SUMERIAN INVENTIONS
Bricks
The Sumerian civilization utilized sun-dried mud mixed
with straw to create durable and cost-effective bricks,
essential in a region devoid of natural stone. These
bricks, shaped into various forms such as plano-convex
designs, facilitated the construction of diverse structures,
including residences, city walls, and monumental
ziggurats. The accessibility of this building material
allowed for the development of large and intricate
buildings across Sumerian cities.
Beer
Mesopotamian cities had inns, taverns, and
pubs where travelers and residents enjoyed
beers, available in various variations. The
earliest evidence of beer comes from a 6000-
year-old Mesopotamian tablet, which shows
revelers drinking from a great vat through long
straws, with hops not used.
Board Games
The primary and best-known board game of ancient
Sumer is the Royal Game of Ur, a race game played
by two players that emerged around 2600 BCE.
Chariot
Their initial chariots were heavy, four-wheeled,
solid-wheeled "battlewagons" drawn by wild asses,
used for ceremony, hunting, and potentially some
forms of combat around 2600 BC.
GREEK INVENTIONS
Olympics
The ancient Olympic Games were invented by the
Greek civilization, with the first recorded games
taking place in 776 BCE at Olympia as a religious
festival to honor the god Zeus.
Astrolabe
The astrolabe was a Greek invention from the 2nd
century BCE, This analog calculator served as a
universal astronomical tool, mapping celestial
bodies and solving problems related to time,
latitude, and star positions, though it was most fully
developed in the Islamic world.
Archimedes Screw
The Archimedes' screw is a machine invented by
the ancient Greek mathematician and inventor
Archimedes to lift water from low-lying areas. It
consists of a spiral blade inside a hollow cylinder,
and when it is turned at an angle, it traps water in
pockets and carries it upwards from the lower end
to a higher exit point.
Catapult
The catapult was invented by Dionysius the
Elder of Syracuse, a Greek leader, around 400
BCE. Inspired by the design of the crossbow, this
revolutionary siege weapon used tension to
hurl heavy projectiles like stones.
ROMAN INVENTIONS
Julian calendar
The Julian calendar was invented by the Roman
civilization under the leadership of Julius Caesar, with
the assistance of the astronomer Sosigenes, in 46
BCE. This calendar was a reform of the preceding,
inconsistent Roman calendar, which was based on
lunar cycles.
Hypocaust System
The Roman hypocaust system was an underfloor
heating innovation developed around the 1st century
BCE, most notably by Gaius Sergius Orata, who refined
it for heating buildings, particularly baths and wealthy
homes. It worked by using wood-burning furnaces to
heat air that flowed through a void beneath raised
floors, supported by brick pillars, and then up flues in
the walls to heat the entire room before escaping.
Groma
The primary Roman surveying instrument was the groma, a
tool for establishing right angles and straight lines, crucial for
laying out the rectangular grids of cities, forts, and
agricultural land. Other tools used during the Roman era
included measuring tapes, compasses, and devices like the
dioptra and chorobates, which are thought to have evolved
from astronomical instruments.
Codex
The codex, the bound format of the modern
book, evolved from Roman practice with wax
tablets and became widespread in the Roman world
during the late empire, though its precise origin is
EGYPTIAN INVENTIONS
debated. Its advantages over the papyrus scroll
included durability, portability, the ability to write on
both sides, and random page access.
Eye Make-up
Ancient Egyptians, as early as 5000–4000 BCE, pioneered eye
makeup using minerals like galena for black kohl and
malachite for green, mixing them with fats or oils to create
ointments. This practice, used by both men and women,
served cosmetic, religious, and medicinal purposes, with the
dark eyeliner believed to protect from the sun, dust, and the
"evil eye".
Hieroglyphic Writing
Egyptian hieroglyphs emerged around 3300–3250 BC (Late
Predynastic period) and were likely an independent
invention, though possibly influenced by
Mesopotamian cuneiform. This ancient writing system,
which the Egyptians called "the gods' words" (Medu Netjer),
used pictorial signs to represent sounds, words, or ideas, and
served both ceremonial purposes on monuments and as a
basis for more cursive scripts like hieratic and demotic.
Papyrus
Ancient Egyptians invented the first form of "paper" from
the papyrus plant around 3000 B.C. They processed the plant's
stalks to create flexible, lightweight sheets used for writing, but
also for making everyday items like ropes, sandals, and
mats. This innovation was crucial to the development of Egypt's
civilization, providing a durable and easy-to-store medium for
records, religious texts, and literature, and remained in use for
millennia across Egypt and the wider Mediterranean world.
Door Lock
Ancient Egyptians invented the first mechanical lock around
6,000 years ago, featuring a wooden pin-tumbler
mechanism. This system used a large wooden key with grooves
and protrusions to lift wooden pins inside a hollow bolt, allowing
the bolt to retract and open the door. While large and less
sophisticated than modern locks, this Egyptian design was the
earliest form of a secure fastening system and laid the
groundwork for future lock technology.
