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The ancient Greeks are celebrated for their profound intellectual advancements. Names like Aristotle and Socrates are widely known, and their writings have shaped modern thinking in nearly every field—from literature to our understanding of the universe. They were centuries ahead in areas like mathematics and politics.
However, their most impressive feats were in the realm of mechanics. From inventing the earliest computers to creating the first clock tower, the ancient Greeks constructed extraordinary machines, some of which would remain unmatched for over a thousand years. While some were practical, others served as fun inventions or were used in scientific demonstrations.
Let’s explore ten of the most remarkable examples of ancient Greek mechanical ingenuity.
10. The Antikythera Mechanism
The Antikythera Mechanism is an ancient analog computer discovered in a Greek shipwreck in 1901. Dating back to between 205 BC and 60 BC, it was designed to track celestial movements. The device featured a clock-like dial with seven hands that followed the planets and the Moon, and it included mechanisms to monitor the Moon's phases, the calendar, and both lunar and solar eclipses.
When the mechanism was properly identified in 2006, it revolutionized our understanding of Greek engineering with its highly intricate and precise gear systems. It proved that the ancient Greeks possessed a level of precision engineering once thought to be unattainable. It’s possible that this wasn’t even the earliest version of the device—Cicero, the Roman writer, described a similar machine built by Archimedes in the third century BC.
Sadly, only fragments of the mechanism were recovered, leaving certain aspects of its function—such as how it operated the planetary pointers, which were likely quite complex given the varying paths of the planets—still a mystery.
9. The Diolkos
The ancient Greek city of Corinth was a bustling hub for maritime trade, handling hundreds of ships at its port at any given time. Situated near the narrowest section of the Greek peninsula, it offered a potential shortcut that could save ships days of travel.
This led to the creation of the Diolkos around the fifth century BC, a specialized overland transport route that allowed ships to be moved across land, bypassing the long journey around the Peloponnese. Initially thought to be a means of quickly transporting cargo ships between the Aegean and Ionian Seas, it is now believed that cargo ships were too large for the Diolkos, which likely explains the later construction of the Corinthian Canal in AD 67.
Nevertheless, the Diolkos likely served an important function as a cost-effective method for quickly moving small ships and military vessels, and was probably used by affluent Greeks with personal boats as a speedy form of transport.
8. Philo’s Gimbal
The gimbal has many uses today, especially in television, where it plays a key role in stabilizing handheld cameras to ensure smooth filming. However, the original gimbal was invented by Philo of Byzantium around 200 BC, when he used it to create an inkwell that would never tip over.
The ink was placed in a container at the center of the device, surrounded by concentric circles that kept it upright, even when the device was tilted. The frame surrounding the ink featured several holes where the pen could be dipped, allowing the writer to turn or knock over the inkwell without spilling any ink and still continue writing.
In later centuries, the gimbal became essential for navigation, stabilizing a compass on a swaying ship to ensure the compass needle always pointed north.
7. The Kleroterion
The ancient Greek concept of democracy might seem basic by today’s standards, but they used a remarkably innovative device to ensure juries were composed of individuals who couldn’t be bribed or swayed: a randomization machine.
A kleroterion functioned like a primitive slot machine with funnels, a crank, a hole, and 500 small slots. When a jury was to be formed for a trial, each juror brought an identification token—a small piece of wood or bronze called a pinakion, marked with their identifier. These tokens were placed in the slits. An official then dropped a mix of black and white balls into the funnels at the top, and pulled the crank. A ball would drop out, and if it was black, the associated row of pinakia was rejected, meaning those jurors would not serve. If the ball was white, those jurors were deemed eligible. This process was repeated until all rows were either accepted or rejected, and because there was no way to predict which ball would come out for each row, it ensured that no one could know in advance who would be selected for the jury, thus preventing any manipulation of the outcome.
6. The Aeolipile
The aeolipile is considered the world’s first steam engine, invented in the first century AD—roughly fifteen centuries before steam engines were commonly used to generate electricity.
Invented by Heron of Alexandria, the aeolipile wasn’t designed as an engine, and Heron never intended it to be one. Instead, he created it as a demonstration tool for pneumatic principles, likely for educational purposes or to pique the curiosity of visitors.
The device was a hollow sphere mounted on two tubes, allowing it to rotate. The tubes supplied steam from a cauldron beneath the machine. As the steam filled the sphere, it would escape through one or more tubes protruding from the sphere. These tubes were angled sideways, causing the escaping steam to generate enough force to spin the sphere.
