A roller in its simplest form is a cylindrical object that can turn on its longitudinal axis; barrel-shaped, tapered, and other surfaces are also technologically possible. The benefits of rollers are based on their round cross-section and their ability to turn continuously.
Rollers were already in use in antiquity to level the passageways in wrestling schools. In book 10 of his Ten Books on Architecture, Vitruvius describes the transport of column shafts.…