ABSTRACT
Mediterranean and in turn led to the collapse of their Republic.1 They assimilated
Hellenistic culture in complicated ways – not so much by the appropriation of alien
art, science and political systems into their militaristic society, but more through the
use of Greek forms as sites where hidebound Roman traditions could be experi-
mented with, tested and melded into something new. Augustus used everything
Greek to reshape government and establish empire.2 The way in which Greek
technology and precepts for engaging with the real world, praxis, was grafted onto
Roman regimentation somehow established a division that has left us with a
persistent fault line between theory and action. The subsequent history of technology
is one of flamboyancy reined in by pragmatism; intellectual ambition and individuality
confronting custom and practice.
