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History Channel - shows about the ancient world

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Free Capitalist

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Ok I started this thread in order to bring to light what good shows the History Channel (or Discovery Channel, in one of those rare moments) have about the ancient world.

Today (Wednesday), at 7pm EST, History Channel will have a show on the Antikythera Mechanism, which, as they explain, is the Ancient Greek version of a mechanical computer. Originally it was thought that the machine of Charles Babbage in 1830s was the first true computer in history, but it seems that he was preceded by the Greeks 2,000 years ago. It's an amazing show, I highly recommend it.

Right after it will be a show on Galen, the Roman doctor who is described on the History Channel page as having performed brain surgery.

Then, at 11pm EST, History Channel will have the third installment, a show about Heron of Alexandria, an inventor of amazing capacities such as mechanical miniature theaters.

Find the description of these shows here:

http://www.historychannel.com/modernmarvel...2&ACatId=284514

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Weren't you amazed to find out that a Greek discovered the steam engine? A pity they didn't have the technology to use it in more meaningful ways. I suppose slavery is a major factor in why it wasn't highly developed, there was simply no need for steam power when human power was so cheap.

If you're interested in military technology, on this Discovery Channel program a team of specialists attempted to reconstruct a working replica of an 8 metre Roman catapult:

http://tlc.discovery.com/convergence/catap...ves/design.html

These were actually a Greek design but were perfected by the Romans.

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The Greeks also didn't have an industrialized society, which makes the application of a computer and a steam engine difficult to use. One should consider the inventions of Greek inventors in the same light as the work of some one like Da Vinci who was also working among non-industrialized autonomous city states.

Galen is also important for advancing human knowledge in the realm of anatomy and learning the functions of various internal organs and other elements. He did this partly through vivisection on Egyptian prisoners.

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Why do you need an industrialized society to hook up a simple steam engine, like the one Heron invented, to some wheels and thus make yourself a car, two thousand years too early?

Besides, making use of the steam engine doesn't require an industrialized society, because steam engine was one of the inventions that helped start the European industrial revolution in the first place, not vice versa.

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  • 7 months later...
Weren't you amazed to find out that a Greek discovered the steam engine?  A pity they didn't have the technology to use it in more meaningful ways.  I suppose slavery is a major factor in why it wasn't highly developed, there was simply no need for steam power when human power was so cheap.

If you're interested in military technology, on this Discovery Channel program a team of specialists attempted to reconstruct a working replica of an 8 metre Roman catapult:

http://tlc.discovery.com/convergence/catap...ves/design.html

These were actually a Greek design but were perfected by the Romans.

Yes, I was truly amazed that back then both the Romans and the Greeks missed an oppurtunity to begin to have an industrial base, Can You imagine what would have happened If Rome had gotten a hold of the Chinese secret of Gun Powder and combined Gun Powder with Herons mechanical ideas? They might have invented the Steam powered Tank, Even with what amounts to a machine gun the empire would have only been made stronger possibly.

They were on the edge alright, But I think Heron didn't want others to learn how to make these types of devices, Otherwise a Mechanical Revolution might have happened, Who knows? Rome might have landed on the Moon and the Americas may or may not have been discovered or even Contacted for that matter.

Heron and Galen were Absolutely Brillant, I've watched the series about both Heron and Galen, I'm impressed. But alas It was not to be both needed a more complex society in which to thrive and for their ideas to take hold, From what I've read China was worse as most inventions were made at the behest of the Emperor of China, But that is a different story.

Heron It seems is the Father of Steam Power, It would have benefitted Rome a lot to have Steam Powered Ships, The Slaves could have been set Free in exchange for Serving as Troops of the Empire as long as they took an oath to defend the Roman Empire. They would have had enough to stop any horde. <_<:dough::dough:

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  • 1 year later...

I just saw a positively nauseating advert for a program on the History Channel. The ad was for a show on the Dark Ages airing Sunday at 9/8c. It contained the following tagline, spoken by the announcer:

Six hundred years of Godless, inhuman behavior.

Emphasis mine.

I've set my DVR. I want to see how they rationalize that one. Godless, indeed.

-Q

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I just saw a positively nauseating advert for a program on the History Channel. The ad was for a show on the Dark Ages airing Sunday at 9/8c. It contained the following tagline, spoken by the announcer:

Emphasis mine.

I've set my DVR. I want to see how they rationalize that one. Godless, indeed.

-Q

If I remember, I'll be certain to check it out, too! Sounds interesting.

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Choke! Wh-wh-wh-what?! Can history actually be revised to that extent?

I have never actually posted here, but i just had to here.

I haven't had cable TV for a while, but at least it used to be that the History Channel would run a *lot* of `documentaries' about the `real' history of Christian this and Christian that. For a while it seemed you couldn't turn the channel on without seeing something about the life of St. Peter or somebody's theories about where Jesus was on his third birthday. I concluded the channel was a revisionist propaganda machine for Christianity. But maybe i'm wrong.

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I have never actually posted here, but i just had to here.

I haven't had cable TV for a while, but at least it used to be that the History Channel would run a *lot* of `documentaries' about the `real' history of Christian this and Christian that. For a while it seemed you couldn't turn the channel on without seeing something about the life of St. Peter or somebody's theories about where Jesus was on his third birthday. I concluded the channel was a revisionist propaganda machine for Christianity. But maybe i'm wrong.

Most of the programs I have seen either cast doubt about the motivations of the early church leaders or otherwise show the church in an unfavorable light. I guess you must have just tuned in at the wrong time.

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  • 2 months later...
Ok I started this thread in order to bring to light what good shows the History Channel (or Discovery Channel, in one of those rare moments) have about the ancient world.

Today (Wednesday), at 7pm EST, History Channel will have a show on the Antikythera Mechanism, which, as they explain, is the Ancient Greek version of a mechanical computer. Originally it was thought that the machine of Charles Babbage in 1830s was the first true computer in history, but it seems that he was preceded by the Greeks 2,000 years ago. It's an amazing show, I highly recommend it.

Right after it will be a show on Galen, the Roman doctor who is described on the History Channel page as having performed brain surgery.

Then, at 11pm EST, History Channel will have the third installment, a show about Heron of Alexandria, an inventor of amazing capacities such as mechanical miniature theaters.

Find the description of these shows here:

http://www.historychannel.com/modernmarvel...p;ACatId=284514

Before Babbage, Blaise Pascal developed a mechanical calculator that did addition and multiplication, using gears and a ratchet/pawl for carrying. It was very much like the Frieden Calculator of the 1920s except it was purely hand operated -- no motors.

The clever inventor Heron of Alexandria invented a steam turbine engine to open and close the doors of the temples. He also invented a coin operated dispenser of holy water for the rituals. As it says in the Bible, ayin chadashot tachat ha'shemesh --- There ain't nothing new under the Sun.

Bob Kolker

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