We tend to think that we are a clever lot today, with our mobile phones and assorted technologies. We may dismiss ancient cultures as primitive, but is this really true? Let's have a look at some of the technologies that those canny ancient Greeks were working on. Many of these can be viewed at the Museum of Ancient Greek Technology, a museum in Katakolo, Elis, Greece.
Plato (428 B.C.E), the famous philosopher, appears to have invented the first wake-up mechanism in history. Water clocks were commonly in use in Plato's lifetime, to control the passage of time. Plato's clock, however, had an added feature, it was set to chime once in the early evening and once at dawn.
Heron of Alexandria, a Greek mathematician and engineer, invented a means to automatically open the temple gates after a sacrifice on its altar. The heat from a fire, lit by the city's temple priest, allowed atmospheric pressure to build up in a brass vessel and this caused water to pump out into holding containers. These holding containers acted as weights for a series of ropes and pulleys, which would open the temple's doors.
Also invented by Heron of Alexander was an entirely mechanical theatre, "puppet show", which was almost ten minutes in length. This automatic theatre was powered by a binary-like system of ropes, knots, and simple machines operated by a rotating cylindrical cogwheel. The sound of thunder was produced by the mechanically-timed dropping of metal balls onto a hidden drum.
In the 3rd century BCE, Philon of Byzantium invented what was probably the first working robot in history. Made in the form of a life-size woman, this complex device automatically poured wine and then water, when a cup was placed in the robot's left hand. The water and wine were stored in metal jugs suspended inside the figure.
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| First robot |
Another wonderful innovation was the hysplex, which was a starting gate which was used in ancient Greek horse and foot races. Each racer stood behind his own hysplex and all of the strings which were centrally connected behind the runner were held by a referee. At the start of the race, the referee released all the strings, which allowed the starting gates to fall at the same time, releasing the runners.
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| Hysplex, 4th century BC, Greece |
Books To Read
The inventions of the ancient Greeks, by Kostas Kotsanas.
