罗马与汉朝，谁的技术更加先进（2） [美国媒体]

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Whichwas more technologically advanced, the Roman Empire or Han China?

罗马与汉朝，谁的技术更加先进？ 论坛地址：

Aeronautics

The Romans appeared to not have been all too enthusiastic whenit came to the fields of Aeronautical Engineering, and presumably would haveborrowed off the achievements of the Greeks. Although the records available forscholarly use today seldom mention anything with regards to an Imperial Roman“Flying Machine”, we do know that roughly 2,400 years ago, a Greek by the nameof Archytas had already been known to have introduced the notion of a “SteamPowered Pigeon”.

Considered to be the world’s first artificial, self-propelledflying device, Archytas’ Pigeon was hollow on the inside, made out of wood andwas shaped cylindrically with wings projected out to both sides of its body.The front meanwhile, was pointed in the shape of an actual pigeon’s beak. Itwas described to be quite aerodynamic, allowing it to reach maximum potentialwith regards both to velocity and flying distance.

Concept drawings for the original Flying Pigeon, as firstinvented by Archytas: 

航空学

当谈及航空工程领域时，罗马人似乎就没有什么热情了，他们大概借用了希腊人的成就吧。尽管目前来说，学术界可用的记录很少提及到罗马帝国“飞行器”的任何内容，但我们知道，大约在2400年前，一个名为阿契塔的希腊人发明了“蒸汽动力鸽子”的概念。

这玩意被认为是世界上第一个人造自行飞行装置，阿契塔所造的鸽子，其内部是空心的，由木头制成，形状为圆柱形，翅膀突出到身体的两侧，其前部，被制成了鸽子嘴的形状。据传，它具有相当的空气动力学特性，可以在速度和飞行距离方面达到最大潜力： 

 

The opening of Archytas’ Pigeon was then connected to a boiler,which, as it begun to heat up, acted to create more and more steam, eventuallyexceeding the mechanical resistance of the connection, prompting the Pigeon totake flight along a suspended and lengthy wire, for roughly 200 metres beforecoming to a halt. Though thoroughly a Ancient Greek invention, it is quitelikely that the Romans which eventually conquered Greece in its entirety, wouldeventually have come to also be quite familiar with such a concept themselves.

Roughly around the times Archytas in the East meanwhile, theChinese had also been conducting flight experiments themselves, which saw thefirst introductions of a “Bamboo Helicopter”, debuting originally as a child’stoy. The bamboo helicopter flew, when a stick attached to its rotor was spun,creating the lift needed to fly when released from the appropriate heights.

An artist’s impression of Ancient Chinese children playing withthese so called “Bamboo Helicopters”: 

“阿契塔鸽子”的开口处连接到锅炉上，这时候它开始加热，从而产生越来越多的蒸汽，最终突破连接件的机械阻力，促使鸽子沿着事先连好的线上飞行，大约能飞行200米。尽管这完全是一项古希腊发明，但最终完全征服希腊的罗马人，很可能最终非常熟悉这样的概念。

与此同时，在与阿契塔大约同时代的东方，中国人也一直在进行飞行实验，汉朝第一次见证了“竹蜻蜓”的出现，最初是作为孩子们的玩具首次出现的。当连接在其转子上的竹棒旋转时，可以产生出飞行所需的升力，从而可带动竹蜻蜓飞行。

以下是一张画作，描绘了古代中国孩子们玩这种所谓的“竹蜻蜓”的情景： 

 

As for Aeronautical innovations made during the course of theHan Dynasty itself meanwhile, in great contrast to their Roman counterparts,the Han Chinese were able to make quite a few native developments andinventions themselves.

The Chinese kite, was one of these many aforementioneddevelopments. The kite (whilst invented prior to the Han Era, was meanwhilesignificantly improved during it) was not only created as a means to transportmessages to far off locations, but was also used to scare the enemies of theChinese by mere appearance, as gravity defying objects were not a common sight,equally for all of China’s citizens alike.

In this respect, Kites were thus also made out of bamboo,because the sounds it was reported to make resembled the Chinese words of “fu,fu” (“beware, beware”), actingto further intimidate the soldiers of the opposition. Bamboo also made for astrong, light framework. A kite’s flying line meanwhile was made of Silk, foradded tenacity.

A modern day Chinese Kite, which still partly resembles kitesfrom the Han Era: 

至于汉朝时期其自身的航空技术创新，这就与其罗马同行形成鲜明对比了，汉朝人能够自己制作不少本土发明。

中国风筝，就是上述的众多发明之一。风筝（虽然是在汉代之前就发明了，但是大幅改良确是在汉代）的发明，不仅能将信息从一地传送到远方，而且仅凭其外表，就能吓唬敌军了，因为反重力装置并不常见，对于中国人民来说也是如此。

在这方面，风筝是由竹制成的，因为这个发音类似于中国的文字—“伏”字（当心堤防的意思），可进一步威胁敌军。竹子也可以制成轻型化且坚固的框架。风筝的线则由蚕丝制成，这是为了增强韧性。

现代的中国风筝，任然部分类似汉代风筝： 

 

An early version meanwhile, of the Hot Air Balloon known as the“Sky Lantern” was meanwhile invented during the last years of the Chinese HanDynasty, by a strategist known as Zhuge Liang.

The Ancient Chinese, for hundreds of years had alreadyunderstood that as the temperature in a certain enclosure accelerated, theresulting heated air subsequently rose to the top, because it was less densethan the air surrounding it. Using this knowledge, they applied these ideas tocreate a Sky Lantern. A paper balloon to this extent was created to engulf asmall lamp which was placed inside it, allowing the lantern to defy gravityaltogether.

Zhuge Liang was the inventor of the aforementioned product,which he used to frighten the enemies of his commander-in-chief, Liu Bei away.Aside from such a major development however, there is also evidence in supportof the notion that the Han Chinese "solved the problem of aerialnavigation" using said balloons, hundreds of years before the rest of theworld did 1,500 years later.

A Modern Chinese “Sky Lantern” (which has changed very littlesince the times of the Han Dynasty): 

早期版本的热气球，人称“天灯”，是由汉代末期战略家诸葛亮发明的。。

彼时的古代中国人几百年前就已经认识到，当某个特定区域的温度上升后，由此产生的热空气也会随之上升，因为它的密度低于周围的空气。利用这些知识，他们将这些想法应用于制作天灯上。先制作一个纸质气球，然后将一盏小灯至于其中，如此，天灯就成为了一个反重力装置。

诸葛亮是前述装置的发明者，他利用这玩意帮助其主公刘备吓走了敌军。除了这项重要发现之外，也有证据显示，汉朝人还解决了使用气球时的空中导航的问题，这比世界其他国家早了1500年。

现代中国的“天灯”（自汉代以来，其变化非常小）： 

 

Verdict: As the Romans have not really been recorded as having had manynative innovations in the fields of Aeronautics themselves, their Han Chinesecounterparts automatically win by default. Even with the Greek invention of theFlying Pigeon however, Rome’s innovations in this particular area, certainlyfall short of the Chinese developments of the Kite and Hot Air Balloon duringthe Han Era. Rome and Han: 4 all. 

结论：

由于并没有记录显示罗马本身在航空领域有太多的原创发明，所以其对手汉朝人此轮自动获胜。就算加上希腊的发明：飞行鸽子，罗马在该领域的创新，也明显落后与汉朝，而后者发明了风筝和热气球。此轮下来，罗马与汉朝，比分为4:4。 

Materials Engineering

Both the Han and Roman Empires had many unique materials whichtheir respective counterparts did not get around to using in the same timeperiod.

The Romans for one were known to have greatly excelled atproducing Glass derived objects, the likes of such were considered to be vastlysuperior to other comparable wares, which were alternatively made from preciousmetals such as silver or gold. They did not just exist to be used by the RomanUpper Class, but were also mass produced to such an extent by the end of theEarly Imperial Era, that glassware was often also used as cups, bowls, plates,bottles, and other everyday containers.

An example of Roman glassware, as commonly encountered in theImperial Era: 

材料工程

汉朝与罗马帝国二者都有许多独特的材料，但二者的同行们并没有在同一时期使用。

众所周知，罗马人在制造玻璃制品方面的技艺非常出色，诸如此类的物品被认为远优于其他类似的产品，它们由贵金属如银或金制成。它们不仅仅只是被罗马的上层阶级所使用，而且在早期帝国时代的末期也被大量生产，这些玻璃器皿通常被用作杯子、碗、盘子、瓶子和其他日常容器。

以下是罗马玻璃器皿的一个例子，这是罗马帝国时代很常见的东西： 

 

Both the Roman Vitriarii (glass makers) and his complement; theDiatretarii (glass cutters) alike, by the times of the Imperial Era, couldalready use a variety of techniques to transform simple glass vessels intohighly decorative pieces. Though initially Republican Roman glass was oftenopaque, glass making throughout the reign of the Empire had begun to progresssteadily to such an extent, that by the end of the Flavian Dynasty (69–96 AD),colourless glass had begun to emerge for the first time in the History of Man.

