The Ancient EngineersThis book is about those whose genius enabled the Egyptians to build their pyramids, the Phoenicians to cross stormy seas, the Romans to erect magnificent public buildings--that this carefully researched and fascinatingly written account of the advance of early technology has been written.Mr. de Camp describes the methods used by early irrigators, architects, and military engineers to build and maintain structures to serve their rulers' wants. He tells, for example, how the Pharaohs erected obelisks and pyramids, how Nebuchadnezzar fortified Babylon, how Dionysios' ordnance department invented the catapult, how the Chinese built the Great Wall, and how the Romans fashioned their roads, baths, sewers, and aqueducts. He recounts many intriguing anecdotes: an Assyrian king putting up no-parking signs in Nineveh; Plato inventing a water clock with an alarm to signal the start of his classes; Heron of Alexandria designing a coin-operated holy-water fountain; a Chinese emperor composing a poem to be inscribed on a clock invented by one of his civil servants. |
Contents
One The Coming of the Engineers | 13 |
Two The Egyptian Engineers | 28 |
Three The Mesopotamian Engineers | 53 |
Copyright | |
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Agrippa Alexandria ancient aqueducts Arabic arch Archimedes architect Aristotle armor army Assyrian Athens Babylon became began brick bridge bronze builders building built Byzantine called canal castle catapult centuries China Chinese church civilization classical columns conquered Demetrios dome early Egypt Egyptian emperor Empire engineering Europe feet fire Frontinus galleys gear Greece Greek Hadrian Hellenistic Hence Herodotos Heron Heron of Alexandria High Middle Ages horse houses Imhotep India invention iron irrigation kings Ktesibios Lake land later Leonardo machine mechanical medieval Mediterranean Mesopotamia Mesopotamian Middle Ages miles mill modern Mongols Muslim oars palaces paved Persian Philon Philon of Byzantium Phoenicians piers pipes Plinius probably pyramid river roads Roman Rome roof rowers sail Sennacherib shaft ships side siege statue stone structure temple took tower Trajan treadwheel tunnel turned vault vessel Vitruvius wall water clock water wheel wind wooden