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