During the Imperial Era in addition, Roman glass was also ableto be artificially manipulated to such an extent, that glasses of colour couldalso be produced simply by increasing or decreasing the amount of presentoxygen, whilst the glass was still in production within the furnace itself. Butlater on yet still, the Romans had imminently found a better way to produce colouredglass, and from then on simply added small amounts of metal to the mix, inorder to achieve a certain shade or tint.

They discovered for example, that the adding of Lead, would leadto a yellowish colour. Copper equalled blue, green and red, Cobalt to dark blueand while, whilst adding Manganese to the mix returned the colours of pink andred.

In this way, they were also able to invent “Cameo” Glass, bymixing and experimenting with different types of colours, all infused into one.Such a development in time lead them to create the famous Portland Vase, acameo glass object which was produced in the initial years of theJulio-Claudian Dynasty (14–68 AD), and can be seen below: 

在罗马，不仅玻璃制造工人，甚至其玻璃切割人员，都已掌握各种技艺，可将简单的玻璃容器加以豪华装潢加工。虽然最初罗马共和国的玻璃通常是不透明的，但整个帝国时期的玻璃制造工艺，已经开始稳步发展到相当的高度，在弗拉维王朝末期（公元69-96年），无色玻璃在人类历史上首次出现了。

而在罗马帝国时期，罗马人也有能力将玻璃通过人工技巧加工到相当的水平。而且可简单地通过增加或减少氧气的含量来生产彩色玻璃，不过这个时候玻璃任然是被置于熔炉内加工的。但后来，罗马人很快便发现了一种更好的方法来生产彩色玻璃，从那时起，只需将少量金属添加到混合物中，便可实现某种特定的色调。

比如，添加铅，便可产生黄色，添加铜可产生蓝色、绿色和红色，钴则可产生深蓝色，而往混合物中添加锰你将得到红色或粉红色。

通过这种方法，他们还发明了宝石玻璃（多层套色加浮雕的玻璃），通过将不同颜色进行混合和实验，然后将其全部融入玻璃中。这种技术的发展，导致他们创造出着名的“波兰特花瓶”，

下图显示了朱里亚·克劳狄王朝（公元14-68年）初期生产的浮雕玻璃瓶： 

 

Apart from the Portland Vase however, the most famous of objectwith regards to Roman Glassware would had to have been the “Lycurgus Cup”,forged sometime in the 4th Century AD. Created from combining red and greencoloured glass together, the thick layers of the said material which was usedto forge the cup, were take away altogether, to leave behind a figure attachedto the main body of the vessel only by the use of a solitary hidden bridge ofglass.

Most notably, the cup was made from “Dichroic Glass”, which wasspecial because it actually changed colours based on the presence or absence oflight. It is depicted below, it was green when it was placed in the shadows,but red when it was placed in the light (which is why it is often regardedtoday as one of the earliest examples of nanoengineering in history): 

除了波兰特花瓶之外，关于罗马玻璃器皿，最着名的的东西那无疑得是“莱克格斯杯”了。大概是在公元4世纪的某个时间铸造的。将红色和绿色的彩色玻璃组合在一起，那些用于铸造杯子的比较厚的材料被移除掉了，通过采用独立的隐藏式玻璃桥，便可在杯体上留下图案。

而最赫赫有名的杯子是由“双色玻璃”制成，这是一种非常特殊的杯子，因为它实际上是根据光线的存在或消失来改变颜色的： 

 

Apart from innovations made in the fields of glass, the Romansalso came up with the concept of Roman Concrete (likewise also not used by theChinese), better remembered in antiquity by its proper name: “Opus Caementicium”.Forged through a combination of quicklime, pozzolana, and pumice, RomanConcrete came to be used in a variety of different structures.

For 700 years in fact, concrete was one of the primary materialsused by the Romans to construct their buildings. Not only did it act toliberate the Romans from the use of just stone and brick materials, but it alsoenabled the Romans to come up with entirely new yet extremely complex designfeatures.

Historian Donald Robertson recounts the effects of this newlyintroduced phenomenon as follows:

“Concrete, as the Romans knew it, was a new and revolutionarymaterial. Laid in the shape of arches, vaults and domes, it quickly hardenedinto a rigid mass, free from many of the internal thrusts and strains thattroubled the builders of similar structures in stone or brick.”

Modern tests, seeking to uate the tenacity of OpusCaementicium have concluded it to be as strong in certain areas as PortlandConcrete, with a compressive (rather than tensile) strength of 200 kg/cm^2.Such a trait acted to make Rome’s buildings, materially resistant to such anextent, that even 2,000 years later, there are still many well preserved Romanruins littered all across Europe, North Africa, and the Levant.

A photo depicting the Roman invention of the Arch as follows (aconcept which was only made possible due to Roman concrete): 

除了在玻璃领域的创新之外，罗马人也提出了“罗马混凝土”的概念（同样的，中国人也没有采用），那些古迹很好的记录了它的名字：“OpusCaementicium”。由生石灰、火山灰和浮石的组合制作而成，罗马混凝土被用于各种不同的建筑结构。

事实上，700年来，混凝土都是罗马人用来建造建筑物的主要材料之一。它不仅仅将罗马人从使用砖石材料中解放出来，并且使罗马人创造出了全新且极其复杂的设计特征。

历史学家Donald Robertson叙述了这种新发明，如下所叙：

“混泥土，就像罗马人所知的那样，是一种全新的材料革命。以拱门、拱顶和穹顶的形状摆放，可迅速硬化成刚性物质，而且没有多少内部冲击和应力变化，而此前这些内部冲击和应变会使砖石结构建筑物的建造者陷入困境。”

人们试图用现代测试方法评估Opus Caementicium（罗马水泥）的韧性，测试结果是，其在某些方面与波特兰混凝土一样坚固，其抗压强度（注意不是抗拉强度）为200 kg /cm^2。这种特性，使罗马的建筑、材料抗压性达到了相当高的程度。即使是在2000年之后，仍有许多保存完好的罗马废墟遍布整个欧洲，北非和黎凡特。

下图显示了罗马发明的拱门（只有采用罗马水泥才有可能实现的建筑概念）： 

 

The Han Dynasty on the other hand, also likewise saw someinteresting developments in the fields of Materials Engineering. Though neitherthe glass nor concrete were known to Chinese civilization at this point intime, the Han did have a few native contributions which the Romans likewise didnot produce for whatever reason that may be.

Paper was first invented during the times of the Late HanDynasty, supposedly by a Eunuch called CaiLun. The raw materials which Chinesepaper was said to have been produced with, namely worn fishnet, bark and cloth,were extremely easy to get a hold of, allowing it to have been produced bothcheaply and en masse.

Paper was a vast improvement to the writing materials which hadpreceded it, during the Warring States Period before (476–221 BC). Back then,bamboo slips were used to write on, but due to the amounts which one wouldrequire in order to write a book, was often highly impractical and orinconvenient to use. Books as a consequence prior to the Han Era, tended to notjust be confusing to read (for certain topics), but physically difficult for apotential reader to carry.

A page from the oldest surviving book in the world, writtenmerely 30 years after the usurpation of the Han Dynasty (in 220 AD) during thesucceeding civil war era of the Three Kingdoms Period (220–80 AD): 

而汉朝在材料工程领域也取得了一些有趣的发展。虽然彼时的中华文明还不熟悉玻璃和混泥土，但汉朝也有一些本土的发明贡献，而罗马在任何情况下都不可能实现这一的发明。

纸张是在东汉时期被发明出来的，据说发明者是一位名叫蔡伦的太监。据说中国生产纸张的原材料包括：破渔网、树皮、织物，这些材料都非常容易获得，所以能实现大规模生产且成本很低。

纸张相比以往的书写材料，是有巨大的进步的，在战国时期（公元前476-公元前221年），人们用竹简来写字，但由于写一本书需要大量的竹简，这就使其变得很不切实际了，或者说不方便使用。这导致的结果是，汉代以前的书籍读起来不仅令人十分困惑（在某些主题上），而且对于读者来说，搬动起来也比较困难。

以下的一页纸，来自于世界上现存最古老的书籍。写于汉代被篡位后大约30年，彼时正处于三国时代的内战时期（公元220年~280年）： 

 

The introduction of paper meanwhile, eliminated such an innatedisadvantage, and was naturally as such adopted throughout the lands of the“Celestial Empire”.

Porcelain was also another material which was discovered duringthe Han Era by Chinese scientists, one which was also not used by the Romans onthe Western end of the Eurasian Continent. The oldest extant “Blast Furnaces”were of course invented by Chinese civilization prior to the reign of the HanDynasty by hundreds of years. With temperatures going up to at least 1200°C bythe times of the Han Empire however, this was what permitted the Chinese tocreate a new type material for the first time ever, in its history rememberedtoday as Porcelain.

Porcelain, was a type of dust which had bonding and waterproofqualities making it highly appropriate to use as the basis to make bowls, jugsand dishes. The importance of China’s porcelain advancements cannot beoverstated. Even during the Han Dynasty, the Chinese had already developed theabilities make their porcelain wares so durable to such an extent, that even tothis day, the porcelain that is retrieved still retains much of its originalpaint from 2,000 years ago.

