How Ancient Mechanics Thought About Machines

friedo writes "The NYTimes has an interesting piece about Prof. Mark Schiefsky, a Harvard classicist with an interest in the history of science. Schiefsky pores over ancient texts in Greek, Latin, and Arabic to decipher the origin of knowledge that's been taken for granted for millennia. For example, a Greek treatise published a generation before Archimedes' proofs of the lever laws explains why, if you were a galley slave, you'd want to work the oars near the center of the ship instead of closer to the hull."

Oh, the irony!

[Chris Burke]

"For example, a Greek treatise published a generation before Archimedes' proofs of the lever laws explains why, if you were a galley slave, you'd want to work the oars near the center of the ship instead of closer to the hull."

Not a very useful treatise since if you were a galley slave, you probably couldn't read! Oh, and they wouldn't let you off the ship to visit the library and check out the treatise anyway.

Those poor, poor galley slaves.

Working conditions

[The Ancients]

For example, a Greek treatise published a generation before Archimedes' proofs of the lever laws explains why, if you were a galley slave, you'd want to work the oars near the center of the ship instead of closer to the hull."

Do you think it was mentioned in their induction pack along with their sunscreen, sunhat, and timecard?

Re:Galley slaves had other worries... THE WHIP

[Anonymous Coward]

Well, think about it.. you have more than 1 slave per oar.
Work = force x distance. It's the same amount of WORK whether
you push the oar on the end, the middle, or anywhere else.

The guy closer to the hull has to exert more force, but over less distance.
When the pace picks up and the guy in the middle is flying out of his seat
with every revolution trying to pull an oar around 5 feet sweeps, the slave
by the hull is comfortably sitting on his bench.

Noted, he must be STRONGER than the slave to the middle, but the same work
is being done by each slave on the oar. If not, that's what the whip is for.
And it's a lot harder to whip the guy by the hull.

All you scholars and ivory tower slavedrivers need a few cracks of the whip
to REALLY understand the physics of being a galley slave.

Re:Library of Alexandria

[Anonymous Coward]

Only a tiny, tiny fraction of the books and scrolls within the Library of Alexandria survived, and who knows what kind of complex science and engineering was put into those books. The day it burned the world lost the greatest knowledge resource at the time.

For example, the recipe for fireproof paper.

Re:Working conditions

[elronxenu]

... and sample TPS report cover sheets.

(That's TPS as in Trireme Propulsion System)

Re:Library of Alexandria

[trongey]

...who knows what kind of complex science and engineering was put into those books...

On the other hand, if we assume that nerds have always been pretty much the same, then we can extrapolate that most of what we lost was pr0n and strategy guides.

Re:Not all slaves would be illiterate ...

[trb]

Literacy rates in the fourth century aren't known, but for Athens itself, at least, the literacy rates might have been very high.

Of course they were literate. They knew ancient Greek!

Re:Galley slave would want to be toward the hull

[colinrichardday]

Oh sure, drag facts and logic into Slashdot.

Apart from the physics

[Centurix]

The last thing you need is to be sat in the middle seat between two really fat slaves...

They probably had more leg room on those ship than we do in cattle class now. And I bet they could take fluids on board too.