Ancient Engineers' Inventions: Precursors of the Present

This book describes the inventions and designs of ancient engineers who are the precursors of the present. The period ranges mainly from 300 B.C. to 1600 A.D. with several exceptions. Many of the oldest inventions are documented by archaeological finds, often very little known, mainly from Pompeii, Herculaneum and Stabiae and reveal a surprising modernity in their conception.

Most of the inventions presented in the first four parts of this book were conceived up to the late Roman Empire and ...