A porcelain pillow dating back to the Han Dynasty, assumednowadays to still be intact with its original paint: 

纸张发明之后，弥补了书写系统的先天劣势，很自然的，纸张在这片“天朝上国”的土地上被广泛采用。

另外，瓷器这种材料也是由汉代中国科学家发明的，彼时欧洲大陆西部的罗马还没有这种材料。自然而然，世界上现存最古老的“鼓风炉”也是由统治中华文明几百年的汉朝发明的。在汉帝国时期，烧瓷器的炉子内的温度能升高到至少1200℃，这样，中国人第一次制造出一种新型材料，那就是瓷器。

瓷器，其实是一种黏土，它具有粘性和防水的特征，这种材料非常适合制作碗，壶和盘子。所以在瓷器方面进步的重要性绝非浪得虚名。即便是在汉代，中国已经有能力将瓷器制作得十分耐用了。即使是到了今天，出土的瓷器任然保持着其2000年前的色彩。

汉代的瓷质枕头，至今任然保持着原始色彩： 

 

The last Chinese material which the Romans did not havemeanwhile, but was used extensively by Sino civilization during the course ofthe Han Dynasty, was of course silk. Silk had of course already been around forhundreds of years by this point in time, but during the Han Dynasty especiallywas further advanced by Chinese scientists with regards to objects whichderived from the aforementioned material. 

Highly desired by all the empires of Eurasia alike, silk was notjust used as clothing material by the Han Chinese, but also as fans, wallhangings and when paper was not available, writing material. Sericulture hadalready been around for 3,400 years by the start of Han Era China, allowing theHan Chinese to have had hundreds of life times worth of experience in everymatter of relating to silk.

More specifically, during the course of the Han Empire, silk asa material evolved to be finer and stronger, the former was specificallyevident in one example where 220 warp threads/cm were woven in a particular setof clothes. Different breeds of silkworms meanwhile, were used to crossbred toproduce many different types of new silkworms, who were multi-talented to sucha degree that they could produce threads with different qualities useful to theweavers.

Not produced anywhere else in the world at the time, the Chinesejealously guarded their secrets from all of Eurasia for the next 200 yearsafter the Han Era ended. Seen below was a Han Era silk brocade: 

最后一种罗马人没有的，在汉代时期，中华文化圈里广泛使用的材料，当必然就是丝绸了。当然了，在汉代时期，丝质品已经存在数百年了。但也是在汉代，中国科学家使上述材料（丝绸）得以长足发展。

欧亚大陆上的所有皇帝都对丝绸趋之若鹜，汉朝人不仅用丝绸来做衣物，也用它来制成扇子、壁挂。当无法获取纸张时，丝绸还被用来当做书写材料。在汉代起始之时，蚕桑业已经存在了大约3,400年，汉朝人在涉及丝绸的每件事上都有数百年的经验。

更具体的说，在汉帝国时期，丝绸这种材料发展得越来越出色而且坚固，举个例子，一件衣服上每平方厘米上编制了多达220根细线。与此同时，不同品种的蚕杂交，可产生许多不同类型的新蚕种。这些蚕宝宝们多才多艺，可以产出不同品质的丝线供织工使用。

当时世界上没有任何地方生产过丝绸，汉朝灭亡后，中国人满怀猜疑地守护着这个秘密而没有透露给欧亚大陆上的任何国家。以下为汉代的丝绸锦缎： 

 

Verdict: This is where things get difficult. The issue is that bothcivilizations were highly advanced with regards to Materials Engineering, butthey both excelled at different things and therefore non comparable aspects ofcivilization. Thus, it would neither be wise, nor fair, nor even productive tonominate a winner at the clear expense of the other. The point shall go both toImperial Rome and China. Both made several indispensable innovations. Rome andHan: 5 all. 

结论：

有点让我左右为难。问题在于，两个文明在材料学方面的进步都很大，但是他们擅长的事物完全不同，所以在文明方面不具备可比性。因此这既不明智也不公平，所以我不能牺牲一方而选另一方为胜利者。所以罗马与汉朝应该各得一分。因为二者都做出了几项不可或缺的创新。此轮，罗马与汉朝比分为5:5。 

Mathematics

Roman advances in the realm of the Mathematical sciences weredisappointingly few, going so far as to even be next to minimal (to put itbluntly). Few figures of prominence arose during the reign of the Empire, andfewer advances still were made with regards to mathematical theory.

And the reason for this was simple, the Romans; a supremelypragmatic peoples with little need for the notions of “Pure” Mathematics,concentrated instead on Applied Mathematics, which they frequently used inmatters pertaining to Economy and Engineering. And not only that, but the mostmathematically inclined region of the Empire (Greece), had already beenruthlessly suppressed by the former Republic halfway into the 1st Century BC.

The most notable exception to Rome’s issues in this fieldhowever came with the adoption of Roman numerals. The aforementioned system wasextremely complex, but for hundreds of years still allowed Roman society tofunction without issue. Therefore, the author is forced to conclude that thesystem wasn’t really as inefficient as some have made it out to be.

The Roman numerals “LII” (52) on the crown of the entrance tothe Colosseum: 

数学领域

罗马在数学领域的进步就有点令人失望了，甚至几乎没有（恕我直言），在帝国统治整个期间，几乎没有突出的表现，而且在数学理论方面也没有取得什么进展。

原因很简单，罗马人民超级务实的人，几乎不需要“纯粹”的数学概念，而是把精力集中在应用数学上，他们经常在经济和工程方面使用应用数学。不仅如此，对数学极度热衷的几个地区（希腊），早在公元前1世纪的时候也被前共和国（指罗马共和国）残酷镇压了。

罗马在这个领域最显着的例外，那便是采用罗马数字。上述的（数学）系统非常复杂，但几百年来仍然使罗马社会井井有条地运作着。因此，作者断定该系统并不像有些人所说的那样低效。

罗马数字“LII”（52），刻在罗马斗兽场入口处的顶部： 

 

Still, because the system was inherently difficult to grasphowever, this often acted to further discourage Roman mathematicians frommaking crucial advances in the fields of advanced arithmetic, by ensuring thatall such developments were highly improbable if not outright impossible. It wasa base 10 system, but did not appear to have a concept representing notions ofthe “0” (neither did Han China however).

There is evidence however that like their Eastern counterpartson the far side of the Eurasian continent, they did use the abacus to asomewhat high degree.

The Han Dynasty by stark contrast meanwhile, was considered tobe one of China’s many “Golden Ages” with regards to the field of theoreticalmathematics.

Though the Chinese, much like their Roman counterparts didn’thave a concept for zero either, they did however leave it blank in theircalculations. Mathematical proof for the Gougu’s/Pythagoras’ Theorem (勾股定理) was discoveredand recorded in the Han Chinese treatise, “The Arithmetic Classic of the Gnomonand the Circular Paths of Heaven” (周髀算经).

The text for one, asserted that the hypotenuse of a right-angledtriangle, was equal to the square of the other two sides combined (C^2= A^2+B^2). This is depicted below as follows: 

不过由于该（计数）系统本身难以掌握，这往往会进一步阻碍罗马数学家在高级算术领域取得重大进展，可以很确定的说，（由于这个系统的存在）数学的发展是不太可能的，如果不是完全不可能的话。它是一个十进制的系统，但似乎没办法表示“0”的概念。

然而，有证据表明，其遥远的东方同行在使用算盘上已经达到一种高度了。

与此同时，汉代与罗马形成了鲜明的对比，被认为是中国在理论数学领域中的“黄金时代”之一。

虽然中国人像他们的罗马同行一样，也没有“零”的概念，但是他们在计算过程中留下了空白（作为零）。

“勾股定理”的数学证明在汉学论文中被发现和记录，这本书叫《周髀算经》。

《周髀算经》中的一篇断定：直角三角形斜边的平方等于其两个直角边的平方和（C^2=A^2+B^2）。就如下图所示： 

 

Using these instructions, the Chinese mathematician Chen Zi, andhis “apprentice” Rong Fang were able to calculate the “height” of the Sun fromthe Earth, or at least attempt a calculation anyway as it ended up beingextremely off by millions of kilometres.

Another mathematical book which not only held records of Han Eramathematics, but also for those as far back as the 10th Century BC, called the“Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art” (九章算术), was the firstin the world meanwhile to reference the use by the Chinese of negative numbers,apart from right angled triangles, square roots, cube roots and even methodsfor matrices.

The Chinese counting system referenced the use of negativenumbers via the use of counting rods. Numbers below “blank” were representedwith black counting rods, whilst their positive counterparts by red rods instark contrast. And although decimals had already been in use since the timesof the Bronze age Shang Dynasty (1600–1046 BC), the text was also the first toreference the existence of decimal fractions as a means to solve equations, andrepresent measurements.

