Perhaps none of the countless visitors have heard or thought that the familiar Herodes Atticus Theater was once the tallest building in the country, until the time of Hilton and the Athens Tower, or that it should hold the world record to this day for the largest roof span (50 m.) made of natural timber, without intermediate supports.
Despite the literary testimonies regarding the roof, many archaeologists and architectural historians have claimed that bridging the vast distance of the walls of the Herodion must not have been possible. Yet, even in its current state of ruin, the building retains architectural details that certainly prove the former existence of its roof and simultaneously indicate the basic arrangement of its trusses.
The representation proposed by the author is based on all the surviving testimonies within the building, on what is known about the tremendous achievements of the Romans in this specialty, including bridge-building, on what is known about wooden construction achievements in general before the industrial age, and on what is known about the scientific knowledge of the ancients.
The first part, presented in a fictional format, refers to the historical context and protagonists of the work, the second contains the scientific documentation of the building and its roof, while the third part showcases historical wooden bridges and roofs, whose knowledge, beyond its intrinsic value, is also very useful for understanding the roof of the Herodion.
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