The Bottom Line
Engineering in the Ancient World provides a detailed look at ancient technology and the problems facing ancient engineers.
Pros
- Useful research tool for historical fiction writers.
- Builds on what the ancient sources wrote.
- Provides interpretation and shows hidden connections between things.
Cons
- Very technical.
- Explanations are in terms of modern technology.
- Alternates between being fascinating and very, very dry.
Description
- Introduces central issues in ancient engineering.
- Explains the costs that would have been incurred had the ancients adopted labor-saving technology.
- Tells why Hero's toys probably didn't become widely used.
- Shows the steps in ancient technological developments, e.g., from bow to catapult.
- Describes conduits for water supply.
- Describes and evaluates ancient water pumps.
- Compares efficiency of foot, oxen, mule, and horse transport.
Guide Review - Review of J. G. Landels' Engineering in the Ancient World
Engineering in the Ancient World alternates between being fascinating and frustrating. It covers man, animal, wind, water, and steam power, water supplies and pumps, cranes, the development of catapults from bows, ship building and sea transportation, land transportation, and the development of theoretical knowledge, with free reliance on Hero of Alexandria, Frontinus, Pliny, and Vitruvius. Without a firm grounding in mechanical principles it is impossible to understand Classicist J. G. Landels' description of how mechanical devices worked, but when he describes the social or literary background to innovations, he draws together both obvious and hidden, underlying reasons or social causes. For instance, horse power would have been efficient and could have been used in windmills, but the mill setup wasn't tall enough for horses until late and there was not enough available high quality pasturage to make horses economically viable. Besides, the Greeks and Romans did not favor horse meat. Landels explains the differences among the three tiers of rowers in the standard trireme warships, why they were laid out as they were and the likely sufferings of the lowest rowers who must have spend much of their time soaking wet. To read Landels' book without a background in shop/mechanics is an exercise in frustration unless one freely skims to extract the nuggets of insightful information.