A page from the Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art: 

利用这些知识，中国数学家“陈子”与他的学徒“荣方”能计算出太阳到地球的高度，或者说至少试图进行计算，不管如何，结果最终会偏离数百万公里。

另一本数学书籍，不仅记录了汉代数学，而且还记录了公元前10世纪的数学，这本书就是《九章算术》，这本书第一次证明了中国人使用负数，除此之外，《九章算术》还提及了直角三角形、平方根、立方根，甚至矩阵算法。

中国计数系统使用计数棒来引用负数。“空位”以下的数字用黑色计数棒来表示，用红色的计数棒与前者形成鲜明对比。尽管在青铜时代—商朝就已经开始使用小数点了，但这本书，是第一本引用小数来作为解决方程式的手段。

《九章算术》的其中一页： 

 

Similarly, the Gaussian Elimination was also mentioned in thetext, recorded under the title of the “Array Rule”. Pi, which was thought toexactly equal 3 up until the dawn of the Han Dynasty was meanwhile bombardedwith many alternate suggestions including 3.1497, 3.1590, and 3.1670.

Dissatisfied with such efforts, the inventor of the Seismoscope,and Han astronomer Zhang Heng attempted to improve such efforts with his ownestimates. He had noted that the area of a square as opposed to the area of itsinscribed circle, would have a ratio of 4:3. Its hypothetical volume as suchwould be 4^2 : 3^2. And if D represents diameter, whilst V is taken to bevolume, Zhang came up with the following formula:

D^3 : V = 16:9 or V = 9/16 * D^3

Noting that his formula was still wrong however with regards tothe diameter, he added an extra 1/16 * D^3 onto the equation, correcting downbelow as follows:

V = 3/8 * D^3

Now, since he had previously discovered the volume of the cubeto the inscribed sphere at 8:5, the square area’s ratio to the inscribedcircle, had to be 8^1/2 : 5^1/2. And therefore, Pi was 10^1/2 or 3.162, whichwas still inaccurate however, it was only immediately after the Han by a fewyears when another Chinese mathematician, Liu Hui correctly approximated π at3.14159.

The Han Chinese numeral system: 

同时，这本书还提及了“高斯消元法”，在《方程》一章中。“π”，直到汉代初期，还被认为等于3，不过后来遭到很多答案的炮轰，比如3.1497、3.1590和3.1670。

由于不满足于这样的结果，地震仪的发明人、汉朝天文学家张衡，试图用他自己的估算来改进这个结果。张衡发现，正方形的面积与其内切圆面积的比值为4：3，那么其假设体积之比则为4^2 : 3^2。如果用D代表直径，同时用V代表体积，张衡得出了以下方程：

D^3：V=16:9或者V=9/16*D^3.

需要注意的是，他的公式在直径方面任然是错误的，不过他在这个等式上又加了一个额外的1/16 * D^3，如下所示。

V = 3/8 * D^3。

好了，由于之前张衡已经发现，立方体与其内切球的体积之比为8:5，那么正方形与其内切圆的面积之比就是√8：√5了。因此，π的值为√10，或者大约是3.162，虽然任然不是很准确，但是在汉朝灭亡之后，立刻就有另一个数学家—刘徽，他比较正确的计算出了π的值---3.14159.

汉朝人的数字系统： 

 

Mathematical progress was also made in the fields of Music. 12tones originally, were thought to have existed on the musical scale, but wereimproved during the Han Era to cover 60 tonnes, a number 5 times greater thanpreviously. Jing Fang, the Chinese mathematician responsible for such adiscovery also realized that 53 perfect fifths (a musical intervalcorresponding to a pair of pitches with a frequency ratio of 3:2), was roughlyequal to 31 octaves.

By calculating the difference to be 177,147 / 176,776, Jingreached the same value for the “53 Equal Temperament” duly as discovered inEurope roughly 1,650 years later by German mathematician Nicholas Mercator.

Verdict: By default, the Chinese win a point here simply due to thenumber of important discoveries they historically made, relative to their Romancounterparts. Which is not to say that the number of discoveries attainedimplies that is one is definitely more advanced than the other, but it wasrather the lack of any Roman innovations in the fields of Mathematics, whichreally condemned them in this round. Rome: 5; Han: 6. 

汉朝在音乐领域也取得了计数的进步。人们原本认为：音阶之存在12个音调。但在汉朝，音调的个数提高到了60个，五倍于先前的数量。数学家京房促使了这个进步，他还发现：53个纯五度（一个音程，对应一对频率比为3：2的音高）大致等于31个八度。

通过计算计算177147/176776之间的差数，京房得到了“53平均律”，这与德国科学家NicholasMercator在1650年之后得到的数值相同。 

结论：

毫无疑问，中国人在这一领域赢得一分。因为与罗马相比，他们在历史上有许多重大发现。也不是说发现数量比较多，就意味一方比另一方更先进，但是罗马在数学领域的确缺乏创新，这一轮应该批评一下罗马。此轮，罗马与汉朝，比分为5:6。 

Civil and Structural Engineering

The Romans were the undisputed masters of Civil Engineering withregards to the Western half of Eurasia, unchallenged to such an extent that ahuge portion of their former buildings still stand strong to this dayrelatively intact.

The Romans had 400,000 km of roads in total running through theentirety of their empire. Of this aforementioned number, roughly 85,000 km wasfully paved or roughly 21.25% of the total amount of roads. Even a thousandyears after the collapse of the Western Roman Empire (395–476 AD), Rome’sformer highways were still being used by the Medi Europeans up until the1500s possibly.

Way stations meanwhile, were maintained all along this intricatesystem of travel infrastructure, to provide refreshments for weary travelers inneed of a good break after a long day’s travel. Officials and couriers inservice to the rich and powerful, often also had their own changing stations.All in all, on a good day, Roman citizens who were fortunate enough to usethese highways were able to move up to 800 km for every 24 hours worth oftravel.

The renowned (and also infamous) Via Appia for example spanned563 km in total, and was one of these many said roads which were utilized byduring the course of the Roman Empire: 

土木与结构工程

罗马人是欧亚大陆西部地区无可争议的土木工程大师，已经到了无人可以挑战的程度，以至于他们以前的大部分建筑在今天依然保持坚固和相对完整。

罗马人总共有40万公里的道路贯穿着整个帝国。前述数字，大约有85000公里是全面铺平的，大约占总道路的21.25%。即便1000年之后西罗马崩塌之后（公元395年~公元476年），罗马的旧公路仍然被中世纪的欧洲人所使用，一直到大概16世纪。

同时，“路站”作为错综复杂的交通基础设施，一直被维护着。为那些经历了漫长的一天旅行后需要休息、疲惫的旅客提供茶点。那些服务富人和强权阶级的官员与通讯员，也拥有自己的换班据点。总而言之，如果天公作美，使用这些“高速公路”的幸运罗马市民24小时内够旅行800公里。

比如，着名的（同时也臭名昭着）的阿庇亚大道总共延伸了563公里，这是罗马帝国时期所使用的众多道路之一： 

 

Romans roads have been claimed to have been the most advancedfor its time, until the dawn of the 19th Century merely 100 years ago. Theywere constructed by digging a pit along the length of a designated course. Thepit was then filled with rocks, gravel or sand before finally also being toppedoff with a layer of concrete. And at last, when the aforementioned had beencompleted, the process was then concluded by being paved over with the use ofpolygonal rock slabs.

The Romans were also known to be avid builders of dams. In theformer territories of Roman Iberia for example, 72 large scale water barrierswere discovered in that particular region alone. Roman dams were so expertlycrafted in fact, and so well organized to such an extent that some of them arestill being used all across Europe to this very day. Several earthen dams havealso been discovered in Britain in recent times.

The Cornalvo Dam in Spain today is still in use to this very day(its walls at least), and was built sometime in the 1st-2nd centuries AD (ithas been in operation continuously for nearly 2,000 years), it measures 194 mlong, 20 m high, and 8 m wide: 

据称，直到100多年前的19世纪初，罗马人的道路一直是当时最先进的。这些道路是通过沿着指定路线的长度，不断挖掘建造的。挖掘坑道后往其中填入岩石、砂砾或者沙子，最后还会铺上一层混泥土。上述过程完成后，最后再使用多边形岩石板铺平道路。

罗马人还热衷建造大坝。比如，前罗马领土伊比利亚地区，仅在该地区就发现了72座大型水闸。实际上，罗马水坝建造得十分精巧，其结构非常的优秀，以至于至今在整个欧洲，有些大坝任然在使用。最近，在英国也发现了几座土坝。

时至今日，西班牙的Cornalvo水坝仍在使用（至少坝体还在使用），该水坝于公园1世纪~2世纪建造（已经被使用近2000年了），这座大坝长194米，高达20米，有8米宽： 

 

The Romans also built bridges throughout their empire. A totalof 931 bridges in fact (most of which were Arch bridges) were built throughoutImperial Rome, prior to the fall of its Western half in 476 AD. Roman bridgeswere amongst the first large scale, and long lasting overpasses built inhistory.

Built with either stone, concrete or both, Roman wayovers oftenactively utilized the newly invented notions of the Roman Arch, both todecorate and strengthen the edifice as a whole. Arches acted to evenlydistribute the weight of a bridge making them stronger and longer. Directly asa consequence of such an innovation therefore, the Romans managed to constructsome incredibly lengthy bridges, far ahead of its time by hundreds of years.

