ancient Greek technology

! Technology

! Date

! Description

! class="unsortable"|

|c. 3rd century BC

|This device, capable of lifting solid or liquid substances from a lower plane to a higher elevation, is traditionally attributed to the Greek mathematician Archimedes of Syracuse.{{Citation

| last = Oleson

| first = John Peter

| year = 2000

| contribution = Water-Lifting

| editor-last = Wikander

| editor-first = Örjan

| editor-link = Örjan Wikander

| title = Handbook of Ancient Water Technology

| series = Technology and Change in History

| publication-place = Leiden

| volume = 2

| pages = 217–302 (242–251)

| isbn = 90-04-11123-9

}}David Sacks (2005) [1995]. Oswin Murray and Lisa R. Brody (eds), Encyclopedia of the Ancient Greek World. Revised Edition. New York: Facts on File. {{ISBN|0-8160-5722-2}}, pp 303-304.

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|c. 400 BC

|Example: The Porta Rosa (4th–3rd century BC) was the main street of Elea (Italy) and connected the northern quarter to the southern quarter. The street is 5 meters wide. At its steepest, it inclines to 18%. It is paved with limestone blocks, girders cut in square blocks, and on one side a small gutter for the drainage of rainwater. The building is dated during the time of the reorganization of the city during the Hellenistic age. (4th to 3rd centuries BC)

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|c. 600 BC

|First widespread amalgamation of geographical maps developed by Anaximander, although it is possible he had been exposed to mapmaking practices of the Near East.Alex C. Purves (2010). Space and Time in Ancient Greek Narrative. Cambridge & New York: Cambridge University Press. {{ISBN|978-0-521-19098-5}}, pp 98–99.

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|c. 600 BC

|The 6 to 8.5 km long Diolkos represented a rudimentary form of railway.Lewis, M. J. T. (2001). [http://www.sciencenews.gr/docs/diolkos.pdf "Railways in the Greek and Roman world"]. {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080216073239/http://www.sciencenews.gr/docs/diolkos.pdf |date=16 February 2008 }}. In Guy, A., & Rees, J., eds. Early Railways. A Selection of Papers from the First International Early Railways Conference. pp. 8–19 (8 & 15). {{ISBN|090468508X}}.

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|c. 100–70 BC

|The Antikythera mechanism, from the Roman-era Antikythera wreck, employed a differential gear to determine the angle between the ecliptic positions of the sun and moon, and thus the phase of the moon.{{cite journal| title=The Antikythera Mechanism reconsidered| first=M. T.| last=Wright| journal=Interdisciplinary Science Reviews| year=2007| volume=32| number=1| pages=27–43| doi=10.1179/030801807X163670| bibcode=2007ISRv...32...27W| s2cid=54663891| url=http://fsoso.free.fr/antikythera/DOCS/TheAntikytheraMechanismReconsidered.pdf| access-date=20 May 2014}}Bernd Ulmann (2013). Analog Computing. Munich: Oldenbourg Verlag München. {{ISBN|978-3-486-72897-2}}, p. 6.

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|6th century BC

|Earliest example found in the Giglio wreck near the Italian coast. The wooden piece already featured one fixed and a movable jaw.Bound, Mensun (1991). The Giglio wreck: a wreck of the Archaic period (c. 600 BC) off the Tuscan island of Giglio, Hellenic Institute of Marine Archaeology, Athens.Ulrich, Roger B. (2007). Roman woodworking, New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press, pp. 52f., {{ISBN|0-300-10341-7}}.

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|550 BCHodge, A. Trevor Paul (1960) The Woodwork of Greek Roofs, Cambridge University Press, p. 41.

|See List of Greco-Roman roofs

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|c. 515 BC

|Labor-saving device that allowed the employment of small and efficient work teams on construction sites. Later winches were added for heavy weights.{{Citation

| doi = 10.2307/630416

| last = Coulton

| first = J. J.

| title = Lifting in Early Greek Architecture

| journal = The Journal of Hellenic Studies

| volume = 94

| year = 1974

| pages = 1–19 (7)

| jstor = 630416

| s2cid = 162973494

}}

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|3rd century BC

|Described by the Greek engineer Philo of Byzantium (3rd century BC) in his technical treatise Pneumatics (chapter 31) as part of a washstand automaton for guests washing their hands. Philon's comment that "its construction is similar to that of clocks" indicates that such escapement mechanisms were already integrated in ancient water clocks.{{Cite book

| last = Lewis

| first = Michael

| year = 2000

| contribution = Theoretical Hydraulics, Automata, and Water Clocks

| editor-last = Wikander

| editor-first = Örjan

| editor-link = Örjan Wikander

| title = Handbook of Ancient Water Technology

| series = Technology and Change in History

| publication-place = Leiden

| volume = 2

| pages = 343–369 (356f.)

| isbn = 90-04-11123-9

}}

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Washstand automaton

|c. 5th century BC

|The tumbler lock, as well as other varieties of lock, was introduced in Greece in the 5th century BC.

