Why No Roman Industrial Revolution?

Re:Why No Roman Industrial Revolution? by wnissen on Friday July 28, 2023 @07:10PM (#36914632)

It is still an interesting question. How can a society that created a 52-pipe musical organ in 228 BC fail to create, even by accident, high-leverage machinery like the steam engine? It reminds me of the Egyptians, who knew of the wheel but apparently only used it in toys.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_organ

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Re:Why No Roman Industrial Revolution? by kjeetgill on Friday July 28, 2023 @07:27PM (#36914783)

I'm not sure if we're taking about different time periods, but weren't they at the forefront of chariot warfare during the bronze age?

And I vaguely recall that inventing bellows to melt iron took a long time too, so steam machinery seems pretty far off if all you have is bronze and stone.

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Re:Why No Roman Industrial Revolution? by wudangmonk on Friday July 28, 2023 @07:31PM (#36914817)

There are reliefs of Ramses II fighting on a chariot and he's from the 1200-1300 BC, so the wheel must have been used much earlier than that by Egyptians.

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Re:Why No Roman Industrial Revolution? by ch4s3 on Saturday July 29, 2023 @09:52AM (#36920338)

The Egyptians had chariots, they definitely used wheels.

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