A Roman bridge in Ponte da Vila Formosa, Portugal today, seenbelow: 

罗马人也在其帝国建设了桥梁。西罗马帝国灭亡之前，罗马帝国总共建设了931座（大部分是拱桥）。罗马的桥梁、立交桥，其规模之巨、耐久度之长，在历史上都是首屈一指的。

罗马桥梁的建造，使用了石头或混泥土或者两种材料都使用。桥梁建设者通常也会积极采用拱桥的新概念来建设桥梁，因为拱门既可用于装饰，也可以加强整个建筑。拱门的作用是均匀分布桥梁的重量，使桥梁可以建的更长也更稳固。归功于这些创新，罗马人建造了一些令人难以置信的长桥，超前当时的时代数百年。

一座位于现今葡萄牙Ponte da Vila Formosa的罗马桥梁，见下图： 

 

For roughly 1,000 years for example, the Romans were privilegedenough to hold the world’s record for longest overpass with regards to overalland span length. Built by a Greco-Syrian engineer called Apollodorus ofDamascus, “Trajan’s bridge” as it was called, was the structure fortunateenough to hold this honour.

It was usually suspended above 18 m of water for the vastmajority of the time. It had a total length of 1,135 metres long. There were ofcourse other lengthy bridges which the Romans were fortunate enough to utilize,including the 135 metre Pons Aemilius in Rome, or even the 182metreAlcántarabridge.

Pontoon bridges in addition (horizontally inclined ships stackedside by side to form an overpass), whilst first invented by the Chinese over1,000 years earlier during the Iron age Zhou Dynasty (De facto rule: 1046–771BC; Nominal rule: 771–256 BC), was also recorded as having been activelyutilized by the Romans during the Imperial Era.

In one particular story for example, the Emperor Caligula (37–41AD), had had a pontoon bridge built just in order to walk across the bay fromone side to the other, in order to prove a seer wrong about an earlierprophecy, which had insisted that he certainly had no more chance of becomingthe Emperor of Rome than he did of riding a horse across the Bay of Baiae.Naturally, he had to prove her wrong of course, and had a bridge built acrossit to prove his point.

A depiction of a Roman Pontoon Bridge on the column of MarcusAurelius: 

举个栗子，罗马人在桥梁整体跨度方面，拥有世界最长立交桥的纪录，这个记录被保持了大约1000年。这座名叫“Trajan’sbridge”的桥梁，由叙利亚--大马士革工程师Apollodorus建造。

在过去绝大多数时间里，这座桥梁都悬浮在水面18米之上。长达1135米。当然了，罗马人还用其他比较长的桥，包括135米长的Pons Aemilius桥和182米的Alcántara桥。 

另外，浮桥（水平倾斜的船舶并排堆放形成的桥），是由汉朝1000年之前的铁器时代---周朝发明的（实际时间：公元前1046年~公元前771年；名义时间：公元前771~公元前256年）。据记录，罗马人在罗马帝国时代也使用了浮桥。

就比如这个故事，皇帝卡里古拉（公元37~41年）建造了一座浮桥，以便能从海湾一侧到达另一侧，为了证明之前的预言是错误的，这个预言认为，如果他不是通过浮桥穿过拜亚湾而是起码的话，那么他成为皇帝的机会就很渺茫。他当然要证明预言是错误的，所以它修建了一座浮桥来证明其观点。

马可奥勒利乌斯柱上描绘的罗马浮桥： 

 

Sometimes whilst building such complex infrastructure, theRomans would be forced to come to a halt due to the cruel terrain of Europe,which actively obstructed their efforts with many annoying geographicalfeatures such as hills or mountains.

The Romans, a naturally adaptable peoples as such came up withthe concept of tunnels. Tunnel construction was highly difficult for theRomans, and often took years to build since the measurements had to be precise(which was not helped in any part by the disadvantages of Roman numerals), inorder to allow tunnels to meet in the middle (as they were dug out from bothsides of the hill simultaneously during the Imperial Era).

Constructing tunnels during the Roman times was so arduous infact, that a certain 5.6 km tunnel built in 41 AD by Emperor Claudius (reigned41–54 AD) in order to drain the Fucine Lake, took 30,000 workers 11 years tobuild. Nonetheless, Roman tunnelling technology was still highly advanced forits time, especially since the aforementioned tunnel commissioned by Claudius,also had shafts which went up to 122 metres deep.

A Roman tunnel dating back to the Imperial Roman Era: 

在建设如此复杂的基础设施之时，有时由于欧洲复杂的地形，工程不得不停顿下来。许多恼人的地理特征，如山丘或山脉一直都阻碍着罗马人的辛勤工作。

然而罗马人是一群很能适应环境的人，因此他们提出了隧道的概念。对于罗马人来说，建造隧道是相当困难的，由于测量必须精确，因此常需要花费数年的时间（这一点却没有被罗马人缺乏数学知识所困扰）来使隧道最终在中心点准确交汇（因为在罗马帝国时期，修隧道是从山坡两侧开挖的）。

事实上，在罗马时代建造隧道非常艰巨，公元前41的时候，皇帝克劳狄为了修建一条大约5.6公里的隧道，为了排干Fucine湖，3000名工人耗费了11年时间才建成。尽管如此，罗马的隧道技术在当时仍处于高度先进，特别由克劳狄斯指挥修建的前述隧道，其隧道的井深达到了122米。

一条能追溯至罗马帝国时代的隧道： 

 

The greatest Roman innovations in the field of Civil Engineeringhowever, would have to be with regards to the Aqueduct. Powered entire by theforces of gravity, Aqueducts were built to withstand the test of time to suchan extent that it was literally not equalled until merely a few decades ago.The existence of such superstructures allowed for the flow of water todifferent parts of the Empire, with extreme efficiency.

At places with depressions deeper than 50 metres meanwhile,inverted siphons (pipes that must dip below an obstruction to form a"U" shaped flow path) were used to viciously force water uphill.Otherwise, the water which an aqueduct permitted to be transported, was allowedto flow naturally without human interference because of the slanted waterchannels which lay beneath it. The longest aqueduct meanwhile was said to bethe one which supplied the former city of Carthage, described as being 178 kmin length.

As for the Capital of Rome meanwhile, the existence of 11aqueducts carrying 1,000,000 cubic metres of water each day allowed the city’s1 million people to stay adequately hydrated. It should be noted however thatgiven the combined productive capacities of Rome’s aqueducts, such a dailywater supply would have been sufficient even for 3.5 million peoplehypothetically.

The Segovia Aqueduct which can still be seen today in Spain, inpristine condition as should already be self-evident, due to its use of Romanconcrete: 

然而，罗马在土木工程方面最伟大的创新，那必然是引水渠了。这些隧道完全由重力驱动，这种隧道非常经久耐用，几乎追平了我们几十年前的水平了。这种引水渠的存在使得水能够以极高的效率流入罗马帝国的不同地区。

与此同时，在深度超过50米的地方，反向虹吸管（必须在障碍物下方倾斜，以形成“U”形路径的管道）被用来地迫使水流往上走。另外，引水渠还可以使水自然流动，不会受到人为的干扰，因为其下方有倾斜的水道。据说最长的引水渠是为以前的Carthage市修建的，它的长度为178公里。

至于罗马首都， 11条引水渠每天运输100,000立方米水，足以保证该市的100万人口充足的供水。

而且应该指出的是，鉴于罗马的引水渠的强大储水能力，这样的日常供水量即使对于350万人口也是足够的。

今天在西班牙仍然可以看到“塞哥维引水渠”，由于使用罗马水泥建造，其仍然保持原有屹立不倒： 

 

Defensive walls, much like their eastern counterparts were alsoa core feature of Roman Civil Engineering. Though wall building had declinedsignificantly when compared to the times of the Roman Republic, they were stilla force to be reckoned with during the Imperial Era.

The Romans rarely just built a wall across the open country forfortificaition purposes, rather they built them primarily to protect cities.They usually built with brick and Roman concrete during the Imperial Era; animprovement from the preceding Roman Kingdom (753–509 BC) which had used drystone and sun dried bricks instead.

Thanks primarily to the Roman invention of opus caementicium,introduced previously, many Roman walls across the former territories of theRoman Empire are still standing to this very day. Though modern concrete hasbeen found to erode after only 50 years of exposure to seawater, in contrast toRoman concrete (the primary material of Roman ports) meanwhile which hassurvived intact to this day nearly 2,000 years after it was introduced.

The most famous of the Roman fortifications meanwhile, Hadrian’sWall in its heyday was 117.5 km long, 3-6 m thick and up to 6 m high. The wallhad a fort every 7.5 km meanwhile and took 6 years from 122–28 AD to complete.Due to a lack of water however, it was not made out of concrete, but had a corerather of earth or clay complemented with stones. The ruins of which can beseen below: 

罗马的防御强也与东方同行的类似，也是罗马土木工程的核心特征。虽然与罗马共和国时代相比，防御墙的数量有所减少，但在罗马帝国时期，它们仍然是一股不可忽视的力量

罗马人很少只为了防御目的，而在其开阔的国家建造一堵墙，而是为了保护城市而建造的。在罗马帝国时代，他们通常使用罗马水泥和砖块来建设防御墙；这相比罗马王国时期（公元前753~509年）也是一种进步，罗马王国时期通常使用干石块与日晒砖来建防御墙。

归功于前述的opus caementicium（一种罗马水泥）这项发明，罗马帝国前领土上的许多城墙至今仍然屹立不倒。现代水泥在经过海水浸泡50年后会受到腐蚀，而罗马水泥（罗马港口的主要材料）正好相反，经过2000年的风风雨雨，任然完好无损。

最着名的罗马防御工事---哈德良长城，全长117.5公里，厚3-6米，高达6米。这座城墙每隔7.5公里就有一座堡垒，花了6年时间修建完成（公元122~128年）。由于缺水，它不是用混凝土建造的，而是用泥土或黏土加上石子混合建成的。下图是这座长城的废墟： 

 

Although the Romans did not invent the wastage disposal systemthemselves (an invention which was already around by 3,100 BC, invented by theIndus Valley Civilization (3300–1300 BC)), they did however have a verysophisticated sanitation system meanwhile.

