Again following Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs, I would then present the Pont du Gard, a Roman aqueduct constructed between 15 and 14 BC of dressed stones fit together without mortar. While this aqueduct performs a very necessary function of supplying water to a community, the architecture and precision used in its construction provide a lesson perhaps even more valuable. The Pont du Gard itself is merely a part of a much larger construction nearly 30 miles long that carried water from the mountains to Nimes. The water source was only 60 feet higher than the city, so the engineers had to build numerous tunnels and bridges while maintaining a slope of only a few degrees, making it one of the most impressive examples of Roman engineering. Furthermore, each individual stone in the three tiers of arches in the Pont du Gard had to be shaped with extreme precision to keep the structure sturdy without the help of mortar. This illustrates an extraordinary feat of learning. Before a single arch could be built, individual rocks had to be cut and shaped, just as before true learning can take place, individual ideas and facts must be separated and molded to fit together. Then they must be assembled. The arch was a common piece of Roman architecture, but the truly creative aspect of this construction was the way in which numerous arches were pieced together end to end to form a sturdy, yet relatively light structure. It is only after ideas are properly examined and broken down that they can be recombined to form a new, lasting impact.
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