¡Feliz Navidad!

Desde el blog Clàssiques os deseamos una feliz Navidad. Tras un bonito año 2021, con numerosas publicaciones, más de un centenar de seguidores y más de diez millones de páginas vistas (es el blog líder en su especialidad), ahora tocan unos días de descanso, rodeados de la familia, en paz, armonía y felicidad. Mucha salud y ¡feliz Navidad! Bon Nadal! Merry Christmas!

Classic culture and technology: a nice couple!

When the expression "classical culture" is mentioned, one associates it with issues far away in time. Keep in mind that technology starts in parallel to human evolution. Thus, the Greeks developed skills in commerce and shipyards, and surpassed the Persians largely thanks to the naval power, forged in technology. The manual work depended on the slaves, the workers of the time that guaranteed productivity over possible new sources of energy. In fact, Greek and Roman education did not focus on manufacturing or physical work.

The technology sought to save on efforts, although the technological advances of the Greeks did not fully agree with theoretical knowledge. Heró de Alexandria (creator of the dioptra, a topography instrument), Ctesias, Ptolemy, Tales of Miletus (and their navigation triangulation systems) and the well-known Archimedes (inventor of the hydraulic spindle) investigated the principles of technology. Devices such as fire pumps, handles, levers, pulleys, toothed wheels, siphons, turbines or valves. The first map of the world corresponds to Anaximander.

In the case of the Romans, they applied the technology in organization and construction, creating systems of public works. The introduction of cement and the beginning of the arch allowed the Romans to build more than 70,000 km. of roads A well-enclosed Roman Empire, with the addition of aqueducts, sewers and bridges. The public toilets and the circuses gave a playful nature. The water mill and hydraulic wheels with upper and lower thrust allowed grinding, sawing and cutting marble. In the warlike area, the creation of the javelin and the catapult placed the Romans in a stage of advantage in the struggles.

In the case of the Romans, they applied the technology in organization and construction, creating systems of public works. The introduction of cement and the beginning of the arch allowed the Romans to build more than 70,000 km. of roads A well-enclosed Roman Empire, with the addition of aqueducts, sewers and bridges. The public toilets and the circuses gave a playful nature. The water mill and hydraulic wheels with upper and lower thrust allowed grinding, sawing and cutting marble. In the warlike area, the creation of the javelin and the catapult placed the Romans in a stage of advantage in the struggles.

Another perspective on the relationship between technology and classical culture, jumping into the 21st century, comes from the Internet spreading. In the classic environment we find the roots of the Broadband Society, the scientific theory coined by Dr. Joan Francesc Fondevila Gascón, international leader in communication and telecommunications and author of the scientific blog Telecomunicaciones y Periodismo, also leader in his field.

Access to texts and documentation is simpler thanks to the international broadband networks. How they evolve and how they can disseminate content is a fundamental aspect for students of the classical world. That is why it is highly recommended to attend the XXVI Cable and Broadband Catalonia Congress (2022). Classic culture and technology: a nice couple!

Sicily and the classics

For those of us who love the classical world, being able to visit the island of Sicily is a privilege. For starters, this is the largest island in the Mediterranean. The proximity of Naples and its charm, three kilometers from the Strait of Messina, the influx of the Apennines and the oregon and the splashes of the Tyrrhenian Sea and the Ionian Sea enveloped Sicily with a special snowflake.

Sicily has not always been called Sicily. The Latins called it Trinacria, that is, triangular. Where does the name of Sicily come from? Well, eureka, comes from the Greeks, who called it Sikelia because the original tribe were the satellites. Sicily is like a galaxy with numerous planets in the form of polyteinic islands, such as agates, Eolias, Pelágiques, Ustica and Pantelleria.

Peculiarly, despite being an island, Sicily is the largest region in Italy. 25,711 square kilometers are not insignificant, precisely! In addition, it is the second most densely populated island in the Mare Nostrum, behind Malta (geographically within the archipelago of Sicily and politically united in 1798). Five million Sicilians are many! The capital, Palermo, is the fifth most populous in Italy; Catania is the tenth. A clear similarity with Catalonia: in Sicily, Italian and Sicilian are spoken.

