this post was submitted on 08 Nov 2024
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I wonder if the procedures and processes for getting these set up were done in a similar manner to how it is done in modern times.
Request for proposals, contracting with architectural and engineering firms for a Design-Build project, funding allocation, project management, and project execution.
It'd be fascinating to see the parallels with how the ancient Romans did these with how we do them now.
At least partially! Requests for proposals (and often accepting lowest bidder contracts on less prestigious projects - some things never change), contracts with private entities for public undertakings (societas publicanorum), and corporations (often using a curious form of limited liability in which a slave was technically and legally owner of the firm) all existed by the Late Republic/Early Empire!
But on the other side of the Contracting table, a lot of water pipes were privately owned in Rome. And stealing water was very popular, if a pipe happened to pass by your house, it saved you a trip to a public source.
Or an expensive connection - farmers were always illegally tapping the pipes for agricultural purposes XD
You'd be surprised how far back the method of paperwork goes. I got a book of translated ancient Egyptian texts, and most of it is tax paperwork.