Harran of Alexandria almost started an industrial revolutio

[David]

I've been learning things about Harran of Alexandria. He was an inventor in Alexandria, Egypt who almost started an industrial revolution 2000 years ago. I wonder what life would be like in terms of culture, politics, and technology if Harran had started the machine age at Greco-Egyptian Alexandria in 0-100 A.D. rather than the developments that happened at England in the 1700s. The burning of the Library at Alexandria didn't help either...

Among other inventions, it is thought that he developed the first machine gun.

[jeslange]

Was that the guy who basically invented a steam engine, but somehow didn't implement it, or something along those lines?

[Báng]

Not knowing anything about history and this sort of thing....but why does it seem that people 'just stopped' for 1500 odd years between about 300 and 1800.

We always hear of the great Roman an Greek empires, and how well they were developed and the like....but then the there isn't much after that for quite a while.

Anyone like to explain or expand on that point...to a simple young Irish lad?

[Pirog]

Shane B>

Does the plague ring a bell?

[rklenseth]

Not knowing anything about history and this sort of thing....but why does it seem that people 'just stopped' for 1500 odd years between about 300 and 1800.

We always hear of the great Roman an Greek empires, and how well they were developed and the like....but then the there isn't much after that for quite a while.

Anyone like to explain or expand on that point...to a simple young Irish lad?

Well you see during the Roman Empire, Caesar sent fire to Alexandria which contained the Great Library (one of the seven ancient wonders of the world). The destruction of the library along with the fall of Rome set Europe back a couple hundred years in techonology and knowledge though this didn't affect other parts of the world as much as Europe. Another reason why was thate the triumphant barbarians scorned anything Roman so a lot of knowledge was forgotten because people thought it reminded them of the evil ways of the Romans.

Plus Europe was divided up among kingdoms and rulers that constantly warred over land. It wasn't until the feudal system was done away with did Europe really begin the step forward.

Plague didn't play that much a part and wasn't a big problem during the Dark Ages. It was after the dark ages that Europe suffered from the plague because it was the end of the feudal system and many people were moving into hug cities and were then condensed together. Plus, the plague had been around since before Greek times.

Nostradamus (yes the same prophet) found a cure for plague in the way of cleaniness. He found that keeping clean, and keeping the area around you clean kept people from getting sick. Many other doctors scorned him for this but it soon became apparent that he was right. And the plague only reigned for about a few hundred years and mostly reigned only in periods like the 30 Years War and due to the fact of thousands of refugees carrying it with them from place to place.

[west]

The greeks and romans viewed machinery as toys, nothing more--there was a coin-operated fountain in one temple...and an alter that when lit would open the temple doors...

[David]

Jes, yes Harran is attributed with developing the first steam engine.

China, North Africa, and the Middle East continued to develop after the fall of the Roman empire. What we learn in school is mostly "western" history, and until recently history in general was completely eurocentric, therefore it seems that the "world stopped" when one learns about "world history" through the traditional western historical canon. The Middle Kingdom(China), Al-Andalus (Muslim Spain), the "Orthodox" Sunni Caliphate stretching from Baghdad to Cairo looked over some of the most cosmopolitan, modern, socially progressive societies not surpassed since the 1960's. Not to mention some of the developing civilizations of Central and South America. The turning point for these civilizations came with the invasion by the Mongols into the Middle East, the destruction of various centers of civilization at the hands of Crusaders and Mercenaries.

The good thing is that gradually what was first labelled as a complete "world history" is being changed to its correct label of western history.

[Pirog]

And you always need to keep in mind that history is merely a theory, sometimes based on pure guesses.

There is a lot of politics in history, where you add myths or keep a blind eye to uncomfortable findings because you don't want to step on peoples toes...