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Water

Water power was used on an industrial basis to grind grain, press olive oil, saw marble, ...

 

Old and new technology are sometimes difficult to distinguish. A ball valve was found on the bottom of Lake Nemi in one of the wrecks of Caligula's luxury ships. Because of its design, the archeologists initially thought it to be a modern artifact.

Several diagrams of pumping systems are extant in ancient manuscripts.

 

This technical drawing on papyrus from a manuscript by Heron of Alexandria shows us a piston pump with 'coin-valves'. These replaced the 'flag-valves' found in the older manuscripts, an indication that the engineers optimized the design of this pumping system over the centuries.

On a large plan of Rome (2 by 1,5 metres) we follow the most important waterways: the Tiber, the aqueducts and the cloaca's (i.e. the main sewers).

 

Frontinus (1st century AD) describes the aqueducts of Rome in his 'De aquaeductu urbis Romae'. The water supply was crucial for the city of cities and as the city grew, the number of aqueducts increased.

The Pythagorean Cup, also known as the 'Greedy Cup', punishes the greedy drinker by incorporating an ingenious siphon system into the cup.

 

When an aqueduct had to cross a valley, an aqueduct bridge was usually built. Sometimes Roman engineers used a siphon system, but they tried to avoid that technique as much as possible. Any idea why?

This scheme shows the nine aqueducts that brought water to Rome as described by Frontinus. Three more aqueducts got added in later times.

 

The 'Aqua Appia' was the oldest aqueduct to Rome, built in 312 BC.

 

The aqueducts were fed at their source by either the river 'Aniene' (flumen Anio), or by lakes or springs in mountains or hills.

Philon of Byzantium (3rd century BC) describes in an extant manuscript the gimbal or cardanic suspension. The gimbal consists of a series of concentric metal rings. An inkwell was placed in the inner ring.

 

Whatever direction the support (the black wooden block or the support surface) gets moved or turned, the inkwell will remain perpendicular to the center of the earth, and therefore the ink will not be spilled.