Ancient Impossible

A mega factory is a modern invention–wrong–the ancients were the first to build these thousands of years ago. What was the incredible 16 wheel Roman automated factory in the south of France which could feed 12,500 people a day? How did the ancient Egyptians produce hundreds of vehicles of war every month? How did the Romans forge enough iron to equip an army, and mine enough gold to keep an economy afloat? With today's technology, this would be achievable, but how did the ancients do this thousands of years ago? We reveal the impossible ingenuity and techniques that made it possible for the ancients to have "Mega Factories" of their own.

The Roman Empire is known as one of the mightiest to ever rule the Earth. But the extent of their ingenuity, ambition and scale seems impossible to comprehend. One ambitious emperor built a colossal wall spanning an entire nation, while another built a road that stretched from one end of Europe all the way to Central Asia. We explore ancient texts to uncover amazing Roman technologies including a horse-drawn arrow shooter--possibly the world's first tank? We reveal Emperor Nero's Golden Palace; a building that contained more technology than any other in the ancient world including a revolving ceiling and elevators, but how was this technology possible 2000 years ago?

When faced with impossible situations, the ancients didn't simply give up, they pursued the impossible. How did they get troops across a nearly 4,000 foot river? How do you get oil from the ground without the use of modern drilling techniques? And how did they build a water tank which contained 3 million cubic feet of water, enough to provide for an entire city? What ingenious techniques did Caesar use to assemble a bridge to cross the Rhine, in only 10 days? The ancients created incredible structures to overcome these obstacles, often taking on and beating nature, using engineering methods that seem more modern than you would imagine.