HISTORY OF CIVIL

ENGINEERING

BY: LYDIA N. ERA

CIVIL ENGINEERING
• Civil Engineering is a professional engineering discipline that
deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the
physical and naturally built environment, including works like
roads, bridges, canals, dams, airports, sewerage systems,
pipelines, railways and buildings.
CIVIL ENGINEERING
• Civil Engineering is traditionally broken into a number of sub-
disciplines. Civil engineering takes place in the public sector from
municipal through to national government, and in the private sector
from individual homeowners through to international companies

• Roles of Civil and Military Engineer in Ancient Times

- Civil Engineering is considered to be the first main discipline of
engineering, and the engineers were in fact military engineers with
expertise in military and civil works.
CIVIL ENGINEERING IN THE 18TH – 20TH CENTURY
• Until modern times there was no clear distinction between civil
engineering and architecture, and the term engineer and
architect were mainly geographical variations referring to the
same occupation, and often used interchangeably.
• The construction of pyramids in Egypt (circa 2700-2500BC)
were some of the first instances of large structure constructions.
Other ancient historic civil engineering include the Qanat water
management system (the oldest is older than 3000 years and
longer than 71 km.), the Parthenon by Iktinos in Ancient Greece
(447-438 BC), the Appian Way by Roman engineers (c.
312BC), the Great Wall of China by General Meng Tíen under
orders from Chín Emperor Shih Huang Ti (c.220BC)
PYRAMID OF EGYPT
- Outer casing of lighter limestones
- 10,000 workers more than 30 years to build a
single pyramid
QANAT OR KAIRIZ WATER MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
- Is a gently sloping underground channel to transport
water from an aquifer or water well to surface for
irrigation and drinking, acting as an underground
aqueduct.
- 32,000 Qanats in Iran which provide 10 Billion MCM
water per year.
- Temple of goddess Athena - The Appian Way is one of the earliest and
- Massive foundation were made of limestone, strategically most important Roman roads of
and the column were made of Pentelic marble the ancient republic
- Made of Large stones with softer gravel that
was compacted.
- Mainly built from rammed earth
(earth, chalk, lime, or gravel),
stones, and wood.
- During the Ming, however, bricks
were heavily used in many areas
of the wall, as were materials
such as tiles, lime, and stone.
 HISTORY
• The Romans developed civil structures throughout their empire,
including especially aqueducts, harbors, bridges, dams and
roads.
HISTORY
• In the 18th century, the term civil engineering was coined to incorporate
all things civilian as opposed to military engineering. The first self-
proclaimed civil engineer was John Smeaton, who constructed the
Eddystone Lighthouse.
CIVIL ENGINEERING
• Throughout ancient and medieval history most architectural
design and construction was carried out by artisans, such as
stonemasons and carpenters, rising to the role of master
builder. Knowledge was retained in guilds and seldom
supplanted by advances. Structure, roads and infrastructure
that existed were repetitive, and increase in scale were
incremental.
THANK YOU.