De Architectura - Roman Technology

Roman Technology

De architectura is important for its descriptions of many different machines used for engineering structures such as hoists, cranes and pulleys, as well as war machines such as catapaults, ballistae, and siege engines. Vitruvius also describes the construction of sundials and water clocks, and the use of an aeolipile (the first steam engine) as an experiment to demonstrate the nature of atmospheric air movements (wind).

Read more about this topic:  De Architectura

Famous quotes containing the words roman and/or technology:

    “He wrote in prison, not a History of the World, like Raleigh, but an American book which I think will live longer than that. I do not know of such words, uttered under such circumstances, and so copiously withal, in Roman or English or any history.”
    —Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)

    “Primitive peoples tried to annul death by portraying the human body—we do it by finding substitutes for the human body. Technology instead of mysticism!”
    —Max Frisch (1911–1991)