The book City is about a make believe Roman city. The author David Macaulay based it on a bunch of other Roman cities.
One of the cities he based it on was Carsulae. I know this because I wrote him a letter, but I didn’t think he would write me back because he’s famous. But he did send me a letter, and it was hand written. I have scanned a copy of the letter just click here if you wish to read it.
Two parts of City I liked the most:
- The second thing they built was the trench for the city walls so they would soon have protection, and they would not over extend themselves.
- Their roads were built very cleverly so they could allow drainage, and would last a long time. In some ways they were a lot better than the ones we have today. They made the road by digging a trench then filling it with small stones. Then on top they put large flat stones that were slightly curved to force rain water into gutters on the side of the road. Any cracks in between the stones were filed with small stones or scrap iron.