HISTORY JANUARY/ FEBRUARY 2026
ROMAN ENGINEERING
To stitch their vast empire together, Roman engineers built on knowledge gained from Greece, Italy, and Egypt—expanding it to new scales. Roads, bridges, aqueducts, and ports were skillfully built to last, many of which have survived centuries beyond the empire itself. Other features in this issue include:
• Lethal Libations: The United States banned the sale of drinkable alcohol from 1920 to 1933. Industrial alcohol was laced with chemicals to deter bootleggers— a government policy widely known, yet disregarded – and some 10,000 people succumbed to the poisoned drink.
• Sacred Script of the Egyptians: During the time of Egypt’s earliest rulers at the close of the fourth millennium B.C., animal figures carved on stone and ivory foreshadowed the hieroglyphic script that would define pharaonic civilization. Whether these early marks were writing or symbols is still debated.
• Sack of Constantinople: Launched to reclaim Jerusalem, the Fourth Crusade ultimately diverted to the Christian city of Constantinople, where crusaders exploited political disputes, seized the city by force, and looted its treasures, leaving a lasting impact on Byzantine and European history.
