Pont du Gard

Which is its own kind of survival.

And then the Pont du Gard, which survived for the single most cynical reason in this entire episode.

Go on.

Built around 40 to 60 AD to carry water 50 kilometers to Nîmes.

The Aqua Virgo had emperors and popes.

The Cloaca Maxima had attacks.

The Pont du Gard had toll collectors.

The Quanauts have mirab, the watermasters whose job is to allocate and maintain.

And they used it to build incredibly strong, lightweight arches.

The Pont du Gard viaduct in France was built in the first century, and it still stands today as an absolute masterpiece of empirical engineering.

Which is insane.

And the sources point out that this intuitive engineering was happening globally, right? By the seventh century, Chinese engineers were using cast iron dovetails to physically interlock stone segments on the Anji Bridge.

Or I love to tell the story that years ago I was with Philip and a driver in Avignon.

And we went to the Pont de Garde.

And I thought, where did Philip and the driver go? They were not with me.

And here they were under the coach getting some wicker picnic baskets out and some totes that had some sparkling wine in it.