Science and Technology in Homeric Epics (History of Mechanism and Machine Science (6))

In the Homeric Epics, important references to specific autonomous systems and mechanisms of very advanced technology, such as automata and artificial intelligence, as well as to almost modern methods of design and production are included. Even if those features of Homeric science were just poetic concepts (which on many occasions does not explain the astonishing details of design and manufacture, like the ones included in the present volume), they seem to prove that these achievements were well within human capability. In addition, the substantial development of machine theory during the early post-Homeric age shows that the Homeric descriptions were a kind of prophetic conception of these machines, and scientific research must be a quest for the fundamental principles of knowledge available during the Late Bronze Age and the dawn of the Iron Age. Such investigations must of necessity be strongly interdisciplinary and also proceed continuously in time, since, as science progresses, new elements of knowledge are discovered in the Homeric Epics, amenable to scientific analysis. This book brings together papers presented at the international symposium Science and Technology in Homeric Epics, which took place at Ancient Olympia in 2006. It includes a total of 41 contributions, mostly original research papers, covering diverse fields of science and technology, in the modern sense of these words. Table of Contents......Page 6 Preface......Page 10 Acknowledgements......Page 14 List of Contributors......Page 16 Part 1: General Themes......Page 22 Mycenaen Technology......Page 23 Autagreton......Page 54 Part 2: Mathematics and Physics......Page 59 Archimedes' Count of Homer's Cattle of the Sun......Page 60 Vortices in Homer's Odyssey – A Scientific Approach......Page 84 The Homeric Automata and Their Implementation......Page 93 The River Ocean: Homer's Cosmogony......Page 101 The Laws of Curvilinear Motion in the Iliad......Page 108 Part 3: Materials......Page 116 Iron in the Homeric Epics & Homer, A Sensible Ecologist......Page 117 Early Bronze Technology at Land's End, North Western Iberia......Page 126 Porphyra: In Search of Dyeing Methods in Ancient Greece......Page 145 Technology Transfer in the Bronze Age: The Case of a Faience-Like Blue Glaze Produced at Bread-Oven Temperatures......Page 151 Part 4: Defensive Weapons......Page 177 From Homer to Hoplite: Scientific Investigations of Greek Copper Alloy Helmets......Page 178 Defensive Weapons in Homer......Page 191 How the Greeks Got Ahead: Technological Aspects of Manufacture of a Corinthian Type Hoplite Bronze Helmet from Olympia......Page 214 Part 5: Telecommunications......Page 230 Theoretical Analysis of Telecommunication through "Friktories"......Page 231 Part 6: Geology – Geomechanics......Page 238 Elements of Engineering Geology and Geotechnical Engineering in the Homeric Poems......Page 239 Geological Knowledge of Greeks in the Era of Trojan War......Page 249 Static and Dynamic Analysis of the Atreus Vaulted Tomb in Mycenae......Page 262 Part 7: Medicine......Page 271 Homeric Injury Scenes on Ancient Greek Pottery Reveal Medical Knowledge......Page 272 The Healing Art in the Iliad......Page 278 Medicinal Herbs and Plants in Homer......Page 285 Part 8: Flora and Fauna......Page 294 Agricultural Development in the Homeric Era......Page 295 The Fauna of Greece and Adjacent Areas in the Age of Homer......Page 302 Part 9: Astronomy......Page 315 "Eneoros Minos" and the Minoan Calendrical Abacus......Page 316 The Divine Fires of Creation: Homeric Hephaestos as a Comet/Meteor God......Page 322 A Comet during the Trojan War?......Page 338 Homeric Calendar and Helios Charioteer......Page 354 Homer and Orosius: A Key to Explain Deucalion's Flood, Exodus and Other Tales......Page 366 Part 10: Seafaring......Page 372 Homer at Sea......Page 373 The Redness of Ulysses' Ships......Page 381 Ambrosia, Nectar and Elaion in the Homeric Poems......Page 386 Dietary Habits in Homer......Page 395 Part 12: Geography......Page 407 Trojan Plain and Homeric Topography......Page 408 Part 13: General Interest......Page 425 Mêtis and the Artificial......Page 426 Interpreting the Representations on the Shield of Achilles......Page 434 Homer and the So-Called Homeric Questions......Page 442 Atlantis in Homer and Other Authors Prior to Plato......Page 459 Did Ulysses Travel to Atlantis?......Page 499 Homer's Reference to Writing in Proitos' Era......Page 505 Linguistic Science and Script Technology: The Homeric Evidence......Page 514 The Miraculous Homeric Metre......Page 520