Roman Sanitation is best remembered still to this day forwidespread abundances of their Public Baths (Thermae). Roman Baths werepurposefully designed to have 3 separate facilities for bathing. The first wasApodyterium (Changing Room), in which a Roman citizen would undress to getready for the next stage of the bathing process.

From there, a bather would journey forth unto the “Warm Room”, afacility known as the Tepidarium, which had the sole purpose of preparing onefor the next room which was to follow, by only making it moderately hot inside.The last enclosure meanwhile was a true sauna unlike the previous, and wasknown (and rightfully so) as the “Hot Room” or Caldarium, which was complementedwith by a Labrum; a cold water fountain for self-evident reasons.

The Roman Baths at Bath, South-West England: 

虽然罗马人本身并没有发明垃圾处理系统（一种在公元前3100年前就存在的系统，由印度河谷文明发明（公元前3300~1300年）），但罗马人却有一个飞叉复杂的卫生设施。

罗马的卫生设施至今仍被人们津津乐道，因为罗马的公共浴室广泛分布、数量众多。罗马浴场被有目的地设计成3个独立的洗浴设施。第一各是更衣室，在更衣室里，罗马市民脱掉衣服，然后准备进入下一个洗浴流程。

然后，沐浴者将前往“暖房”，这种暖房名为“Tepidarium”，其内部的温度比较适宜，目的是为进入下一个房间作准备。最后一个就是真正的桑拿浴室了，以“加温室”或Caldarium而闻名（实至名归），内有一个大水池，还有一个冷水源。

英国西南部巴斯市的罗马浴场： 

 

Roman sanitation was also defined both by the Flush Toilet, anda highly sophisticated system of drains and sewage. Bath water was recycled byusing it to dispose of excrement at the public toilets. The plumbing behindcity drains meanwhile was made of terracotta. And water during the Imperial Erawas even separated as to direct high quality variants to be used in drinkingand cooking, whilst its inferior quality counterparts meanwhile was utilizedonly for fountains and baths.

Last but not least meanwhile, was the phenomenon of RomanHousing. Roman houses in general were supremely well built as a rule, but therewas often quite a substantial difference between the rich and poor. The richoften inhabited single story houses called “Villas”, centered around a conceptcalled the “Atrium”. The Atrium had no roof, and was as such vulnerable toturbulent weather, but was designed to be as such in order to collect rainwaterin the troughs surrounding the house.

A reconstructed courtyard depicting the Atrium section of aRoman Villa: 

罗马的卫生设施，还以冲水厕所闻名，以及高度精细的排水设施和污水系统。洗澡水被回收，用来冲刷公共厕所的粪便。城市下水道的管道是由陶瓦制成的。罗马帝国时期的水甚至被净化成高品质饮用水，可直接用于饮用和烹饪，而其它品质较差的水则仅用于喷泉和浴缸。

最后要说的，当然了并不是说它最无足轻重，那就是罗马的房子了。一般来说，罗马的房屋通常都建造得非常好，但贫富之间通常存在相当大的差异。富人通常住着名为“Villas（别墅）”的单层住宅，被“Atrium（中庭）”包围在中间。中庭是没有屋顶的，容易受到变幻天气的影响，但这样建造的目的是为了收集房屋周围沟槽中的雨水。

罗马“别墅”重构图，下图为“中庭”部分： 

 

The Atrium was succeeded by a second open courtyard known as thePeristylium, which included a garden and was interconnected with severaladjoining rooms; a case which was true for the Atrium before it also. Thehouses of the rich were centrally heated by a “hypocaust” (underfloor heating)and was supplied with fresh water brought direct to them from lead pipes.

The poor meanwhile lived in run down apartment blocks known as“Insulae”. Most of these shabby apartments only had two rooms at best, lackedproper facilities with running water, and was often extremely cramped anduncomfortable to live in.

Insula buildings usually had on average 6–7 apartments with theability to house over 40 separate unique individuals, despite being restrictedto a land area of 330m^2. The upper floors were especially known to be bothhazardous and poorly built however, hence most inhabitants preferred to live onthe lower to middle floors instead.

Ruins of an insula dating to the early 2nd century AD in theRoman port town of Ostia Antica: 

中庭之后是第二个开放的庭院，名为“Peristylium（周柱廊）”，其中包括一个花园，这个花园与几个相邻的房间相连;，之前所说的中庭也是一样的布局。富人的房子采用“热坑”集中供暖，并用铅管直接引入淡水。

与此同时，穷人们则住在被称为“Insulae”的公寓楼里。这些破败的公寓最多只有两个房间，缺乏自来水设施，而过过于狭小，住起来也不舒服

这种大楼通常平均有6至7套公寓，尽管面积仅有330平方米，但可容纳40多个人。然而，大楼的上层建得不好，出了名的危险，因此大多数居民更愿意住在中下层。

罗马港口城市OSTIA ANTICA，“insula”居民楼废墟，可追述之公元2世纪： 

 

In stark contrast to the Roman Empire meanwhile, few buildingsdating back to the Han Era have survived to this day for in depth study,because for the most part they were made primarily out of wood (timberdeteriorates quickly). Which by itself does not mean contrary to popular beliefthat the Han Chinese were inferior to their Western counterparts however,civilization use the means available to them to construct their buildings.

Neither stone nor marble were naturally abundant in thetraditional abodes of “China Proper”, wood by stark contrast was however hencemost Chinese buildings even to the end of the Imperial Era in 1912, were madeprimarily out of wood. In saying that though, the Han Empire was able to makesteady progress in the realms of Civil and Structural Engineering meanwhile.

The Chinese however, much unlike the Romans were not avidbuilders of bridges nor roads. Whilst the Romans built 400,000 km of roads (asmentioned before), 1/5 of which were paved, and also 931 bridges of which mostwere arched, the Chinese only had 2 arch variants out of a total of at least628 bridges (at least 67% of Rome’s numbers), and 35,400 km of roads (17.7% ofRoman total amount of roads), most of which were unpaved.

The Chinese during the Han Era, were however instead able tomake steady progress in the fields of Imperial civil engineering meanwhile. Thegreatest palace ever in the History of Man by area was built during the HanDynasty, the Weiyang “Endless” Palace, seen below: 

与罗马帝国形成鲜明对比的是，可供深入研究的、能追溯至汉朝的建筑就屈指可数了。因为汉朝的建筑大部分是用木材建造的（木材很快就会腐朽）。然而，这本身并不意味着汉朝的本领不如其西方同行，但汉朝人也能采用自己的手段来建造他们的建筑物。

传统的“中国特色”住所中，石头和大理石的用量都不多。与之形成鲜明对比的是，中国建筑通常都使用木材，一直到1912的时候还是如此。尽管如此，汉帝国在土木和结构工程领域也取得了稳步进展。

然而，中国人与罗马人不一样，他们并不热衷于修建桥梁和道路。而罗马修建了40万公里的道路（就如前文所述），这些道路中有1/5是铺平的，还有931座拱桥。而在628座中国桥梁中（最少占罗马的67%），仅仅只有2座是拱桥，仅有3.54万公里的道路（占罗马总量的17.7%），其中大部分是没有铺过的。

然而，汉朝人也能力在土木工程领域取得稳步进展。人类历史上最伟大的宫殿建就于汉代，那就是“未央宫”，如图所示： 

 

Built primarily from timber in 200 BC at the personal request ofLiu Bang, First Emperor of the Han Dynasty (reigned 202–195 BC), the WeiyangPalace was described to be 1,200 acres (4.8 km^2) in area, making it 11 timesthe size of Vatican City today, or 6.7 times larger than the existing ForbiddenCity in Beijing or approximately 72 times the area of the Versailles Palace inFrance, thus making it was one of Imperial China’s greatest engineeringendeavours during the times of the Han Dynasty. It was also known to havereached 35 metres deep below ground level.

Outside the Weiyang palace meanwhile was the great city ofChang’an, the Capital of the Han Empire, and the second largest city of Eurasiaafter Rome, with regards to their population numbering approximately around400,000 individuals. Despite the fact that the city had merely 40% of Rome’s 1million people population, Chang’an, the city of “Eternal Peace” as it wascalled in Old Chinese was 4 times as large as Rome in terms of area.

And because the city of Rome had an area of 13.73 squarekilometres with a population density of 72,833 individuals per km^2, theChang’an derived area from this figure was 54.92 km^2 which gave it apopulation density meanwhile of 7,283 individuals per km^2, or almost exactly10 times less dense than the “City of the Seven Hills” in Italy.

