Greek Fire: Flames that Don’t Go Out

Many architectural projects of ancient Rome would not have been possible without Roman concrete. Also known as opus caementicium, Roman concrete was a hydraulic-setting cement mix consisting of volcanic ash and lime that bound rock fragments into “a single stone mass” and made them impre...

Archaeologists repeatedly stumble upon artifacts that seem way too advanced for the times from which they originate. The ancient Greeks, for instance, developed a clock capable of calculating and tracking planetary motions and solar eclipses among other things. These forward-thinking inventions a...

Damascus steel swords originated in the Middle East during the 9th century and were renowned for their appearance as well as their durability, being multiple times stronger and sharper than the Western swords used during the Crusades.

Their name, derived from the Arabic word for “water,” r...

Archaeological excavations throughout the world reveal that, once in a while, ancient civilizations developed inventions that were decades if not centuries ahead of their time.

It is sometimes said that these inventions rival or outmatch modern science. This, too, is a misconception. While ...

Archaeologists use the term “Baghdad battery” to refer to a ceramic pot, copper tube, and iron rod that were found in Iraq near what was once the capital of both the Parthian and subsequent Sasanian Empire. They believe the three distinct objects once fitted together to create a single device. Th...

The Antikythera mechanism, which was found to be over 2,200 years old, had functioned as an ancient computer.  

CT scans reveal the contraptions mind boggling complexity, combining cycles from Babylonian astronomy, mathematics from Plato’s Academy, and ancient Greek astronomical theories. I...