the center of the Isthmus. The death of Nero and the ensuing civil war halted work on the canal. The project was never revived. He became synonymous with human arrogance. In a dialogue attributed to the 2nd- century sophist Lucian, it was compared to the failed canal that Alexander the Great attempted to build around Mount Mimas. People, he believed, should not try to change what the gods created. Although millionaire Herod Atticus envisioned completing the canal, no work was carried out until the 19th century. Even then, despite the use of
explosives and steam excavators, it took 12 years to complete the work. Since the modern canal repeated the route of Nero's, almost all traces left by ancient workers have been destroyed. Number one: the capital for Germany. Monuments to unrealized conquest projects were scattered along the borders of the Roman world. At Inchtutil in Scotland, archaeologists have discovered the remains of an unfinished legionary fort, destroyed when the soldiers retreated to the future line of Hadrian's Wall. 4,000 km away, in the shadow of Mount Ararat, the ruins of a Roman- style aqueduct testify to the short-lived annexation of Armenia by Emperor Trajan. Perhaps the most significant result of imperial expansion was built in what is now central
Germany, about 100 km east of the Rhine. There, near the modern village of Waldgirmes, the Romans founded a city. Although the settlement was protected by a wooden palisade and at least two lines of ditches, it remained civilian, without a permanent garrison. The city at Waldgirmes, whose ancient name we do not know, was planned according to a classical Roman grid of streets arranged to drain into central ditches. Along these streets were warehouses, taverns, and houses with atriums, some of which had lead water pipes connected to the city aqueduct. Along with fragments of glass, ceramics, and other goods brought from the distant Mediterranean, archaeologists found fragments of a gilded equestrian statue of Augustus that once stood on a pedestal of
Gallic stone in the center of the forum. Next to it stood four more bronze statues, probably in honor of other members of the imperial family, facing the basilica and supported by wooden columns. Fragments of beams and planks, preserved thanks to the moist soil, allowed researchers to establish that the settlement at Waldgirmes was founded around 4 BC, shortly after Roman troops reached the Elbe. The city was abandoned a little over a decade after the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest, when the inhabitants retreated with the legions back to the Rhine. Buildings were burned. The head of the equestrian statue of Augustus was thrown into a well, where it lay until 1990, when it was accidentally rediscovered. Even the very location of this unfinished Roman
megaproject was forgotten. If you want to see other Roman megaprojects, including the majestic aqueducts of Carthage, join me in Tunis next spring. In addition to Carthage, Bulla Regia, Dougga, the "African Pompeii", the impressive amphitheater in El Jem and many other places await you. Learn more by following the link in the description. In June 2027, I'm heading to Romania to explore some of the most spectacular and least visited ruins of the Roman world, including the remains of the longest ancient bridge and the tunnels of a perfectly preserved 2,000-year-old mine. The link is below. Aqueducts, Fighting Pigeons, and Mystery Cults is now available in hardcover and paperback. You'll find additional content, including my extensive research into the
hit HBO series Rome, on the Toldinstone Patreon channel. And finally, don't forget about my other channels: Toldinstone Footnotes and Scenic Routes to the Past. Thanks for watching.
