Antiquity

The wheel, writing, the calendar, the lighthouse, the dome. The first attempts to measure the world: Eratosthenes calculates Earth's circumference, Hero of Alexandria builds a steam engine that nobody uses for anything.

Part of First

8 moments in this segment.

1. c. 1500 BC — Iron Smelting. Hittite Empire develops bloomery iron smelting in Anatolia. Iron weapons + tools spread across Eurasia over the next 500 years, ending the Bronze Age.
2. c. 640 BC — Coinage. King Alyattes of Lydia (in modern Turkey) issues the first standardised coinage — electrum stamped with a lion's head. Within a century, every Mediterranean state mints its own.
3. 279 BC — Lighthouse of Alexandria. Pharos of Alexandria — first known lighthouse, 100 m tall, visible at 50 km. One of the Seven Wonders. Survives until 1303 AD when an earthquake destroys it.
4. c. 250 BC — Archimedes' Screw. Helical pump for raising water — Archimedes designs it during his time in Egypt. Still used 2,250 years later for industrial fluid handling.
5. c. 240 BC — Earth's Circumference Measured. Eratosthenes of Alexandria measures the angle of the sun at noon in Syene vs Alexandria, calculates Earth's circumference within 2% of the modern value. 1,800 years before Magellan circumnavigates.
6. c. 150 BC — Antikythera Mechanism. A bronze geared analog computer for predicting astronomical positions. Found in a Mediterranean shipwreck in 1901; the level of gearing isn't matched anywhere until 1300s European clocks.
7. 0050 — Hero's Aeolipile (First Steam Engine). Hero of Alexandria builds a steam-driven sphere that rotates from jets of escaping steam. Considered a curiosity at the time; no industrial use for 1,700 years.
8. 0105 — Paper. Cai Lun standardises a process for making paper at the Han Dynasty court — mulberry bark, hemp, rags pulped and pressed into sheets. The substrate the printing press will need.