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Didactical themes

  • Please find in the below a brief explanation about the standard themes. For details, make sure to navigate towards the separate modules.
  • The quadrivium was the 'science of antiquity' and was divided into four categories (which look rather awkward to us now):
    • Arithmetic
    • Geometry
    • Astronomy
    • Harmonia

Arithmetic

  • Counting systems.
  • Notation systems.
  • Calculating devices.
  • ...

Geometry

  • Measuring devices.

  • Measuring conventions.

  • Geometry.

  • ...

Astronomy

  • Observation of the celestial bodies.
  • Modeling of the celestial sky.
  • Astronomical instruments.
  • ...

Harmonia

  • Discovery of numbers in the physical world.

  • Sound waves on the monochord.

  • ...

Security

  • Hiding (steganography) or encoding (encrypting) messages.
  • Tamperproof documents.
  • Locks.
  • Counterfeiting.
  • ...

Killing from a distance

  • Throwing with the sling or shooting with bow and arrow, ballista, ... is all about playing with the laws of ballistics.
  • The ballista: high-tech ancient top technology.
  • ...

Materials

  • Wood, ivory, ores, ...
  • Mining and processing of ores.
  • Did you ever feel real (mammoth) ivory or hold a piece of meteor from outer space?
  • ...

Water

  • Aqueducts, cisterns, siphons, ...
  • Did you know the above-ground arch structures of aqueducts are an exception rather than the rule?
  • The Romans knew how to harness the power of hydrostatic pressure. In the gold mines of Las Medulas (Spain), the devastating hydrostatic water pressure was used to split entire mountain walls. Pliny the Elder (1st century AD) refers to this as the 'Ruina montium'.
  • ...

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