ABSTRACT
This chapter documents Greek and Roman conceptions about available sources of energy and the basic principles of mechanical devices to which some forms of energy could be applied. The texts include passages on animate and inanimate sources of power, energy conversion, and basic fuels. Inanimate sources of energy include the sun, geothermal energy, magnetism, steam, wind, and water. Animate sources of energy include animals and humans. Texts about energy conversion document the use of fire, fuels, lighting, heating, and cooling. The latter part of the chapter presents texts describing the basic mechanical devices known in antiquity, and includes discussions of the five basic machines (lever, roller or wheel, wedge, pulley, and screw) as well as a few elementary applications. Mechanical principles for use in imaginative and often complex gadgets and devices serving as demonstration objects are presented in this chapter as evidence of the mechanical basis for innovation in ancient machine-building. Discussions of the actual mechanical devices (e.g., presses, cranes, wagons, catapults, and pumps) serving specific technologies appear in the chapters (4, 8, 11, 12, 14) appropriate to their primary applications.
