I've been home sick the past two days. What does one do when they're too tired to get up, but alert enough to not be sleeping during the day? TV. Ayup. Illness probably permits me to watch more TV than I'd ever otherwise care to, and whittle down our Netflix "instant" list. It also tends to keep me off the computer for the longest period of time other than when camping (sometimes).
Anywho, one of the items I've watched today is Ancient Inventions with Terry Jones. In addition to being informative, it's entertaining to some extent... but back to informative. I've come to some realisations because of this. Here are some things I've learned so far:
- Greek fire was actually invented by an Assyrian named Callinicus in the 11th century.
- Rifling has been around for a lot longer than the last few centuries.
- Multi-level apartment buildings have been around since at least Roman times.
- Archimedes' screw dates back to about the 3rd century B.C.
- Concrete was from Roman times as well, and created a water-resistant type for pipes and foundations.
- Skin grafts have been happening in India since 2500 B.C. or earlier.
- Much of medical technology was invented because of war.
- The tank was conceptualised millennia ago - one such tank was on four wheels, with a wooden frame, covered in rawhide, and powered by slaves running beneath it.
- The taxi meter was invented by Romans - actually, the odometer! Each turn of one wheel would cause a slight rotation of a gear which would eventually rotate another gear. This last gear had holes in it with round pebbles that would fall into a small box after so many turns of the wheel. A passenger would pay according to the number of stones in the box.
- The Chinese created the printing press, and the Koreans came up with moveable, metal typesets.
- The idea of the "address" was known in Venice about 1000 years ago.
- Rome was serving take-out a long time ago.
- The hamburger was also around during Roman times... ground beef, wine, pine nuts, fried, in some sort of roll... yep, the hamburger...
- The steam engine was actually around in 50 B.C. - the Greeks knew of it!
- Housing has been around almost since Man has existed.
- Heron created a slot machine for dispensing water. He also created a fire engine with a water pump.
- New York got its first street light in 1761. But they came out long before that in Rome, probably some sort of oil lamp. China used natural gas through bamboo pipes and used it for lighting. They also filled bladders with this gas and created gas lamps out of them.
- The flush toilet has been around since 1886. It was invented by Thomas Crapper. Rome had communal lavatories but used sponges on sticks, which were kept in buckets of saltwater. The Chinese were using toilet paper in 6th Century A.D.
- Makeup, contraceptives, female condoms, and pregnancy tests have existed since ancient times. Ancient Egypt had a slave strike because they had run out of makeup. They needed to protect their skin from sun and had to have their sunblock!! They also had lip gloss, eye liner, foundation, and applicators, and even buried kits with the deceased. Razors date back to over 4000 years ago and so do wigs. There were even false beards - and even women wore them. The male condom existed in Rome - sheep bladders. Casanova, in fact, described his own version of this as being reusable. Crocodile dung and soured milk were an Egyptian's way to prevent pregnancy. Acids in crocodile dung are powerful spermicides, as moden science has come to find out. The current "pill" still uses progesterone from the wild yam, which was once used by Indians in New Mexico for contraception. In 700 B.C., doctors would soak cloth in a flower's sap and used these as pregnancy tests.
- Kissing on the mouth supposedly came about in ancient Rome. Prior to that, it was reserved between mother and child.
- 823 A.D. saw its first known salon in Spain. The same guy invented hot wax hair removal, toothbrushes, and deodorant.
- 4th Century B.C. had showers. (Yay!!)
- Rose oil was created via distillation in 876 A.D.
- "Gymnasium" comes from Ancient Greek meaning "exercise naked."
- The first known mechanical clock was created to regulate the sex life of the emperor of China in 8th Century A.D. The emperor's heir was based on the conception of each child. 121 women attended to him in a certain order, and eventually he slept with the Empress. Clocks did not appear in Western life until 14th century and was used to time celibacy.
- Clepsidra had a "water" clock to time her patrons. She was a prostitute. When a bowl with a hole drilled in the bottom fell to the bottom of a larger vessel of water, her patron's time was up.
- Sex has not always been "bad" - some cultures felt sex was a religious practice to be celebrated.
- Privacy came about with the invention of the corridor - late 17th century.
- Keys were invented over 4000 years ago. They were notched pegs with strings attached to them.
- Human sweat contains all sorts of chemicals that act as aphrodisacs, and the Greeks would rub themselves with olive oil, followed by scraping off dirt and sweat with a special stick, dropping the oil into a bowl. Wealthy women would pay to have this substance smeared on their faces.
- Steroids, estrogen, testosterone, and progesterone were obtained by the Chinese by evaporating urine. They used these hormonal treatments over 2000 years prior to Western uses. They were taken via pill form.
- The sling was probably invented by a woman to hold her baby. Prior to this, humans had body hair for their children to cling to.
What strikes me is that soooooo many of these inventions are still in use today with very little improvement. It seems that many inventions from hundreds to thousands of years ago were simply set aside because they didn't seem to have any real use at the time.
That's my history lesson for today. :D
~w
