# Tallest Roman Built Structure?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tallest-roman-built-structure/371435>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [September 4, 2006, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tallest-roman-built-structure/371435 "2006-09-04T20:58:22Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\
**Post date:** [September 5, 2006, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tallest-roman-built-structure/371435/21 "2006-09-05T13:16:04Z")

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[QUOTE=friedo]  
Bricks and stone are unsuitable for very tall buildings, because the taller you make them, the thicker the walls must be to support the building’s weight. (As a modern example, consider the famous City Hall of Philadelphia, whose tower is completely made out of brick, and supported by walls more than 20 feet thick.)

Elevators are also helpful.  
[/QUOTE]

Semi-obligatory Chicago architecture reference to the [Monadnock Building](http://www.monadnockbuilding.com/history.htm), the N half of which is the tallest building with load-bearing walls.

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**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\
**Post date:** [September 5, 2006, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tallest-roman-built-structure/371435/22 "2006-09-05T15:42:17Z")

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I read once tjhat the Romans made limited use of structural bronze beams. Supposedly, part of the Pantheon had a roof which made use of cast bronze I beams (2000 years before Betlehem’s invention of steel I beams). Anyway, the structure was pulled down by some rennaisance pope, who had them melted down and made into the baldacchino (altar roof0 at the vatican. Too bad the romans didn’t go further-they might have invented skyscrapers. Incidentally: the lighthouse at Alexandria-how tall was that?

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**Author:** ![CJJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecc23a/32.png) [@CJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CJJ)\
**Post date:** [September 5, 2006, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tallest-roman-built-structure/371435/23 "2006-09-05T20:13:59Z")

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[QUOTE=ralph124c]  
Incidentally: the lighthouse at Alexandria-how tall was that?  
[/QUOTE]

Estimates vary between 115 and 135 meters; fairly tall, but not as tall as the Great Pyramid. Also the design was more like a minaret with a wide base, a stocky middle section, and a small dome at the top, not at all like the tall narrow columns of modern lighthouses.

Interestingly, excavation of the remains have shown the masonry (it was built from relatively lightweight blocks, not marble) was reinforced by pouring molten lead into the gaps.

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