3rd Century BC - Inventions, Discoveries, Introductions

Inventions, Discoveries, Introductions

• Eratosthenes accurately calculates diameter of the Earth.
• Weiqi well-established in China, and may date back to the 2nd millennium BC.
• Stone of Canopus (for Ptolemy III), No. 1, in Rosetta Stone Series of 3 stones. Implements Leap year in Egypt. Leap year not formally recognized until Caesar in 55 BC.
• 293 BC: first Roman Sundial .
• Water screw invented by Archimedes.
• Invention of the musical instrument hydraulis, the precursory to the Pipe organ by Ctesibius, a Greek engineer working in Alexandria.
• Emperor Gaozu of Han China discovers an elaborate mechanical puppet theater in the treasury of the previous ruler Qin Shihuang.
• The enormous Du Jiang Yan Irrigation System of China is engineered and constructed by Li Bing in 256 BC.
• Burial chamber, Tomb of the Reliefs, Cerveteri, is made.
• Great Stupa, Sanchi, Madhya Pradesh, India, Maurya period, is founded by King Ashoka.
• Silk is exported to Europe from China.
• Armillary spheres, models of objects in the sky developed by the Greeks, are in use as teaching tools.