Who\'s responsible for Roman engineering?

[tlclark]

Ditto what Carlton said.

By way of evidence, the famous tomb of the Haterii shows a freedman family business of engineers with cranes and great wheels. Clearly it was a prestigious position, but Carlton is right that there is no certification. In fact there is no real distinction between a builder and an "architect". Architecture as a theory was rather abstract and there was precious little in the way of advance planning. This was basically the way it remained until well until the middle ages. Many of the greatest works of Roman engineering are only known by the name of the patron, rather than the builders.

Rarely Romans go beyond their master builders to theorists, the most famous example is Anthemios of Tralles and Isidoros of Miletus a geometer and mekanikoi (engineer) chosen to build hagia sophia, but that was a rare building.

Travis