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! 

Bon Nadal!

Des del blog Clàssiques us desitgem un bon Nadal en família i amb prudència davant la pandèmia de la COVID-19. Esperem que les anàlisis sobre el món grec i romà que anem publicant us facin més amens aquests dies. Endavant!

Bon Sant Jordi!

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

Navigating in technology

One of the outstanding conquests of Greeks was the introduction of improvements in naval technology. The interest of the Greeks in navigation led them to build the first lighthouse in history that was realized around the year 300 B.C.

In the war background, naval technology is essential. Greece came the first use of the ship as a decisive weapon in the war, especially in the battle of Salamis against the Persians. The warship should be narrow to go faster and also propelled by oars. This warship was endowed with the necessary weapons to sink other ships, such as the bronze ram at the beginning of the 7th century B.C.

It is interesting to analyse the figure of Ameinocles. He was a builder from Corinth. He had manufactured the bireme. It was a ship with a deck that had two floors for a hundred rowers. Later, the same builder created the trireme, which would constitute the bulk of the naval forces in the war of Sicily against Carthage, in the warlike conflicts against the Persians and in the clashes between Athens and Sparta.

The main virtue of the trireme was the speed, since it had the most suitable length and shape of the hull to present the minimum resistance to the advance of water. With the trireme, the naval technique reached one of its highlights. One example of the transcendence of naval technology is Samos, Island built a large breakwater and a seawall to protect the bay.

Technological evolution is analyzed in XXV Cable and Broadband Catalonia Congress (CECABLE, Auditorium Blanquerna in Barcelona, ​​31 March-1 April 2020). Come in! 

Building technology and happy 2020!

The technological evolution in the modern world is rooted in the Greek world and in zones like Sicily. We find a lot of examples in a lot of sectors, for example architecture.

In this sense, in the fourth century B.C. wood, adobes and tiles were used for the construction of normal houses. There were small windows for ventilation that when it was cold or rain were clogged with anything. The walls of the houses were simply lined with lime and only in the richest houses were mosaics or wall paintings.

In general, the houses were built facing south, to take advantage of the sun. The furniture was made with wood, although the seats of chairs and stools were usually made with rope or with leather. The houses used to have baths made of clay, stone or brick for adults and smaller containers for children.

About the construction of temples, although the ancient Greeks already used cranes, the main problem to solve was that sometimes the marble blocks were too heavy, for example between 5 and 10 tons. To solve it, ramps with sandbags were built. In addition, as they could not be transported with cars, a very ingenious transport system was used that consisted of fixing the columns to central pivots within a round wooden structure, so that the oxen pulled it as if it were an immense roller. The handling of the blocks was facilitated by leaving a kind of projections on the outside, which were made of handles and polished once placed in place.

We can observe the use of technology was essential to improve all the mechanisms and to offer nice buildings. Technological evolution is analyzed in XXV Cable and Broadband Catalonia Congress (CECABLE, Auditorium Blanquerna in Barcelona, ​​31 March-1 April 2020). Come in and happy 2020!                 

Textile Terrassa, textile Greece

The Greeks were aware that technology must be in all the sectors. It explains the evolution of textile technology. In Terrassa (Barcelona, Spain), textile has been a motor of evolution.

About raw materials, leather was one of the most worked materials in Ancient Greece, both in the primary tanning industry and in the manufacture of manufactured goods such as footwear, which used to have a leather sole, hats or fans.

However, the fabric manufacturing was based on the simple darning process, whereby a series of threads with the weft name crossed at right angles with another series of threads called warp. On the Greek loom the warp was hung on a horizontal pole mounted on two wooden supports that were fixed directly to the ceiling, or through a horizontal pole. The dyeing and hardening of the fabrics was especially unhealthy, since toxic substances such as purple and indigo were used. Nevertheless, the work was done manually.

From the Greek textile era till now, when it is essential for sports, the evolution has been relatively fast. However, we can’t understand the actual stage of textile sector without the Greek improvements.

Technological evolution is analyzed in XXV Cable and Broadband Catalonia Congress (CECABLE, Auditorium Blanquerna in Barcelona, ​​31 March-1 April 2020). Come in!