Review: Greek and Roman Technology by K.D. White
For my birthday, I received the book Greek and Roman Technology by K.D. White, published in 1984 by Thames & Hudson with Cornell University Press. While the author claimed this book was “no more than a survey, and a starting-off point” (173), his work was by far the most extensive information I have found on the subject. The book was divided into two parts. In Part I, White outlined the technologies available in Ancient Greece and Rome while explaining the environment in which these were developed. In Part II, White divided technologies into categories and explains each category in detail. At the back of the book were extensive information on White’s sources, several appendices, tables, a bibliography, endnotes, and an index.
White opened his book with his “Introduction” pointing out what he claims to be inaccurate work done by other historians and archaeologists. He had written this book to fill “the need for an up-to-date account of the technical resources of the classical world…” (6), and it still fit that niche. While this book is now forty years old, much of the information was new to me, even as a historian with a solid academic background in Greco-Roman culture.
With his complaints out of the way, White focused his first chapter on the “Environment of Classical Technology”. He lamented that the history of technology had been neglected by academia because researchers were biased towards “intellectual” goals. Additionally, traditional liberal arts education cut off students from manual work (9), a complaint still common today. Once off his soapbox, White detailed the main technologies used by ancient people: fire, writing, wheels, levers, wedges, windlasses, pulleys, and screws (10). This technology was spread through migration, trade, war, publication, and technologists or inventors (10). White came back to his soapbox to take a swipe at capitalism, noting that “those concerned with commerce are so blinded by avarice that they do not understand that ‘knowledge is a more reliable means even of making a profit’”, to quote a translated passage from Pliny written around AD 70 (13).
Next, White discussed “Investigating Technical Development” (Chapter 2), noting that invention is rare, but technology is constant (14). To understand what technology ancient people used, the technology must be reconstructed using research from archaeology and contemporary documents (16-17).
Moving on to “Technical Apparatus of Classical Civilization” (Chapter 3), White showed how attitudes towards work in the Classical period differed greatly than attitudes today. Free citizens of a Greek polis worked for themselves rather than a company, and “agriculture was the foundation of civilized life” (18) with a “negative attitude towards all forms of economic activity that were not connected with the land” (19). The upper-class denigrated commercial and industrial occupations and had a noticeable absence of work ethic and productivity when compared to the Protestant Work Ethic of many modern Western societies (18). Only the Athenians embraced manual labor and had laws requiring citizens to teach trades to their sons (25). One fact that surprised and excited me was that Pompeii had a thriving textile industry that created an early market economy, showing that mass production of cloth has existed since 2nd century BC in the Roman Empire (19). Another surprise to this section was near-constant food insecurity, as Rome “suffered from intermittent food shortages” (24). Grain was imported from Egypt after its conquest, but a lack of communication prevented Greek urban centers from sharing food during famines (24).
The Greek process of “Innovation and Development” (Chapter 4) would seem comical to modern people. White explained that the Greeks “just slapped on a name (god, hero or man) as inventor, and went on from there” (27). These ancient people did have many inventions centered around farming, mining, waterpower and plumbing, and glass production. I appreciated the special shoutout to the Corning Museum of Glass exhibit “27 Centuries of Glass” (42), which I visited several years ago.
“Power Resources of the Classical World” (Chapter 5) were nowhere near as sophisticated as resources today. Oxen, donkeys, horses, and mules were used for labor, whether they ploughed and harvested the fields or pulled wagons. For "Agriculture and Food" (Chapter 6), the classic Mediterranean diet included fruits and vegetables, fish, spices, wine, olive oil, and bread (63), although early Rome had no bakeries (66). The technology of “Building” (Chapter 7) was mainly concerned with how to build a roof. Classical buildings used a post-and-lintel system with many columns holding up a wooden roof atop a stone building (74). One fun fact that I learned in this chapter was the difference between similar types of marketplaces, the Greek agora and the Roman forum: an agora was an open space similar to a modern public park, while a forum was a closed space with buildings and colonnades (83).
In my favorite chapter, “Civil Engineering and Surveying” (Chapter 8), White explained that the Greek word architekton, the origin of the english word architect, originally applied to all forms of engineering (91). Modern historians know how the Via Domitiana, a Roman road, was built around AD95 because local writer Statius wrote a cute poem about it (96). The first known lighthouse, designed by Sostratos of Cnidos and called Pharos, was built over nineteen years in Alexandria. The building stood for centuries and was studied by a man who White calls “the Arab geographer Edrisi” in the 13th century AD (105). This name may sound familiar to a frequent reader because this was Muhammad al-Idrisi, a Muslim cartographer who appeared during my LOTRAM essay series in “Introduction to Maps”. I am a fan of canals, and these may have existed in the ancient world but quickly fell into decay and merged with the landscape, providing almost no archaeological evidence (110).
I also had a high interest in “Mining and Metallurgy” (Chapter 9). Ancient people mined gold, silver, coppy, tin, lead, iron, and alum in the Mediterranean (113). For “Land Transport” (Chapter 10) of these and other goods, merchants relied on people and animals, along with the occasional four-wheeled cart. The seemingly basic wheelbarrow did not exist (127). Easier and faster methods of travel were “Ships and Water Transportation” (Chapter 11), with the same ships used both in delivering cargo and fighting war. The cargo ship was fitted with square sails, while up to fifty rowers maneuvered the battleship (141). Finally, the Romans used “Hydraulic Engineering” (Chapter 12) to create complex underground tunnel systems to move fresh water around the empire (159). Most water went to public bath houses and fountains, although private homes could pay a fee for indoor plumbing, and water theft from altered pipes and aqueducts was a common issue (166-168).
For anyone deeply interested in technology of the Classical world, this is a comprehensive read. Diagrams, photographs, and illustrations appear on nearly every page spread, allowing the reader to see exactly what the archaeologists saw. I was impressed by the amount of thoughtful research across a wide range of disciplines. My one complaint was that the writing style of the book was inconsistent. Some passages were engaging, even humorous, while others gave such minute detail that only a handful of experts would find them interesting. This would be an appropriate textbook for an upper level undergraduate class cross-listed as Classics, Engineering, and History.
Abby Epplett’s Rating System
Experience: 6/10
Accessibility: 5/10