Roman Barcino

The first field study for this course took us back to the beginning; to the roots of Barcelona.  We went to see the Roman ruins.  An interesting collection of Roman ruins lay together in a single museum.  This included the original Roman pillars of the city, the remains of an intricate sewage system, bathing pools, vineyards, etc.  It was truly amazing that these advancements existed in the time of the Romans, much less that they lasted, and are in decent shape, until today.  The level of detail and intricacy of the sewage systems shows the unbelievable engineering skills of the Roman people.  They were even able to recognize that the clean water and dirty water needed to be separated in the system, preventing innumerable amounts of disease and bacteria from being contracted by their people.  The in-depth planning that was required for this type of structure sheds light on all other Roman constructions.  Roads, for example, may not have been directly featured in the museum, but from what we have learned and can imagine after seeing this sewage system, they are sure to be just as well thought out and meticulous in structure.  Another interesting fact we learned about the Romans in Barcelona during this time is their resourceful nature.  Urine and salt, two average and boring things, were used by the Romans to serve a great purpose.  Urine was a multipurpose liquid; it was used as bleach, stain remover, and even as medicine.  Salt was also a major resource for the Romans, and it was employed as layers between fresh fish to dry them out and store them in bulk for long periods of time.  The resourcefulness of the Romans was truly astounding, they used everything they could get their hands on for a purpose and did not let anything go to waste.  This is why they were such a legend for so many years.  For me, one of the most interesting things I learned about the Romans was about their demise.  While it is a long and much more detailed story, we learned that in short, it was the network of roads that they had spent so long and so much energy and planning to build that eventually did them in.  Roads were the Roman trademark, but because they were so far-reaching and extensive, it is eventually what allowed other civilizations to travel to the Romans to take over their cities and their people.  This was compared to the Internet and terrorism today.  The world has become so advanced with all of this technology, and terrorists have found a way to use this technology to the disadvantage of its inventors.  It is unfortunate to know that the smarts that went into these unbelievable advancements, like the Internet today or the Roman roads centuries ago, could be taken advantage of and used in negative lights.