GREECE Presentation - Ancient Greek innovations

Erasmus+ KA2 “Inventors and innovators: our heritage and our future

1st Experimental Lyceum of Thessaloniki “Manolis Andronikos”

ANCIENT GREEK INNOVATIONS

WORKING GROUP Members of the working group:  Students:  Ifigenia Fardi, Paraskevi Florou, Konstandinos Karadukas, Alexandros Mironis, Margarita Papadaki, Alexandra Papadopoulou, Konstandinos Tsakiris, Chrysanthi Tsiumi, Maria Tsivou  Supervisor teachers:  Vassiliki Gratziou, Despoina Poimenidou 

CTESIBIUS 

Greek inventor and mathematician in Alexandria, the capital of Ptolemaic Egypt. He wrote the first treatises on the science of compressed air and its uses in pumps. This, in combination with his work on the elasticity of air “On pneumatics” (Pneumatica), earned him the title of "father of pneumatics." None of his written work has survived, including his Memorabilia, a compilation of his research that was cited by Athenaeus. Ctesibius’ most commonly known invention to this day is pipe organ (hydraulis).

HYDRAULIS The first keyboard musical instrument, the Hydraulis was invented by Ctesibius of Alexandria in the 3rd Century B.C. Hydraulis is the ancestor of the modern church organ.

A modern reconstruction of the ancient hydraulis.

HYDRAULIC CLOCK It was a complex hydraulic clock with many automatically moving objects. It consisted of the central storage container which supplied the water. The water went through a smaller container which ensured the stability of the water level (with a conical valve on a float), leading to the outflow nozzle.

HERON OF ALEXANDREIA 

Greek inventor and mathematician in Alexandria, the capital of Ptolemaic Egypt. He wrote the first treatises on the science of compressed air and its uses in pumps. This, in combination with his work on the elasticity of air “On pneumatics” (Pneumatica), earned him the title of "father of pneumatics." None of his written work has survived, including his Memorabilia, a compilation of his research that was cited by Athenaeus. Ctesibius' most commonly known invention to this day is pipe organ (hydraulis).

AUTOMATIC DOORS OPENING ďƒ’

Heron of Alexandreia constructed a mechanism for the automatic opening of the doors, which is based on the properties of air and liquids (about 100 B.C).

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This mechanism is supposed to have been used in the temple of Diana in Ephesus.

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The air from a closed chamber heated by the altar fire was used to displace water from a sealed vessel. The water was collected and its weight, pulling on a rope, opened the temple doors.

AELOSPHERE ďƒ’

An aeolipile (aelosphere), also known as a Heron engine, is a simple bladeless radial steam turbine which spins when the central water container is heated.

Torque is produced by steam jets exiting the turbine, much like a tip jet or rocket engine.

AEOLOSPHERE

Heron’s Aeolipile (Aeolosphere) (reconstruction – IDEA exhibition)

THE ODOMETER The odometer: Heron describes how the wheels on chariots could be used as a car odometer

STREPTON Strepton was a union of a catapult (as a source of power) and a force pump, an invention of Hero. The combination of these two mechanisms had as a result the creation of a firefighter, which launched Greek fire (Egron Pyr), something like naphtha, in a distance of about 30m.

ELEVATING MECHANISM (TWO-MAST CRANE)

Heron’s invention is also an elevating mechanism, which could elevate heavy items such as statues.

HYDRAULIC AUTOMATON OF THE «CHIRPING BIRDS» AND OF THE «RETURNING OWL»

The hydraulic automaton of the «chirping birds» and of the «returning owl» was an exceptional automatism of repeating spectacle with motion and sound production.

MOBILE AUTOMATIC THEATRE The mobile automatic theatre of Heron. Fire was lit on the altar in front of Dionysos.

Water springed from his holy stick and wine from his cup was poured onto the small panther. The place around the four columns of the base was crowned with flowers.

The sound of drums and cymbals were heard while the six Bacches moved dancing around the temple.

AUTOMATIC THEATRE

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One of Heron΄s most impressive creations was an automatic theatre that presented the story of Nauplius, a tragic tale set in the period after the Trojan War. The doors to a miniature theater swung open and animated figures acted out a series of dramatic events.

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Among the scenes represented was the repair of Ajax's ship by nymphs wielding hammers, the Greek fleet sailing the seas accompanied by leaping dolphins, and the final destruction of Ajax by a lightning bolt hurled at him by the goddess Athena.

The entirely mechanical play, which was almost ten minutes in length, was powered by a binary-like system of ropes, knots, and machines operated by a rotating cylindrical cogwheel. Even the sound of thunder was produced, created by the mechanically-timed dropping of metal balls onto a hidden drum.

THE SERVANT (AUTOMATON) The statue of a servant (maid), which was able to pour wine automatically from a jar in a cup.

It was a human-like robot (automaton) in the form of a maid, who held a jug of wine in her right hand.

When the visitor placed a cup in the palm of her left hand, she automatically poured wine initially and then she poured water into the cup mixing it.

The robot was created through a complex construction consisting of containers, tubes, air pipes, and winding springs, which interacted through variants in weight, air pressure, and vacuum.

The result is the oldest known robot created by man.

This robot (automaton) is said to be an invention of Philon of Byzantium or Heron.

ANTIKYTHERA MECHANISM ďƒ’

The Antikythera Mechanism was found in 1900 in a shipwreck near the island of Antikythera. The ship, which sank in the 1st c. BC, was the most important shipwreck in the area of the Mediterranean sea. It offered, among a number of statues made of bronze and marble, the famous Antikythera Mechanism.

THE STATUES

The Philosopher (2nd century BC) (left) and the youth of Antikythera (4th century BC) (right)

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The Mechanism, which is made of bronze and placed in a wooden box, was produced during the 2nd BC., and -despite its fragmentary preservation- it is the earliest preserved portable mechanical astronomical and calendar calculator and the earliest known modular mechanism in the world.

This instrument is so extraordinary, that it must have been the product of many generations of development .

The Antikythera mechanism

The fragment A and X-rays radiograph

Back view and dials of the Antikythera Mechanism

3D representation of the gearing inside the Antikythera

THE ARCHAEOMETRIC TECHNIQUES Archaeometry is the use of scientific techniques obtain significant additional data and information, to determine the ages of archaeological specimens as well as their places and circumstances of origin. Archaeometry can revise the understanding of the past.

THE INSCRIPTIONS

Fragment G

ASTRONOMICAL TERMS 

The mechanism’s front and back plates were covered with incised inscriptions, which contained astronomical information and instructions for how to use the device. The astronomical text includes many terms: ΑΠΟΚΑΤΑΣΤΑΣΙΣ (reconstruction), ΑΠΟΣΤΑΣΙΣ (distance), ΑΠΟΣΤΗΜΑ (interval), ΔΙΑΣΤΗΜΑ (space), ΚΙΝΗΣΙΣ (movement), ΣΤΑΣΙΣ (stop), ΠΕΡΑΙΩΣΙΣ (completion), ΣΥΝΟΔΟΣ (synod), ΩΡΟΣΚΟΠΟΣ (ascendant), ΠΛΑΝΗΤΙΚΗ ΤΑΞΙΣ (planetary order)

THE PRESENTATION OF THE MECHANISM BY THE ASTRONOMY UNIVERSITY PROFESSOR G.SIRADAKIS

TRYING TO READ THE INSCRIPTIONS

MAKING CLAY MODELS OF THE INSCRIPTIONS

MODELS OF THE INSCRIPTIONS