5. The Crane (And Archimedes’s Claw)
The crane was invented by the Greeks around 500 BC, a simple wooden hoist-and-pulley system that greatly facilitated the construction of tall, durable buildings. This technology was later refined by the Romans, who expanded its use across Europe. The Greeks were also capable of creating advanced cranes, as demonstrated by Archimedes’s Claw.
Archimedes’s Claw (as imaginatively portrayed in the painting above) was a device created in Syracuse by Archimedes before the Roman siege of the city in 214 BC. Ancient sources describe it as a type of crane capable of either lifting or pushing ships out of the sea, toppling them and causing them to sink. Positioned near the city’s sea walls, it prevented Roman vessels from getting close to the city.
Plutarch recounts that the Romans were struck with fear by the claw, feeling as if they were up against divine forces. Soldiers grew terrified at the sight of any wooden structure above the city walls, fearing it was another of Archimedes’s inventions. They eventually abandoned any hope of capturing the city by sea, preparing instead for a prolonged land-based siege.
4. The Tower of the Winds
Built around 50 BC, the Tower of the Winds in Athens is considered to be the first meteorological station in history, as well as the earliest clock tower. At the top of the tower, a weather vane indicated the wind's direction. The structure featured eight walls, each facing one of the cardinal directions, and boasted a large sundial to track the time during the day. Inside, it had a water clock that kept time during the night or on overcast days.
Its impressive height and its strategic location in the Roman Agora suggest it was designed to serve a similar function as modern clock towers. The ancient Greeks themselves referred to it as the Horologion, meaning ‘Timepiece.’
The building remains standing today and is exceptionally well-preserved, thanks to restoration efforts. Over the centuries, it has influenced countless architects, and smaller replicas can be found scattered across Europe.
3. Heron’s Fountain
Heron of Alexandria designed another fascinating device to demonstrate the principles of physics: Heron’s fountain. This device uses the concepts of hydraulics and pneumatics to produce a fountain that spouts water without any external power source. It continues to be used in classrooms today to help teach these concepts.
Heron’s fountain consists of three key components: an open bowl, an airtight container filled with water, and an airtight container filled with air, each positioned one above the other. A pipe runs from the bottom of the bowl to the air container, another pipe connects the air container to the water container, and a third pipe leads from the water container above the bowl. When water is poured into the bowl, it flows into the air container. The pressure in the air container forces air into the water container, pushing water up the pipe and back into the bowl, which in turn creates more pressure in the air container.
Although not practical for everyday use, like many of Heron's creations, this device demonstrates the ancient Greeks' remarkable understanding of physics, more than 1,000 years before the Renaissance and the scientific revolution. While it is not a true perpetual motion machine, it can run for extended periods if built according to precise specifications. Resetting it is a simple process of draining the water from the air container back into the water container.
2. Archimedes’s Screw
Archimedes is widely credited with inventing the Archimedes screw, a device still in use today to transport water to higher elevations with minimal effort. The ancient Greek version was powered by human or slave labor, where workers would use their body weight to operate the machine. The crank-driven version, however, was introduced much later in medieval Germany.
Some argue that Archimedes’s screw wasn’t the first of its kind in the ancient world. The Hanging Gardens of Babylon, built around 600 BC, were said to have been irrigated using screws. However, the earliest known reference to this comes from Strabo, who wrote almost 600 years after the fact, and well after Archimedes’s invention, suggesting he may have used contemporary technology to speculate about how the Gardens operated. Even today, the exact location of the Hanging Gardens remains a mystery, so this theory cannot be verified.
Despite the debate over its origins, the Archimedes screw only became widely used during Archimedes’s lifetime. It was soon adopted by the Greeks and later the Romans for irrigation and even for draining ships.
1. The Showers of Pergamum
The ancient Greeks are well-known for their passion for athletics, especially through the Olympics and their modern-day revival. However, what is less widely recognized is the fact that some ancient Greek athletes had access to luxurious facilities.
An ancient shower system was uncovered at a gymnasium in Pergamum, one of the most prominent Greek cities, dating back to the early second century BC. Located in what is now Turkey, Pergamum was also home to the second-largest library in the ancient world, surpassing even Alexandria's in terms of prestige. The city's leaders made significant investments in public infrastructure to enhance their city's reputation.
While such shower systems were likely not widespread throughout the Greek world, they did exist. The Pergamum gymnasium featured seven bathing units, with water flowing through an overhead main system to shower the bathers below.
A similar shower setup can also be seen on a fourth-century BC vase, suggesting that by the time the Pergamum showers were constructed, the ancient Greeks had been using this type of bathing system for over a century. The vase even illustrates individual cubicles and rails for users to hang their clothes and belongings on.