The impact of the classics is very clear in Sicily, as in the Roman Villa of the Casale. Much later, Sicily acted as an independent or immixed kingdom in the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, and then belonged to the Spanish monarchy. The resignation of Philip V as a result of the Treaty of Utrecht closed this phase. Because the landowners and the landowners dominated the island, the Mafia arose in the eighteenth century, an organization of peasants who rebelled clandestinely against landowners. Curious island evolution, like technological evolution, analyzed by XXVI Cable and Broadband Catalonia Congress (CECABLE, 2022). Come in!

From technology in the war to other technologies

The Greeks were very advanced in military technology. It is knows the evolution in technology sector provided from military experiences.

In the Greek history we find a lot of singular chapters in which technology was decisive. For example, the world's first flamethrower was used in one of the battles of the Peloponnesian War. It was used by the army of Boeotia, belonging to the Spartan side. They built it using the trunk of a straight tree, which split into two halves, emptied and then joined to get a hollow tube. They hung a container full of bitumen and sulphur on one end and a bellows on the other. The device was placed in an armoured car, to protect itself from the enemy arrows. When approaching the rival defence it was pointed with the tube and when pressing the bellows an immense flare came out of the container, lit fire and opened a gap that allowed the assailants penetrate enemy defences.

Furthermore, another of the Greek technological innovations in the military field occurred around 390 B.C. in the time of Dionysus I. Its engineers were the first to create artefacts capable of throwing large stones of up to 45 kg, the catapults, which would become increasingly important. With these catapults, large javelins and other projectiles could be thrown over high walls, pits and battlements. Rocking mobile bridge capable of overcoming obstacles such as bristles with sharp stakes, walls and enemy redoubts.

With these examples we discover the importance of Greek culture in the military technology evolution and in technology in general terms.
Technological evolution is analyzed in XXV Cable and Broadband Catalonia Congress (CECABLE, Auditorium Blanquerna in Barcelona, 7th ​​June 2021). Come in!                

Bon Sant Jordi!

Llegiu i us divertireu! Des d'aquest blog us desitgem un bon Sant Jordi, encapçalat per lectures sobre els clàssics grecs i llatins. Això permetrà retrobar les profunditats de les nostres arrels culturals. A gaudir-ne!

Technology rooted in the fields

The evolution in agricultural technology is interesting in the Greek culture. We are analysing in this blog impacts of technology in the Greek world, and we find exciting steps in these period.

The first one was the oil, not only used as a culinary condiment. Furthermore, it was also the fuel used to illuminate. This oil was applied to sunburn and it even had a cosmetic application in lotions and perfumes.

In a quantitative or qualitative Greek agricultural practices we have to analyse the social and economic profile of the direct producer. In the ancient Greece, there was a slave society, based on a slave mode of production.

Therefore, the analysis of agriculture departs from slaves, and their work organization, the conditions of exploitation and the tools they used. From some years ago, the analysis was focused on the importance of independent farmers, in the productive and in the political-social fields. The last objective was the development of the polish.

The base was slavery, but in the active presence of a class of free farmers. They could incorporate some slaves, but always within farms based on family labour. It differed substantially from the landowner slave farms. These peasants were owners full of their land. It was not subject to exploitation. However, it was oriented to subsistence but which in certain circumstances could produce surpluses. The technical advances favoured the improvement of results.

Technological evolution will be analyzed in XXV Cable and Broadband Catalonia Congress (CECABLE, Auditorium Blanquerna in Barcelona, ​​2021, with permission of COVID-19). Go ahead!                 

Feliç 2021!

Des del blog Clàssiques us desitgem un 2021 ben positiu, amb amor i salut. Amb els continguts que anirem publicant intentarem amenitzar la vostra curiositat pel món clàssic, per les nostres arrels culturals. Un feliç 2021 per a tothom!