Top Inventions and Discoveries of Ancient Greece

Ancient Greeks were wise and knew the knowledge of all fields of their time.They invented a lot of things which are remarkable used today. Other civilizations used these ideas and expertise to make progress in different fields. They are Astronomy, Geography, Physics, Mathematics, Medicine, and Zoology. Ancient Greeks also invented several useful machines. They created great new methods to solve problems. It was them, who proposed new ideas to change the habits and ways of work of the world in the 6th century BC.

Even today we still use machines and stuff from the ancient Greeks. This fact shows the passions and interest of Greece of the old towards technology. At that time, they were the most advanced people who had all the tools to change the lives of humans. Let's take a look at some of greatest inventions of ancient Greeks below. You most likely have encountered some of them more than once.



Watermill

Top Inventions and Discoveries of Ancient Greece: Watermill
Top Inventions and Discoveries of Ancient Greece: Watermill

Ancient Greeks introduced the concept of a water mill. They used it for metal shaping, agriculture, grinding the grains, and rolling purposes. There were different watermills of different sizes. The aim was to shift the workload from human to the machines. The ancient people of Greek used water mills to convert raw materials to useful products.

The water mill was a great invention, and these were also used for industrial tasks. They used mills for hammering the materials and made solid structure machines. The wheel was an essential part of their water mills. Greek engineer Philo of Byzantium designed to create first wheel back in 3rd century BC. That’s why the credit of the invention of water mills goes to ancient Greeks. Today there are a lot of similar water mills which are used all across the world.



Columns and Stadiums

Top Inventions and Discoveries of Ancient Greece: Columns and Stadiums
Top Inventions and Discoveries of Ancient Greece: Columns and Stadiums

Greek architecture is still popular in the world today for the designs as well as creativity. Ancient Greeks were well aware of the difference in architectures. These are homes, streets, towns, commercial places and other kinds of open areas. Ancient Greeks introduced constructional methods. Some of the best are the Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian columns. Ancient people used these columns to construct buildings with high roofs. They also built different stadiums which were used for different purposes.

Ancient Greeks used different techniques to construct different temples. They made arrangements to protect them from fire, earthquake and cannon shots. Many of the temples are still there today without the need of any extra supports. They were the pioneers in the field of architecture design. And the best in construction of high roof buildings.


Engineering and Mechanical devices

Top Inventions and Discoveries of Ancient Greece: Engineering and Mechanical devices
Top Inventions and Discoveries of Ancient Greece: Engineering and Mechanical devices

If we talk about the mechanical inventions by ancient Greeks, the list is long. They invented different engineering tools and machines which they used for massive productivity. They also created tunnels in the mountains just like a one-kilometer tunnel in Samos which they built in 6th century BCE. Some of their handy devices were the portable sundial of Parmenion made from rings, Timosthenes’ 3rd-century BCE anemoscope, the water alarm clock invented by Plato, 3rd-century BCE hydraulic organ of Ktesibios and the legendary figure of Daedalus.

Many of their created mechanical devices and engineered tools are still available in the Museum. They used the blocks, tackles, winches, and cranes to build long-distance city walls. Their ideas for construction and engineering were unique and according to the advancements of their era. They used the mechanical devices to shift water to other areas. They also knew how to transport large and heavy materials from one place to others where needed.


Olympics

Top Inventions and Discoveries of Ancient Greece: Olympics
Top Inventions and Discoveries of Ancient Greece: Olympics

Modern Olympic is a latest form of the Olympics which ancient Greeks introduced more than 2,700 years ago. Historical records show that the first ancient Olympic Games can be traced back to 776 BCE. In the very first event, there was only one event called the Stadion. It was a foot race of one circuit of the stadium which was about 192 m. In that event, almost 45,000 all-male spectators gathered to enjoy the game and cheer.

These games were held every two years at the Isthmus of Corinth. Different athletes and spectators were gathered to take part in different Olympic games. The Olympia, and South-West of Greece were the most famous places where most of the new games were played. The players won the prizes for their achievements.


Basis of Geometry

Top Inventions and Discoveries of Ancient Greece: Basis of Geometry
Top Inventions and Discoveries of Ancient Greece: Basis of Geometry

Geometry is the oldest branch of Mathematics. It can be traced back to ancient Greece age. They used geometric shapes and basic formulas for daily use and business practices. It is a part of history that Egyptians, Babylonians and Indus Valley Civilization were the ones who incorporated geometrical techniques. But those were the Greek people such as Pythagoras, Euclid, and Archimedes, who found new rules, discovered the value of Pi and worked on axioms to increase the applications of Geometry and Mathematics.



