It is sometimes speculated that if the Roman Empire had not collapsed, we would have been using steam engines already in the Middle Ages, and computers a little later. However, is it the Roman technique that deserves the greatest recognition? Groundbreaking discoveries long before the Romans were made by the Greeks. Few people know that they invented not only philosophy, but also alarm clocks, automatic theaters, primitive robots, vending machines with "drinks", tachometers ...
Published in 1966, a collection of interesting facts by Jerzy Łanowski entitled "500 Ancient Puzzles" contains many examples of this type of forgotten technology. In most cases, only their descriptions have survived. We can assume that these are mainly theoretical considerations, although if there was a project, nothing prevented it from being implemented at some point.
Heron's Bania. Probably the first steam engine ever
Heron of Alexandria (probably alive in the 1st century CE, but perhaps even 200 years earlier) wrote an entire book on automatic devices ("Automata"). In it he described the construction of such machines as, for example, an automatic theater (with proposed pieces!), A wind-powered organ or an odometer - a device connected to the wheels of the vehicle and determining the length of the route traveled.
Was it the ancient constructor who actually invented the first steam engine?
He also designed a device resembling modern vending machines. The difference was that the coin tossed machine dispensed not a drink, but water intended for the ritual washing of hands in the temple. Heron from Alexandria is, after all, the constructor of probably the first steam turbine in history - the so-called Bani Heron ( aeolipile ). In the antiquity, this invention did not find any practical application and remained only a technical curiosity, but it could easily be used to design a fully-fledged steam engine.
The famous Plato (in Raphael's fresco with his finger raised to the sky) was not only involved in philosophy, but also invented the first alarm clock. The illustration shows a fragment of a fresco by Raphael Santi "The School of Athens".
In turn, more known today than Heron, Plato invented the prototype of the alarm clock. In the hourglass he had constructed, the water pressing against the closed part of the vessel was pushing the air out with a whistle. The idea was very simple, but it seems that before the famous philosopher no one had come up with it. It is believed that the ancient Greeks even invented… strongboxes.
Heron's wind-powered organ
According to Jerzy Łanowski (who was, nota bene , not only a popularizer of history, but also a professor at the University of Wrocław) such a device can be seen in a painting from an Attic vase. The girl depicted on the dish holds a key in her hand and pulls out a tripod from ... well, maybe a safe?
Was everything invented in antiquity?
Greek inventions probably also included the square, spirit level and machine tool. Their originator was reportedly Theodore of Samos (6th century BCE). It is almost certain that the Greeks also knew the water mill.
This is exactly how Łanowski interprets a stanza from the poem Antipater of Sidon (1st century BC), who wrote: Give your hands a rest; sleep the millers in peace (...) Because the nymphs of the river depth Cerer were entrusted with your toil, so they played lively, beating the shore against the wheels.
Later studies showed that the invention of the watermill was even older - another Greek engineer, Philo of Byzantium, wrote about it as early as the middle of the 3rd century BC. The same inventor was to construct the first automatic wash basin with a water supply based on a catch mechanism. He also invented a semi-automatic crossbow, but Greek war machines are a topic for a separate article.
PS. I have intentionally not written above about the so-called the Antikythera mechanism, sometimes called the first computer in history. This is a topic that deserves a broader discussion. I recommend the text on this subject in "Archaeowieści" to those who are impatient.