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|c. 5th century BC

|Developed further than in prehistoric times for a variety of practical purposes.

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|c. 5th century BC

|Although there is evidence for sanitation in the Indus Valley civilisation, the ancient Greek civilization of Crete, known as the Minoan civilization, was the first civilization to use underground clay pipes for sanitation and water supply.{{cite web|title=The History of Plumbing – CRETE|url=http://www.theplumber.com/crete.html|work=theplumber.com|access-date=26 March 2014}} Excavations at Olympus, as well as Athens, have revealed extensive plumbing systems for baths, fountains, and personal use.

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|480–470 BC

|The earliest spiral staircases appear in Temple A in Selinunte, Sicily, to both sides of the cella. The temple was constructed around 480–470 BC.Ruggeri, Stefania. Selinunt. Edizioni Affinità Elettive, Messina 2006 {{ISBN|88-8405-079-0}}, p.77

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Plan of ground floor of Temple A at Selinunte (c. 480 BC). The remains of the two spiral stairs between the pronao and the cella are the oldest known to date.

|c. 5th century BC

|Miletus is one of the first known towns in the world to have a grid-like plan for residential and public areas. It accomplished this feat through a variety of related innovations in areas such as surveying.

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|5th century BC

|The earliest literary reference to a winch can be found in the account of Herodotus of Halicarnassus on the Persian Wars (Histories 7.36), where he describes how wooden winches were used to tighten the cables for a pontoon bridge across the Hellespont in 480 BC. Winches may have been employed even earlier in Assyria, though. By the 4th century BC, winch and pulley hoists were regarded by Aristotle as common for architectural use (Mech. 18; 853b10-13).{{cite journal |last=Coulton |first=J. J. |title=Lifting in Early Greek Architecture|jstor=630416|journal=The Journal of Hellenic Studies|volume=94|year=1974|pages= 1–19 (12)|doi=10.2307/630416|s2cid=162973494 }}

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|4th century BC

|A shower room for female athletes with plumbed-in water is depicted on an Athenian vase. A whole complex of shower-baths was also found in a 2nd-century BC gymnasium at Pergamum.[https://web.archive.org/web/20080509052435/http://www.inventions.org/culture/ancient/showers.html "Ancient Inventions: Showers"]. inventions.org

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|c. 350 BC

|The Great Temple of Ephesus was warmed by heated air that was circulated through flues laid on the floor.

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|c. 350 BC

|To protect a ship's hull from boring creatures; see Kyrenia ship

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|early 3rd century BC

|Built into Ancient Suez Canal under Ptolemy II (283–246 BC).{{cite journal|last=Moore |first=Frank Gardner |year=1950|title=Three Canal Projects, Roman and Byzantine|journal=American Journal of Archaeology|volume=54|issue=2|pages=97–111 (99–101)|doi=10.2307/500198|jstor=500198 |s2cid=191374346 }}Froriep, Siegfried (1986): "Ein Wasserweg in Bithynien. Bemühungen der Römer, Byzantiner und Osmanen", Antike Welt, 2nd Special Edition, pp. 39–50 (46)Schörner, Hadwiga (2000): "Künstliche Schiffahrtskanäle in der Antike. Der sogenannte antike Suez-Kanal", Skyllis, Vol. 3, No. 1, pp. 28–43 (33–35, 39)

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|early 3rd century BC

|Opened by Greek engineers under Ptolemy II (283–246 BC), following earlier, probably only partly successful attempts.Schörner, Hadwiga (2000): "Künstliche Schiffahrtskanäle in der Antike. Der sogenannte antike Suez-Kanal", Skyllis, Vol. 3, No. 1, pp. 28–43 (29–36)

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|c. 3rd century BC

|According to Homeric legend, Palamidis of Nafplio invented the first lighthouse, although they are certainly attested with the Lighthouse of Alexandria (designed and constructed by Sostratus of Cnidus) and the Colossus of Rhodes. However, Themistocles had earlier established a lighthouse at the harbor of Piraeus connected to Athens in the 5th century BC, essentially a small stone column with a fire beacon.Elinor Dewire and Dolores Reyes-Pergioudakis (2010). The Lighthouses of Greece. Sarasota: Pineapple Press. {{ISBN|978-1-56164-452-0}}, pp 1–5.