Practices of medicine

Top Inventions and Discoveries of Ancient Greece: Practices of medicine
Top Inventions and Discoveries of Ancient Greece: Practices of medicine

Ancient Greeks considered different diseases as a curse by God. They never tried to treat some of the diseases. However, Hippocrates of Cos who was born in 460 BCE, conducted few experiments using the available theories. He proposed that all diseases had their cause and everything was due to natural process. The experiments of Hippocrates changed the mind of people, and then they tried to find the cures for the diseases.

Today Hippocrates is considered as the Father of Western Medicine. It is because of his Hippocratic Oath which was a document. It had every necessary information about the primary stages of common diseases and the ways to treat them naturally.


Philosophy

Top Inventions and Discoveries of Ancient Greece: Philosophy
Top Inventions and Discoveries of Ancient Greece: Philosophy

If we want to study Philosophy, we cannot do that without reading the concepts of Greeks. Greek philosophers examined every single question which had no answer before. There were a few famous philosophers including Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle in the 5th and 4th century BCE who tried to answer all the questions. They changed the wrong beliefs of people and gave new directions to philosophy.

Ancient Greek philosophers differentiated between Philosophy and Sociology. They also worked on the concepts of physicists, biologists, astronomers, and mathematicians to prove Philosophy as a scientific subject. Today we have a lot of philosophy material which is based on the rules and presumptions of the Greek philosophers.


Astronomy

Top Inventions and Discoveries of Ancient Greece: Astronomy
Top Inventions and Discoveries of Ancient Greece: Astronomy

Greek people knew basic concepts about Astronomy. They worked on and proposed new assumptions and theories. There were a lot of wrong studies which ancient Greece people rejected after testing them. At that time, various concepts were in flow such as the world revolved around the Sun, the earth was a globe, the Milky Way was full of stars, and the humanity had evolved from specific animals. They studied all of these assumptions and debated on the results.

Aristotle (384-322 BCE) developed logic. He also classified the natural world for better understanding. He was known as the father of astronomical concepts. We cannot forget Eratosthenes (276-195 BCE) who calculated the required circumference of this globe in the best possible way. He worked on shadows casted by objects with different latitudes.


Theater

Top Inventions and Discoveries of Ancient Greece: Theater
Top Inventions and Discoveries of Ancient Greece: Theater

Ancient Greeks revolutionized the field of theater and entertainment. They invented different theatre performances in the 6th century BCE. At that time, Greek tragedies were performed at religious festivals. Some professional actors and actresses presented open-air theatres every week.

They also introduced comedy in public events. Different politicians, philosophers, and foreigners were specially invited to those events. They studied classic plays as a part of the education curriculum to increase their interest or entertainment with outdoor comedy events.


Alarm clock

Top Inventions and Discoveries of Ancient Greece: Alarm clock
Top Inventions and Discoveries of Ancient Greece: Alarm clock

Almost everyone all across the world uses the alarm clock. It is a basic need of us to perform different tasks on time. Ancient Greece first gave the concept of alarm. Although it was not the same alarm clock which we use today but still it was handy and useful. They invented and used the integrated mechanism to take the benefits of alarm. They used the alarm to produce sound from water organs or drop pebbles into drums.



A famous ancient Greek philosopher named Plato is a famous name today. He possessed a giant water clock which was connected with a kind of unspecified alarm signal. He tried to use it at night to signal others about the beginning of his lectures. Besides, Hellenistic engineer named Ctesibius (285–222 BCE) was famous for fitting the clepsydras with pointer and a dial which were used to indicate the time.


Cartography

Top Inventions and Discoveries of Ancient Greece: Cartography
Top Inventions and Discoveries of Ancient Greece: Cartography

Cartography includes the researches and studies for making the maps. Maps are used for different purposes. We cannot travel and navigate without maps. Maps are in use since the ancient times. First of all, it was the ancient Babylon who discovered many new cartography concepts and designed the maps.

Anaximander (611-610 BCE) was the famous name who designed and created a world map. He presented different inhabited regions in his chart to make the map easily followable by others. The map was showed the Caspian Sea on the east. It was stretched near to Pillars of Hercules in the west. Today we can say that Anaximander played a vital role in the fields of cartography. He provided the world with the map and helped others to explore the world for new inventions.


Odometer

Top Inventions and Discoveries of Ancient Greece: Odometer
Top Inventions and Discoveries of Ancient Greece: Odometer

Today we can see the use of odometer in every wheeled vehicle to measure the distance traveled. The ancient Greeks first invented this tool. They worked to design and developed mechanical odometer which was used to measure the short distances with accuracy.

According to the studies, Odometer was first invented by Vitruvius in around 27 BCE. Latter on, it was widely used in the late Hellenistic time by Romans. They used this tool to indicate the distance travelled by a vehicle. They took various benefits of odometer such as measuring distance accurately and revolutionizing road building and travel.

Tags: Greek Inventions, Greek technology, Greek sciences

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