Greg Aldrete: Ancient Rome

Elevator pitch

Engineering the Infrastructure of the World's First Megacity

Abstract

Ancient Rome was the world's first great megacity with a population of over one million inhabitants. This talk will present information about the surprisingly sophisticated infrastructure necessary to support this vast population, including how the city was supplied with food and water, where its inhabitants lived, and what the average Roman did for fun. While attention often focuses on Rome's fabulous temples and palaces, its roads, sewers, harbors, warehouses, aqueducts, and apartment buildings were just as impressive, and arguably, far more important to the typical Roman man or woman in the street.

Bio

Gregory S. Aldrete holds advanced degrees from Princeton University and the University of Michigan and is the Frankenthal Professor of History and Humanities at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay. He has received many teaching awards and is the author of seven books and numerous scholarly articles, as well as six video courses made with the Teaching Company/The Great Courses. For more information, see Prof. Aldrete’s website: http://www.uwgb.edu/aldreteg/ #STEAMEducation #STEAMEngineGB