ECCOMAS Congress 2016
Hellenistic Technology and the Steam-powered force-pump
T.P. Tassios
*
National Technical University of Athens
Greece
[email protected]
ABSTRACT
The persistent penchant of Greeks for Technology is traced back to the roots of the Greek tribes: Gods of
Engineering, Homeric automata and robots, Daedalus and the final gift of gods to mankind (Technology that
is) in the Prometheus myth. The technological achievements of the Myceneans (giant land-reclamation
works, very large domes, ship-building), as well as the fertilization of empirical Technology by the newly
born greek Science in Ionia, were the obvious follow-up of the old technophilia of the Greeks.
The culmination however of the Greek Technology took place during the Hellenistic era, in the culturally
unified cosmopolitan world of that time. The lecture will briefly present the works of the four great
rd
rd
Engineers of Alexandria: Ctesibius (3 c. BCE), Archimedes (3rd c. BCE), Philon of Byzantium (3 c.
st
BCE), Heron (1 c. C.E.). Their scientific and engineering achievements include several machines: pumps,
catapults, hydraulic clocks, pipe organ, ship-building, large cranes – and above all, the various fully
operational automata and the first prerequisites for the analog computer, i.e. the Antikythera Mechanism.
The lecture will more specifically elaborate on a much more advanced technological achievement (a steampowered force-pump, the emblematic machine of the industrial revolution in England, one could say): There
is no written testimony of such a device in Alexandria. However, it will be maintained that ALL its
mechanical components (force-pump, circular-to-linear motion convertor, chain belt, gear wheels and a
steam generated circular-motion device) were well known to the Greeks. Besides, their combination had
already started in Alexandria.
A pertinent animation film will be presented at the end, describing the expected steps of the synthesis of
such a sophisticated machine in the Hellenistic era.
Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)