A reconstructed Han Era Palace at Hengdian World Studios for thesole purposes of filming: 

这座宫殿以刘邦的个人需求，用木材建造，刘邦是汉朝的地位皇帝（公元前202-195年），据传，未央宫占地面积为1200英亩（4.8㎡），面积是梵蒂冈的11倍，比现存的于北京的紫禁城的面积还要大6.7倍，大约是法国凡尔赛宫的72倍。该宫殿为汉朝时期最伟大的工程之一。据了解，其建筑经达到地面以下35米的深度。

而未央宫之外则是伟大的汉朝首都---长安城，乃是欧亚大陆仅次于罗马的第二大城市，其人口数量接近40万。虽然人口只有罗马的40%（彼时罗马的人口达到100万），长安---中国古人称之为“长治久安”之城，其面积是罗马的4倍。

因为罗马的面积为13.73平方公里，人口密度为72833人/平方公里，而长安衍的面积为54.92平方公里，人口密度为7283人/平方公里，只占到“七山之城（罗马）”的1/10.

以下为横店国际影城重建的汉代宫殿，仅供拍摄之用： 

 

Divided into 11 neighbourhoods, the rich and the aristocracywere located in the City’s south, whilst the common people (artisans andmerchants) resided in the northeast. As for the city itself meanwhile, a 12gated wall with 8 avenues surrounded the Han Capital, itself surrounded by analso 8 metre wide moat.

Each of the aforementioned avenues was roughly 45–55 metreswide, the walls were 12 metres high, whist its perimeter was 25.7 km long.Evidence for the use both of stone and brick has also been discovered from Hanarchaeological sites surrounding the modern city of Xi’an (as it is calledtoday).

Speaking of walls however, though the Chinese like the Romansoften built city barriers to the same extent in both quality and quantity,their “free roaming” fortifications on the other hand meanwhile was likely tohave been much greater than their western counterparts, all due to theexistence of the Great Wall of China.

Though the Great Wall has been built many times over - mostrecent of which was during the Ming Dynasty (1368–1644 AD) - the longestversion of the Wall was built over 2,000 years ago by the Han Chinese. TheChinese Wall was approximately 10,000 km across making it 85 times longer thanHadrian’s Wall, which to be fair was only so short because the width of Britainitself was not very wide across.

Remains of the Han Era section of the Great Wall of China todayin Dunhuang, Gansu Province, consistently 2.5 metres in height all across: 

长安城分为11个社区，富人和贵族居住于城市的南部，普通人（工匠和商人）则居住于东北部。至于城市本身，是由一条有8个城门的城墙，加上8条大道所围绕，而且还由8米宽的护城河环绕着。

上述大道宽度大约是45-55米，城墙高达12米，周长为25.7公里。汉代考古遗址还发现了汉朝使用砖块与石头的证据，这些遗迹散落在现代西安（长安的现称）周围。

说到城墙，中国人与罗马人类似，无论在数量上和质量上来说，中国人都建设了与罗马类似的城市屏障。但从“开阔漫游”的城墙来说，他们的建设规模却比罗马大得多，这是由于中国长城的存在。

尽管长城已经建设多时了----最近的一次是在明朝（公元1368-1644年）--- 但是最长的部分却是由汉朝人修建。中国的长城，长度接近1万公里，85倍于哈德良长城， 坦白来讲，哈德良长城就短得多了，因为英国的宽度并不是很宽。

今天中国的汉代长城遗迹，位于甘肃敦煌，其高度始终保持在2.5米： 

 

As the Great Wall was primarily situated in places far from thetraditional abodes of China Proper, wood could not be used to make it, andinstead the Chinese had to adapt. To this extent, sand and gravel was usedinstead for certain sections of the wall. Using rose willows and reeds, theChinese constructed the basic frames of the walls first, before piling them upin layers. Ground water with high salinity meanwhile, was used to consolidatesaid sand and gravel.

Much like Roman structures, despite experiencing erosion forover 2,000 years, because the wall was not made out of wood, it still stands tothis very day. After the Great Wall was at last finished by the Han Chinese, itwas also fortified with beacon towers placed apart for every 5 km of the HanEmpire’s northern borders. As a result, 20,000 towers ended up beingconstructed all along the Wall just for this purpose.

Beacon towers helped the Chinese to sound off warning of apreeminent invasion from abroad since at any given time it was always mannedwith garrisons upon garrisons of soldiers, who were instructed to generatesmoke during the day, and set alight torches at night (both of which can beseen up to 15 km away), in order to warn the Imperial Army of an imminentnomadic invasion from the hostile Turkic peoples known as the Xiongnu.

A Han Era beacon tower, “Yumen Pass”; one of merely 80 whichwere built during the Han Dynasty to act as countermeasure against possibleinvasion against the nomadic Xiongnu Empire: 

由于长城主要位于远离中国人传统居住的地方，所以不能采用木材来建造，取而代之的是，彼时中国需要使用沙子与碎石来建造墙体。中国人先用红柳和芦苇建造了长城的基本框架，然后将他们分层堆放。然后采用高盐度的地下水来巩固上述的沙子和碎石。

与罗马的建筑结构类似，尽管经历了2000多年的风沙侵蚀，但由于墙体不是由木材建成，长城屹立至今。在汉朝最终完成长城的修建后，汉朝还用每5公里一个烽火台的形式进行了加强。为了这个目的，汉朝沿着长城建了多达2000个烽火台。

当边境遭到入侵是，烽火台可以发出警告。因为在任何时候，烽火台都有守军驻扎。他们收到指示后，为了时刻警惕帝国遭到游牧民族---匈奴的随时入侵，一旦情况有变，他们在白天会点燃狼烟，如果是黑夜则点起火把（这两种手段在15里以外都能看到）。

一个汉代烽火台--“玉门关”；汉代建设的80个烽火台其中之一，用来作为针对游牧民族--匈奴帝国可能入侵的对策： 

 

Beacon towers during the Han Era were usually wide at the base andnarrower at the top. Often also square-based and tapered, they were mainlylocated well inside the Great Wall for obvious reasons. Usually also built onhigher terrain than the rest of the Wall which complemented it, some of thetowers reached 10 metres in height, though on general they were more likely tobe 7 metres with regards to the average structure.

Of course, not all the sections of the Wall were made out ofsand and gravel however. “Rammed-Earth” was another material used to builtcertain sections of the Han Empire’s Great Wall, and was also used in a varietyof different types of structures as well.

Rammed-Earth was a material used by the Early Imperial Chinesewhich was essentially hardened earth. Similar to stone in both durability andhardness, Rammed Earth was made by collecting a large amount of earth, gravel,sand, silt and clay before subsequently compressing it until it was extremelydense. Like Roman concrete, Rammed Earth was also extremely resistant to thedeteriorations resultant of time. As such, most Han Era ruins that still existto this day are often found to be those that were primarily made of RammedEarth.

Ruins of the former Han Chinese rammed earth city of Gaochangtoday in Modern China: 

汉代的烽火台通常建造成下宽上窄的形式，通常有方形的基座和锥形的外观。他们通常都位于长城的内部。通常建造得比的其他墙体更高，其中有些烽火台的高度达到10米，不过平均来说，它们的高度大约是7米。

当然了，不是每一段长城都是夯土随时建造的。在汉朝，“夯土”也是建造长城某些部位的材料，“夯土”也可用于其他各种不同类型的建筑结构。

“夯土”是中国早期帝国所使用的建筑材料，其本质是就是硬土。通过收集大量的泥土、砾石、沙子、淤泥和粘土，然后将它们压缩至极高的密度，从而制成夯土，其特性与石头类似，硬度高且经久耐用。与罗马混泥土类似，夯土经久耐用，性质不会随时间而恶化。因此，今天发现的大多数汉朝遗迹通常是由夯土建造的。

现代中国发现的西汉遗迹---高昌古城，是一座夯土建造的城市： 

 

In fact, in a place where there were minimal if not absolutelyzero trees present, every Chinese structure virtually was made out of rammedearth, down to the last building.

As such, Han Era rammed earth granaries for example have beenfound to have survived to this day: 

事实上，在中国、如果在一个树木很少或者根本没有树木的地方，那么那里的建筑物基本上都是由夯土建成，每一栋都是。

因此，汉朝时期的夯土粮仓可以保存至今： 

 

Along with Han Era Watchtowers as well, this one specifically islocated in Western Gansu: 

另外还有汉朝的了望塔，以下这座了望塔的具体位置是在甘肃西部： 

 

With regards to Chinese subterranean structural engineeringmeanwhile, so far a minimum of 10,000 Han Era underground tombs have beendiscovered in Modern China today.

The tombs were made out of brick, hence they they have alsosurvived to this day apart from the fact that they were underground. The HanEra Chinese (possibly exclusively) were the most fond, and avid builders ofunderground Imperial tombs which were built for the rich, and powerful.

Brick Vaults and Domes were frequently used underground despitenot being used on the surface level. Han tombs were usually built in severalparts to contain 3 different enclosures: there was the front, side and rearchambers.

