Awards

• Winner of Winner of the Eugene S. Ferguson Prize 2023 by the Society for the History of Technology.
• Winner of Winner, Eugene S. Ferguson Prize, Society for the History of Technology.

Overview

Nearly every aspect of daily life in the Mediterranean world and Europe during the florescence of the Greek and Roman cultures is relevant to the topics of engineering and technology. This volume highlights both the accomplishments of the ancient societies and the remaining research problems, and stimulates further progress in the history of ancient technology. The subject matter of the book is the technological framework of the Greek and Roman cultures from ca. 800 B.C. through ca. A.D. 500 in the circum-Mediterranean world and Northern Europe. Each chapter discusses a technology or family of technologies from an analytical rather than descriptive point of view, providing a critical summation of our present knowledge of the Greek and Roman accomplishments in the technology concerned and the evolution of their technical capabilities over the chronological period. Each presentation reviews the issues and recent contributions, and defines the capacities and accomplishments of the technology in the context of the society that used it, the available ""technological shelf,"" and the resources consumed. These studies introduce and synthesize the results of excavation or specialized studies. The chapters are organized in sections progressing from sources (written and representational) to primary (e.g., mining, metallurgy, agriculture) and secondary (e.g., woodworking, glass production, food preparation, textile production and leather-working) production, to technologies of social organization and interaction (e.g., roads, bridges, ships, harbors, warfare and fortification), and finally to studies of general social issues (e.g., writing, timekeeping, measurement, scientific instruments, attitudes toward technology and innovation) and the relevance of ethnographic methods to the study of classical technology. The unrivalled breadth and depth of this volume make it the definitive reference work for students and academics across the spectrum of classical studies.

Full Product Details

Author:   John Peter Oleson (Distinguished Professor of Greek and Roman Studies, Distinguished Professor of Greek and Roman Studies, University of Victoria, Canada)
Publisher:   Oxford University Press Inc
Imprint:   Oxford University Press Inc
Dimensions:   Width: 17.00cm , Height: 4.30cm , Length: 23.90cm
Weight:   1.588kg
ISBN:  

9780199734856

ISBN 10:   0199734852
Pages:   896
Publication Date:   28 January 2010
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Undergraduate ,  Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   To order  
Stock availability from the supplier is unknown. We will order it for you and ship this item to you once it is received by us.

Table of Contents

Contributors Abbreviations and Spelling Norms Introduction Part I: Sources 1: (Serafina Cuomo): Ancient Written Sources for Engineering and Technology 2: (Roger Ulrich): Representations of Technical Processes 3: (Kevin Greene): Historiography and Theoretical Approaches Part II: Primary, Extractive Technologies 4: (Paul T. Craddock): Mining and Metallurgy 5: (J. Clayton Fant): Quarrying and Stoneworking 6: (Örjan Wikander): Sources of Energy and Exploitation of Power 7: (Evi Margaritis and Martin K. Jones): Greek and Roman Agriculture 8: (Geoffrey Kron): Animal Husbandry, Hunting, Fishing, and Fish Production Part III: Engineering and Complex Machines 9: (Fredrick A. Cooper): Greek Engineering and Construction 10: (Lynne Lancaster): Roman Engineering and Construction 11: (Andrew I. Wilson): Hydraulic Engineering and Water Supply 12: (Klaus Grewe): Tunnels and Canals 13: (Andrew I. Wilson): Machines in Greek and Roman Technology Part IV: Secondary Processes and Manufacturing 14: (Robert I. Curtis): Food Processing and Preparation 15: (Andrew I. Wilson): Large-Scale Manufacturing, Standardization, and Trade 16: (Carol Mattusch): Metalworking and Tools 17: (Roger B. Ulrich): Woodworking 18: (John P. Wild): Textile Production 19: (Carol van Driel-Murray): Tanning and Leather 20: (Mark Jackson and Kevin Greene): Ceramic Production 21: (E. Marianne Stern): Glass Production Part V: Technologies of Movement and Transport 22: (Lorenzo Quilici): Land Transport, Part 1: Roads and Bridges 23: (Georges Raepsaet): Land Transport, Part 2: Riding, Harnesses, and Vehicles 24: (Seán McGrail): Sea Transport, Part 1: Ships and Navigation 25: (David J. Blackman): Sea Transport, Part 2: Harbors Part VI: Technologies of Death 26: (Philip de Souza): Greek Warfare and Fortification 27: (Gwyn Davies): Roman Warfare and Fortification Part VII: Technologies of the Mind 28: (Willy Clarysse and Katelijn Vandorpe): Information Technologies: Writing, Book Production, and the Role of Literacy 29: (Robert Hannah): Timekeeping 30: Technologies of Calculation Part 1: Weights and Measures(Charlotte Wikander): Part 2: Coinage(Andrew Meadows): Part 3: Practical Mathematics(Karin Tybjerg): 31: (Örjan Wikander): Gadgets and Scientific Instruments 32: (Kevin Greene): Inventors, Invention, and Attitudes toward Innovation Part VIII: Ancient Technologies in the Modern World 33: (Michael B. Schiffer): Expanding Ethnoarchaeology: Historical Evidence and Model-Building in the Study of Technological Change Index

Reviews

This is an excellent book that will serve classicists reliably as a basic work of reference. The level of scholarship is very high, the writing generally clear, the breadth of the coverage impressive. Oleson's organization and editing are something of a marvel. An important contribution is the Handbook's demonstration through repeated examples, of our ability to define, comprehend, and appreciate the scale of things in antiquity. - George W. Houston, Journal of Roman Archaeology A new milestone for Oxford and for the field. Each of the eight parts to the book is a stand-alone tour de force that deserves enormous praise for its organization, its comprehensiveness, and its promise for impacting future studies. This handbook has indeed set a new standard, and will leave a large and definitive intellectual footprint on a new age of scholarship. - Ann Olga Koloski-Ostrow, Technology & Culture To summarize the entire collection in a word, I would simply say 'magisterial.' This volume meets the lofty expectations of the Oxford University Press for its Handbooks series and the equally high standards set forth by its editor. It is not by definition a monographic treatment, but for what is it-a superb research tool intended to inform and to guide scholars and advanced students approaching an unfamiliar field-there is nothing of equal importance now available. One can purchase this handbook with confidence that it will have a long shelf life and provide an invaluable gateway to the world of engineering and ancient technology in classical antiquity for years to come. - Robert L. Hohlfelder, American Journal of Archaeology

This is an excellent book that will serve classicists reliably as a basic work of reference. The level of scholarship is very high, the writing generally clear, the breadth of the coverage impressive. Oleson's organization and editing are something of a marvel. An important contribution is the Handbook's demonstration through repeated examples, of our ability to define, comprehend, and appreciate the scale of things in antiquity * George W. Houston, Journal of Roman Archaeology *

This is an excellent book that will serve classicists reliably as a basic work of reference. The level of scholarship is very high, the writing generally clear, the breadth of the coverage impressive. Oleson's organization and editing are something of a marvel. An important contribution is the Handbook's demonstration through repeated examples, of our ability to define, comprehend, and appreciate the scale of things in antiquity George W. Houston, Journal of Roman Archaeology

Author Information

John Peter Oleson is Distinguished Professor of Greek and Roman Studies, University of Victoria, Canada.

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