ENGINEERING (GREEK AND ROMAN ERA)

GREEK (ENGINEERING)
In peacetime, the Greeks used their knowledge of engineering to explore new forms of
technology like the screw, levers and even steam engines.

Hero's Steam Engine

Hero, or Heron, of Alexandria His most

famous achievement was a primitive steam
engine, which was known as the aeolipile.
Aeolipile, steam turbine invented in the 1st
century AD by Heron of Alexandria and
described in his Pneumatica. The aeolipile
was a hollow sphere mounted so that it could
turn on a pair of hollow tubes that provided
steam to the sphere from a cauldron. The
steam escaped from the sphere from one or more bent tubes projecting from its equator,
causing the sphere to revolve.

Greek watermill.

It was invented in around the 3rd Century BC.

Philo of Byzantium made the earliest known
reference of it in his works, the Pneumatica and
Parasceuastica.
It was a water-powered mill for grinding grain
which continues identically in use until today. It
was particularly suitable for the hilly and
mountainous regions of Greece and Asia Minor
since it was capable of functioning with small
quantities of water that were moved, however, at great speed.
 Ballista

A weapon invented by Greeks, used by Romans and

perfected during the Middle Ages in Europe. to launch
an object a considerable distance. Think of the ballista
as a crossbow mixed with a catapult. The two wooden
arms that stick out of the sides are connected to ropes.
When the arms were pulled back, the ropes twisted
around a wench, building tension. Once the tension
was released by letting go of the arms, the ropes
unwound and the object launched into the air.
Sharpened wooden sticks, darts, and stones were all
used as missiles in the ballista. The best ballistae (the plural of ballista) could launch a
60-pound object approximately 500 yards.

Greek Catapult

The first catapult was invented by Dionysius the

Elder of Syracuse, who was looking to develop a
new type of weapon, invented the catapult about
400 BCE. Both catapults and ballistas work by
storing tension either in twisted ropes or in a flexed
piece of wood (in the same way an archery bow
does, but on a larger scale).Catapult has proven to
be one of the most effective mechanisms during warfare.

“Archimedes Heat Ray”

Used to focus sunlight/sun rays unto approaching ships, causing them to catch fire. It was
suggested that Achimedes used copper or bronze shields as mirror to reflect sunlight unto
the boat. He focused 70 irris coated with copper coated on fake plywood roman warship
from around 49m meters. The boat burne up within seconds.

HELEPOLIS

A weapon used to destroy fortifications such as walls,

castles, bunkers and fortified gates.A large tapered
tower, with each side about 130 feet (41.1 m) high,
and 65 feet (20.6 m) wide that was manually pushed into battle. It rested on eight wheels,
each 15 feet (4.6 m) high and also had casters, to allow lateral
movement as well as direct.

Archimedes screw

A machine for raising water, allegedly invented by the ancient

Greek scientist Archimedes for removing water from the hold
of a large ship. One form consists of a circular pipe enclosing a
helix and inclined at an angle of about 45 degrees to the
horizontal with its lower end dipped in the water; rotation of
the device causes the water to rise in the pipe. Other forms
consist of a helix revolving in a fixed cylinder or a helical tube
wound around a shaft.

LEVER

Used the pulley system to lift heavy objects

using the lowest amount of force.

Described by Archimedes in 260BC.

WHEELBARROW

It has one wheel used to transport equipment, which

is pushed by the user and can carry light loads.

CANNON

This device was invented by Ctesibus,can be

operated through compressed air, which lauched
projectiles to a target.
ROMAN (ENGINEERING)

Romans are known for their remarkable engineering feats, be they roads, bridges, tunnels,
or their impressive aqueducts. Their constructions, many of them still standing, are a
testament to their superior engineering skills and ingenuity. Romanengineers improved
upon older ideas and inventions to introduce a great number of innovations.
 AQUEDUCTS

Roman aqueducts used gravity, not pumps,

with a slight downward inclination for the
water to flow. Other innovations included
the use of arcades to transport water over
valleys and low-lying terrain, with the
extensive use of concrete and waterproof
cement linings. Another innovation was the
use of settling tanks at regular intervals to
regulate the water supply.

BRIDGES

The first stone bridges used stone blocks

held together with iron clamps. By the
mid-2nd century BCE, Romans made
extensive use of concrete: bridges were
often constructed with a concrete core and
a stone-block facing. The use of concrete
significantly increased the bridges' strength
and durability. Concrete was also used to build strong piers. When piers could not be built
out of rock, the Romans used “cofferdams”, which were temporary enclosures made from
wooden piles sealed with clay. The cofferdams were driven into the riverbed and filled
with concrete, in order to make piers.
 ROADS

Roman roads were made for travel, trade,

and to maintain control over the Empire’s
vast territories. They facilitated the rapid
deployment of armies when needed. Roman
roads involved colossal works of engineering
because not only bridges and tunnels, but
also viaducts, had to be built wherever roads
encountered major obstacles. Road construction also involved massive land excavation,
the transport of materials for backfill and leveling over long distances, and huge hydraulic
projects for water drainage and land reclamation.

ROMAN CONCRETE

One of the most important Roman

contributions to building technology was the
invention of concrete. Concrete allowed for
the construction of impressive buildings such
as the Pantheon and impacted bridge and
harbor construction. Roman concrete or opus
caementicium was invented in the late third
century BCE, when builders added a volcanic
dust called pozzolana to mortar made of a mixture of brick or rock pieces, lime or gypsum
and water. Pozzolana which contained both silica and alumina, created a chemical
reaction which dramatically strengthened the cohesiveness of the mortar.Underwater
concrete was achieved by mixing one-part lime with two-parts volcanic ash, and placing
the mixture in volcanic tuff or in small wooden cases. The mixture would then be hydrated
by seawater to trigger concrete’s heat-releasing / hardening chemical reaction.

(Rome underwent a period called a “Concrete Revolution”, which saw rapid represented
advances in the composition of concrete. For example, Roman builders discovered that
adding crushed terracotta to the mortar created a strong hydraulic mixture which could be
used as waterproof material for cisterns or other constructions exposed to the weather.)
MILLS & WATER DEVICES

Watermills used a river or high-pressure

water from a tall reservoir (or a nearby
aqueduct). The power of the water hitting
the wheels was often adjusted by a system
of tanks and pipes. Vertical waterwheels
were the most complex, as they converted
the vertical rotation of the water wheel into
the horizontal rotation of the shaft turning
the upper millstone. The Barbegal aqueduct and mills built at the end of the first century
CE, had water running through a 19-meter downhill path, driving 16 individual water
wheels. The mill was able to process about 3 tons of grain per hour. It employed hundreds
of people and produced enough flour to supply up to 40,000 people per day.

MINING TECHNOLOGY
The Romans were the first to use advanced technology in mining operations. Roman
mining sites often had a number of aqueducts constructed around them with giant tanks
and water-powered machines such as stamp-mills and trip-hammers. The giant tanks
were used in a mining method called hushing. Hushing consisted of unleashing large
quantities of water to wash away earth and expose valuable mineral rocks below. In
another mining method such as fire-quenching, water from these tanks was released to
fracture rock which had been previously heated.

WEAPONS

Roman engineers significantly improved

the ballista’s design by adding a number of metal
components which not only made the ballista lighter
and easier to assemble, but also improved its
accuracy by increasing its power by approximately 25%. The largest ballistae were also
the most powerful.
Roman engineers also invented the carroballista, a ballista mounted on a cart that added
mobility to the weapon. It gave each legion massive firepower on the battlefield, since as
each legion pushed along 55 of these mobile ballistae into battle.