CHARIOT, AQUEDUCT, AND FULL-RIGGED SHIP

Technology as an idea is strongly associated with the modern era. Today the word makes us think of computers; a generation ago it probably evoked supersonic aircraft and spacecraft. Certainly the pace of technological change is more rapid now than in most past eras, but the impact of technology and technological change began with stone tools and the harnessing of fire. The following discussion will consider three major technological developments from three different past eras.

One is a military technology, the war chariot of the Bronze Age. Another is a civilian technology, the aqueducts of classical Rome. A third is a technology that had both civil and military implications, the full-rigged sailing ship evolved by Europeans during the 15th century. The first and third of these directly transformed the world into which they were introduced, while the second helped to make the Roman Empire possible by providing Rome itself and provincial cities with an ample, reliable water supply.

The use of wheeled vehicles in warfare goes back at least to the third millennium BCE. However, the early "war wagons" were just that - essentially oxcarts carrying soldiers. Fighting from a raised and moveable platform probably offered some advantages in archery and fighting off attackers, but the oxcart of war was not a decisive weapon. The true war chariot was a different matter. Developed around 2000 BC

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ay the Roman aqueducts are mainly associated with raised structures on stone arches, such as the Pont du Gard in what is now southern France, but in fact most aqueducts ran primarily underground, in "cut and cover" trenches (Landels 41). Raised structures were built only when needed to cross a valley or provide a suitable gradient, but if they was necessary, the Romans did not hesitate to build them. Much of what we know about the aqueduct system, besides the imposing physical remains, comes from the work of two Romans, Vitruvius and Frontinus. Vitruvius wrote on architecture in general, including Book VII on aqueducts, including for example a discussion on how to find suitable sources of water (ch 1). Frontinus was a Roman official in charge of the water system; as a good civil servant he inquired into the technical aspects of his job, and happily for us he wrote it down, along with his recommendation for the strict policing of water theft (ch 129). The system was not only imposing, it was highly sophisticated. If a valley was not too deep, the Romans used "inverted syphons," the aqueduct running down one side and back up the other in sealed pipes. Settling tanks were provided to remove suspended silt from the wate
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Approximate Word count = 1997
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page)