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|3rd century BC

|First described by Philo of Byzantium (c. 280–220 BC).Oleson, John Peter (2000): "Water-Lifting", in Wikander, Örjan, Handbook of Ancient Water Technology, Technology and Change in History, Vol. 2, Brill, Leiden, {{ISBN|90-04-11123-9}}, pp. 217–302 (233)

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|3rd century BC

|The Hellenistic engineer and inventor Ctesibius (fl. 285–222 BC) fitted his clepsydras with a dial and pointer for indicating the time, and added elaborate "alarm systems, which could be made to drop pebbles on a gong, or blow trumpets (by forcing bell-jars down into water and taking the compressed air through a beating reed) at pre-set times" (Vitruv 11.11).{{Cite journal

| last = Landels

| first = John G.

| year = 1979

| title = Water-Clocks and Time Measurement in Classical Antiquity

| periodical = Endeavour

| volume = 3

| issue = 1

| pages = 32–37 [35]

| doi = 10.1016/0160-9327(79)90007-3

}}

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|c. 3rd century BC

|Odometer, a device used in the late Hellenistic time and by Romans for indicating the distance traveled by a vehicle. It was invented sometime in the 3rd century BC. Some historians attribute it to Archimedes, others to Heron of Alexandria. It helped revolutionize the building of roads and traveling by them by accurately measuring distance and being able to carefully illustrate this with a milestone.

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|3rd century BC

|First described by Philo of Byzantium, the device powered a repeating crossbow, the first known of its kind.Werner Soedel, Vernard Foley, "Ancient Catapults", Scientific American, Vol. 240, No. 3 (March 1979), pp. 124–125

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|c. 3rd century BC

|Ctesibius of Alexandria invented a primitive form of the cannon, operated by compressed air.

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|3rd century BC

|Universal mechanical principle that was discovered and first applied by the engineer Ctesibius in his double-action piston pump, which was later developed further by Heron to a fire hose (see below).

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|c. 260 BC

|First described about 260 BC by the ancient Greek mathematician Archimedes. Although used in prehistoric times, they were first put to practical use for more developed technologies in Ancient Greece.{{cite book|last=Usher |first=A. P.|author-link=Abbott Payson Usher|title=A History of Mechanical Inventions|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Zt4Aw9wKjm8C&pg=PA94|page=94|access-date=7 April 2013|orig-year=1st pub. Harvard University Press 1929 |publisher=Dover Publications |year=1988|isbn=978-0-486-14359-0|oclc=514178}}

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|c. 250 BC

|The use of water power was pioneered by the Greeks: The earliest mention of a water mill in history occurs in Philo's Pneumatics, previously been regarded as a later Arabic interpolation, but according to recent research to be of authentic Greek origin.Lewis, M. J. T. (1997) Millstone and Hammer: the origins of water power, University of Hull Press, pp. 1–73 especially 44–45 and 58–60, {{ISBN|085958657X}}.

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|c. 240 BC:

|First recorded for Syracusia as well as other Syracusan (merchant) ships under Hiero II of SyracuseCasson, Lionel (1995). Ships and Seamanship in the Ancient World. Johns Hopkins University Press, pp. 242, fn. 75, {{ISBN|978-0-8018-5130-8}}.

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|3rd century BC

|The inventor Philo of Byzantium (280–220 BC) described an eight-sided ink pot with an opening on each side, which can be turned so that any face is on top, dip in a pen and ink it-yet the ink never runs out through the holes of the side. This was done by the suspension of the inkwell at the center, which was mounted on a series of concentric metal rings which remained stationary no matter which way the pot turns itself.Sarton, G. (1970), A History of Science, The Norton Library, Vol. 2., pp. 343–350, {{ISBN|0393005267}}.

