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Re:The Origins of the Steam Engine by dansmerino on Friday September 06, 2024 @04:03AM (#41464008)
So the classic Zelda & Co puzzle to open a door by starting a fire on an altar it is entirely possible with ancient technology.
Re:The Origins of the Steam Engine by bee_rider on Friday September 06, 2024 @12:46PM (#41467701)
Yep! The ancient Greeks had essentially a really basic steam engine. It is not really a device that you can get much useful work out of though. It isn’t 100% known why they made them, people have speculated that they just did it as a novelty or conversation piece.

Actually it seems like a totally plausible idea to put one in a temple and use it to impress people, which is pretty close to the Zelda application (of course in the game, temples are also puzzles).

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aeolipile