A Han Dynasty vaulted underground tomb: 

至于中国的地下结构工程，到目前为止，现代中国至少发现了10000个汉代时代的地下墓葬。

这些墓葬由砖头砌成，因此即便是埋在地下也得以保存至今。汉朝人（可能是唯一的）是地下墓穴建造的狂热分子，这些墓穴皆为富人所建，功能强大。

虽然在地面上，汉朝人不经常使用拱顶结构，但是拱形结构在地下的应用十分频繁。汉代墓穴通常分成几个部分建造，以容纳三种不同的模块，它们分别是：前厅、耳室以及后室。

一座汉代拱顶墓穴： 

 

The tomb of Prince Liu Shan for one, elder brother to Han Wudi,specifically had a front hall with window drapes and goods to accompany him inthe afterlife, with regards to the front hall. Carriages along withartificially produced horses meanwhile were located in the side chamber, whilstthe rear end contained storage goods.

Imperial tombs themselves were expertly crafted by cuttinghorizontally into the hillside of the mountains themselves, in order to forgethese great resting places for the beloved deceased. As they were exclusivelymade for the rich, the tombs were also designed to have a shaft like corridorleading onwards to a suite of rooms, in order to reflect the former layout ofthe deceased’s palace, whilst they were still alive. Essentially, the tomb wasto crafted like this as to be the dead individual’s home in the afterlife.

An Eastern Han (25–220 AD) tomb from the secondary Capital ofLuoyang: 

就比如汉武帝的哥哥、皇子刘胜，其陵墓的前厅安放了窗帘以及其他陪葬物，用来陪伴其下一世。马车与人造的马匹被安放在耳室，而后室则用来储存其他陪葬物。

皇家陵墓被精心制作，它们水平地切入进山坡内部，以便为死者打造出一个宏伟的休息场所。由于它们是专为富人而造，这些陵墓还会设置犹如走廊般的竖井，然后导向至一套房间，用以反映死者生前居住宫殿的布局，就跟它们还活着一样。本质上来说，这个陵墓就是这样制作的，用以作为死者来生的家，

以下是一座东汉（公元25-220年）陵墓，位于东汉陪都洛阳： 

 

And of course, all the luxuries which had graced them would alsobe present upon their one’s burial, including fine treasures such as gold,silver, weapons, jewellery, lacquer but most importantly also, jade.

It was from these tombs primarily, that information with regardsto the housing of the common Han people have also been discovered, in the formof ceramic and downsized replicas of real Han Era wooden architectures.

Within the areas of China Proper itself, timber was the primaryconstruction material so of course we have exactly zero remaining civilstructures from the Han Era, since they were made out of wood. Nonetheless, dueto references in both literature and by the aid of the underground ceramicmodels, there has been evidence to support the contention that the Han builtimmensely tall spires in their cities, to serve as astronomical observatories.

The houses of the rich meanwhile, in contrast to their Romancounterparts were often multi-storied. They all usually had a courtyard at thebottom, private fortifications, a balcony with balustrades, windows for everyfloor, and roof tiles to conceal the ceiling rafters. Case in point, here is anaristocrat’s home, with all the aforementioned features along with in additionwatchtowers and gatehouses: 

当然了，他们生前享受的所有奢侈品也会出现在他们的葬礼上，包括金、银、武器、珠宝、漆器等精美珍品，但最重要的还有玉器。

从这些陵墓中，也可以发现普通汉朝人的住房情况。因为其中展现出了陶制缩小版的的真实汉代木结构建筑。

在中国比较适合居住地区内，木材是主要的建筑材料，所以，遗留下来的土木结构几乎没有(木结构很快会腐朽)。尽管如此，由于参考文献和地下陶制模型的帮助，有证据表明，汉朝人在他们的城市建立了非常高的尖塔，用来作为天文观测台。 

同时，与罗马人正好相反，汉朝富人的房屋往往被建成多层。通常在其后部会有一个庭院，带有私人防御工事，有带栏杆的阳台，每一层都带有窗户，然后用瓦片来盖住天花板椽子。举个栗子，以下是一位富人的房子，这座房子带有上诉所有特征，另外附带了了望塔和门楼： 

 

The fact that Han Era homes were often multi-storied was a veryimpressive improvement from the periods which came before. Traditionally duringthe Feudal Era (2070–221 BC), Chinese architecture placed a strong emphasis onbuilding horizontally due to the inherent weaknesses and instability of usingwood.

And yet, by the Early Imperial Era during the 426 year longreign of the mighty Han Dynasty of China, buildings were expanded intomulti-storied buildings despite these inherent weaknesses.

Another ceramic house belonging to a Han Era nobleman: 

汉朝的房屋通常是多层的，这根以前那些朝代比起来，是一个令人印象深刻的进步。传统上在封建时代（公元前2070-221年），中国建筑非常强调水平建筑，因为其使用木材，有某些弱点和不稳定性。

然而，在强大的汉朝长达426年的通知中，尽管存在着一些固有弱点，建筑物任然扩展成多层建筑。

另一个陶制房屋（模型），属于一名汉代贵族。 

 

Which is not to say that there were not multi-storied buildingprior to the Han Era (there were), but they were usually limited to 3 storiesat the absolute maximum. During the Han Era however, that was no longer thecase, and houses for the rich especially often strove to surpass such alimitation as seen below in this particular Aristocrat’s home, with 2residential towers joined by a covered bridge, interconnecting the manor (left)with its complementary watchtower (right): 

也不是说汉朝之前就没有多层建筑（还是有的），但是最多也就建到3层。但是在汉朝，再也不存在这个问题了，富人家的房屋往往会努力建造以突破（以往朝代3层的限制），就如同下图这个贵族的房子，两座住宅楼由一座加顶盖的天桥连接起来，将庄园（左）与了望塔（右）相互连接起来： 

 

On the other hand, we have minimal information with regards tothe housing of the common people, as the ceramic models were often used toreplicate the homes of the rich. However, what little we do know about themhowever from literary sources has forced sinologists to conclude that the pooron average lived in 1–2 story houses, made out of mud.

3 generations often dwelt under the same building together. Liketheir Roman counterparts - the Plebeians of Rome - the Nong of Han, despitebeing ranked second highest on the Chinese social hierarchy were oftenimpoverished beyond belief. As such, no irrigation for washing or for mattersrelating to toiletries existed at the time, much like the Insula blocks in theRoman Capital.

An ordinary peasant family’s home dating back to the Han Era: 

另一方面，我们对于普通百姓的住房所知信息极少，因为陶质模型通常是复制了富人的房子。然而，从文学作品中我们可以窥豹一斑，汉学家得出结论：普通的穷人通常住在1~2层的房子里，用泥建成。

一座房子里通常三代同堂。与罗马类似--罗马的平民百姓、汉朝的农民，虽然在中国社会等级中排名第二，但往往是无法相信的贫穷。因此，当时不存在用于洗涤或与化妆有关供水系统。这与罗马首都的Insula街区很像。

下图为汉代的一座普通农民家庭的房屋模型： 

 

To a much lesser extent than the Romans, the Han Administrationalso oversaw the construction of many public infrastructures throughout the HanEmpire. The Zhengguo Canal for one was restored under the wise guidance of thegreat Han Wudi, who reasoned that because silt had been building up over timeat the bottom of the canal, it had caused flooding.

Naturally, he knew he had to make repairs to it and moved to doby ordering that an all new 100 km long extension was to be made following thecontour line, above the original Zhengguo Canal. Beam, Arch and Suspensionbridges were also built during the Han Era meanwhile. And roads as mentionedpreviously, whilst nowhere near as long as Rome’s, was built all over the HanEmpire and wa made primarily out of rubble and gravel.

Dikes were maintained all over China meanwhile, to safeguardfarmland from seasonal floods. And postal and relay stations were bothintroduced and repaired.

Verdict: This is probably the toughest decision yet so far in thisanalysis, but the author believes the Romans have just slightly edged out theirHan Chinese counterparts here, by the tiniest margin possible. As such, theyhave not done enough to earn an exclusive point at the expense of their rivals.Therefore, a point must be awarded to both sides due to the complexities ofsuch a status quo. Rome: 6; Han: 7. 

虽然程度不如罗马，但是汉朝政府也在监督整个汉帝国许多公共基础设施的建造。在伟大汉武帝的英明指导下，修复了郑国渠。汉武帝认为，由于淤泥在运河底部长时间积聚，导致洪水泛滥。

当然了，汉武帝知道他必须对运河进行修整，并命令沿着先前运河的轮廓线，再延长全新的100公里。同时，汉朝时期还建造了梁桥、拱桥和悬索桥。前文提到的道路，虽然远不及罗马那么长，却也整个汉帝国各地修建起来，主要用瓦砾和碎石铺成。

同时，整个中国的堤坝都得到了维护，保护农田不受季节性洪水的影响。另外，驿站也被引进，而且维护良好。

结论：这可能是目前为止最艰难的决定了，但笔者认为罗马人在这个方面微弱领先其汉朝同行。但是，罗马人的所作的事，还是不足以让他们独得一分。因此在这个方面，鉴于情况的复杂性，二者各得一分。罗马VS汉朝，比分为6:7. 

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未完待续。。。。。。