Wonders of ancient machines
Of the many whimsical figures in ancient Greek mythology, Talos was a distinct kind of creature, a sort of precocious robot invented by humans to guard the borders of Crete. Automatons are also mentioned elsewhere, with Hephaestus, for example, using gold to create women servants to care for the ailing Achilles. The ancient Greeks did not, of course, actually construct a robot, a feat that only contemporary technology has proved capable of. But the ancient Greeks had the imagination to visualize one, and it is this imagination that helped produce, if not a robot, other wondrous technological achievements, many with broad application. These achievements are the subject of «Ancient Greek Technology,» an exhibit at Technopolis in Gazi which is jointly organized by the Society for the Study of Ancient Greek Technology (EMAET) and the Technology Museum of Thessaloniki. On display are models replicating inventions that span prehistoric times to the end of the Alexandrian period in domains as diverse as automatics, metallurgy, naval architecture and construction. Since civilizations other than the ancient Greeks also produced important technological advancements, one might ask what was so distinct about the inventions that the exhibit draws our attention to. What is it, if anything, that makes the ancient Greek contribution to technology of singular importance? According to Theodosis Tassios, professor at the National Technical University of Athens and president of EMAET, «the ancient Greeks were the first to blend science and technology, to render one field complementary to the other. They were the first to theorize on technology, to create inventions that rested on theoretical foundations.» It is upon these foundations laid by the Greeks that the Romans were able to create large-scale works such as bridges and aqueducts. Unlike the Greeks, practicality was a priority for them. «During Roman times, there was a short-lived technological outburst. The Romans made beautiful works but did not bring about a breakthrough in technology,» says Tassios. The unique way in which the Greeks coalesced theory and practice can be roughly traced to the sixth century BC and be said to begin with Thales, the founder of geometry and abstract astronomy. But technology reached its heights in Alexandria during the third to first centuries BC. A cosmopolitan cultural center and home to the famed library, Alexandria attracted scholars from all over the world, including scientists who gathered at the so-called «museum,» essentially an open laboratory for various domains of knowledge. «What the Alexandrians accomplished in the domain of technology in the course of three centuries is incomparable to any other period,» says architect and curator of the exhibit, Clairy Palyvou. «The circumstances were right. Economic prosperity helped advance research, particularly as the Ptolemies were generous with funding and encouraged the study of knowledge.» Indeed, it is only within a broader context that one can begin to make sense of technological achievements, their reason for existence, the demand for them and their implementation. «All civilizations had their own technological feats. What differ are the social and cultural conditions in which they took place,» says Palyvou. The Alexandrian period bred some of the most important scientists of antiquity, among them the (possibly first-century AD) scientist Heron of Alexandria, who devised a formula for determining the area of a triangle, Ctesibius in the third century BC, who is considered to be the founder of the Alexandrian school of mechanics, his student Philon of Byzantium, and Archimedes (also from the third century BC), the Greek mathematician (he did much of his research in Alexandria), who applied geometry to hydrostatics and mechanics and discovered the principle of buoyancy. Some of their most important inventions can be viewed in the exhibit. Among them is the Archimedean screw, an apparatus for raising water and used for irrigation. Ctesibius, slightly older than Archimedes, built a reputation largely through the invention of pumps, which the Roman architect Vitruvius mentions in detail and with admiration in his writings, one of the most valuable sources of knowledge on ancient Greek technology. Philon the Byzantine worked in the field of mechanics and hydraulics and is represented in the exhibit by a hydraulic mechanism that controls the level of water. Heron, who excelled in mechanics and who wrote countless scientific treatises, most of which have survived, was the inventor of a machine that turned steam into kinetic energy, and also of various measuring instruments, some shown at the exhibit. Apart from the Alexandrian period, the exhibit also looks back at earlier achievements, such as the aqueduct of Samos, constructed by Eupalinus during the sixth century BC; its long tunnel is considered an advanced technological accomplishment. One of the rarest technological apparatuses of ancient Greece is the first-century BC Antikythera mechanism, a complex astronomical apparatus used in navigation. It is also one of those rare specimens discovered in the original (it is kept at the National Archaeological Museum), but the exact function of the apparatus still remains largely unsolved. The Antikythera mechanism is also valuable for pointing out the significance of archaeology in the study of ancient Greek technology. Indeed, besides the various written ones, archaeological sources may include either an original site (for example, the prehistoric Minoan settlement on Thera included in the exhibit as a model of technological advances in the field of architecture), or secondary ones such as ceramics and wall paintings, both of which often provide valuable depictions of technological apparatuses. Another valuable source of information are marble steles inscribed with detailed contracts on the assignment of construction and public works. The steles, reproductions of which are on display in the exhibit, supply descriptions of mechanisms but are also revealing of the state’s financial management and stipulations for hirings. The steles help put technology in a broader context and remind the viewer that the technological achievements of the ancient Greeks should be read against a complex cultural and social background. It is perhaps only through such combined knowledge that one can begin to explain why the Greeks were the first to develop the theory of science and use both science and technology as complementary fields of knowledge. Directed by Pitof, starring Gerard Depardieu, Ines Sastre, Andre Dussollier, Guillaume Canet. In 19th-century Paris, a biographer investigates the murder of a legendary detective, who disappeared during his pursuit of a ruthless assassin. (In French)
