istoryworld
Events relating to technology
The earliest description of a pulley appears in a Greek text
The first Roman road, the Via Appia, links Rome with Capua
To help the king of Syracuse extract water from the hold of a ship (so the story goes), Archimedes invents the screw now known by his name
Cement is in use for construction in Asia Minor, possibly developed first in Pergamum
Parchment is invented by Eumenes II, king of Pergamum, according to traditional accounts
The Phoenicians discover that a blob of molten glass can be puffed out to form a hollow vessel
Roman legions build the Fosse Way, a raised road with a ditch on each side stretching from Lincoln to Devon
Hero, a Greek scientist in Alexandria, devises various forms of steam engine
The dioptra, developed by Hero of Alexandria for surveying land, is an early form of theodolite
The network of Roman roads stretches eventually from England to Egypt
A bridge is built over the river Tagus at Alcántara and stands today as a fine example of Roman technology
The eunuch Ts'ai Lun either invents paper or presents a report on the new substance to the Chinese emperor
The Sant'Angelo bridge in Rome, still standing today, is built for the emperor Hadrian by means of a coffer dam
Roman socks, surviving in dry Egyptian tombs, are the earliest known examples of knitting
The Grand Canal is constructed in China, joining a network of existing waterways to link the Yangtze and Yellow rivers
A document makes the first known reference to windmills, in use in Persia
The discovery of the technique of porcelain, the most delicate of all forms of pottery, is made in China
Skilled Chinese paper-makers are captured by the Arabs - beginning the slow westward transmission of the technology of paper
The empress of Japan, in a remarkable start to the story of printing, commissions a million copies of a Buddhist charm
The world's first known printed book, a Diamond Sutra, is commissioned by a Buddhist monk in honour of his parents
The Diamand Sutra has as a frontispiece a printed woodcut depicting an enthroned Buddha
A Chinese engineer, Chiao Wei-yo, is credited with devising the principle of the two-level pound lock for canals
The concept of movable type for printing is pioneered in China, using fired clay, but it proves impractical
The rulers of Baghdad harness homing pigeons as postmen.
The earliest surviving reference to the principle of the compass occurs in a Chinese manuscript
