Re:Why no Roman industrial revolution?
by bsder on Friday August 26, 2022 @10:47PM
(#32615142)
Surprisingly, yes.
The Romans were remarkably good at glassware. This was one of the things that caught me off-guard when visting museums dedicated to ancient Rome vs ancient Greece. You go from no glass at all to lots of glass. Of course, I would say "suddenly", but in reality that's something like 7 centuries.
In addition, there's no real limit to the development of glass technology. Silica and wood are abundant. Trial and error will get you a very long way. And pretty things generally sell for nice money so there is lots of incentive.
The Romans were remarkably good at glassware. This was one of the things that caught me off-guard when visting museums dedicated to ancient Rome vs ancient Greece. You go from no glass at all to lots of glass. Of course, I would say "suddenly", but in reality that's something like 7 centuries.
In addition, there's no real limit to the development of glass technology. Silica and wood are abundant. Trial and error will get you a very long way. And pretty things generally sell for nice money so there is lots of incentive.