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|c. 200 BC

|Invented in Ptolemaic Egypt under Ptolemy IV Philopator (reigned 221–204 BC) as recorded by Athenaeus of Naucratis(V 204c-d).{{Cite web|url=http://www.attalus.org/old/athenaeus5b.html|title=Athenaeus: Deipnosophists – Book 5 (b)|website=www.attalus.org}}{{harvnb|Oleson|1984|p=33}}

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|2nd century BC

|Spritsails, the earliest fore-and-aft rigs, appeared in the 2nd century BC in the Aegean Sea on small Greek craft.Casson, Lionel (1995): "Ships and Seamanship in the Ancient World", Johns Hopkins University Press, pp. 243–245, {{ISBN|978-0-8018-5130-8}}.

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A spritsail used on a Roman merchant ship (3rd century AD).

|c. 2nd century BC

|Ctesibius and various other Greeks of Alexandria of the period developed and put to practical use various air and water pumps which served a variety of purposes,David Sacks (2005) [1st ed. 1995]. Oswin Murray and Lisa R. Brody (eds), Encyclopedia of the Ancient Greek World. Revised Edition. New York: Facts on File. {{ISBN|0-8160-5722-2}}, p. 303. such as a water organ and, by the 1st century AD, Heron's fountain.

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|2nd century BC

|First appeared in 2nd century BC Hellenistic Egypt, where pictorial evidence already showed it fully developedOleson, John Peter (2000): "Water-Lifting", in: Wikander, Örjan: Handbook of Ancient Water Technology, Technology and Change in History, Vol. 2, Brill, Leiden, pp. 217–302 (234, 270), {{ISBN|90-04-11123-9}}.

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|c. 2nd century BC

|Various records relating to mentions of surveying tools have been discovered, mostly in Alexandrian sources, these greatly helped the development of the precision of Roman aqueducts.

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|c. 150 BC

|In 1900–1901, the Antikythera mechanism was found in the Antikythera wreck. It is thought that this device was an analog computer designed to calculate astronomical positions and was used to predict lunar and solar eclipses based on Babylonian arithmetic-progression cycles. Whereas the Antikythera mechanism is considered the proper analog computer, the astrolabe (also invented by the Greeks) may be considered as a forerunner.Bernd Ulmann (2013). Analog Computing. Munich: Oldenbourg Verlag München. {{ISBN|978-3-486-72897-2}}, pp 5–6

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|1st century BC

|Invented by Heron based on Ctesibius' double-action piston pump. Allowed for more efficient fire fighting.

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|1st century BC

|The first vending machine was described by Heron of Alexandria. His machine accepted a coin and then dispensed a fixed amount of holy water. When the coin was deposited, it fell upon a pan attached to a lever. The lever opened up a valve, which let some water flow out. The pan continued to tilt with the weight of the coin until it fell off, at which point a counter-weight would snap the lever back up and turn off the valve.Jaffe, Eric (December 2006). [http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/ancient_calendar.html "Old World, High Tech: World's First Vending Machine"]. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131106072457/http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/ancient_calendar.html |date=6 November 2013 }}. Smithsonian magazine.

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|50 BC

|The Tower of the Winds on the Roman agora in Athens featured atop a wind vane in the form of a bronze Triton holding a rod in his outstretched hand rotating to the wind blowing. Below, its frieze was adorned with the eight wind deities. The 8 m high structure also featured sundials and a water clock inside dates from around 50 BC.{{cite journal|last1=Noble |first1=Joseph V. |last2=De Solla Price |first2=Derek J.|title=The Water Clock in the Tower of the Winds|url=http://hist.science.online.fr/antikythera/MORE-DOCS/waterclock-windstower-DSPrice.pdf|jstor=503828|journal=American Journal of Archaeology|volume=72|issue=4|year=1968|pages=345–355 (353)|doi=10.2307/503828|s2cid=193112893 }}

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|50 BC

|See Clock tower.{{cite journal|last1=Noble |first1=Joseph V. |last2=de Solla Price |first2=Derek J.|title=The Water Clock in the Tower of the Winds|url=http://hist.science.online.fr/antikythera/MORE-DOCS/waterclock-windstower-DSPrice.pdf|jstor=503828|journal=American Journal of Archaeology|volume=72|issue=4|year=1968|pages=345–355 (349)|doi=10.2307/503828 |s2cid=193112893 }}

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Tower of the Winds

|c. 1st century AD

|Heron of Alexandria, a 1st-century BC inventor from Alexandria, Egypt, created schematics for automatic doors to be used in a temple with the aid of steam power.{{dead link|date=June 2021}}

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