Science, Technology

and Society (STS)

 THE HITTITES
 The Hittites were shepherds from the north near the Caspian Sea
and Black Sea.
 These Indo-European speaking people established their primary
cities along the Halys River and called their home the “land of the
Hatti” and their capital city is Hattusas.
 Hittite means “people of Hatti. The Hittites conquered Babylonia
and extended their empire by conquering Syria and Egypt.
www.brewminate.com
THE HITTITES
Some interesting facts
about the Hittites

1.The Hittites were the

first to discover and use
iron.

2. The crime of rebellion

had the heaviest
penalty of all crimes.
 THE HITTITES
Some interesting facts
about the Hittites
3. The Hittites worshipped
many gods and
goddesses.
4. Their leader is called
“Great King” or “Great
Sun”. He is the military
leader as well as the
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religious leader.
 THE HITTITES
Some interesting facts about the
Hittites
5. All citizens under the
jurisdiction of the Hittite Empire
have rights. Even slaves had the
right to own properties.

6. The Hittites used 9 languages

within their territories. The
Akkadian language is used for
communication while the
Sumerian language is used for
literature.
www.omniglot.com
 THE HITTITES
Some interesting facts about
the Hittites
7. They attain economic
prosperity because of iron and
they regarded iron five times
more precious than gold and 8
times more precious than
silver.

8. They subdued and

conquered many territories
because of their superior www.weaponsandwarfare.com
weapons made of iron.
 THE HITTITES
Some interesting facts about the Hittites
9. Agriculture was the main livelihood of the Hittite people.
10. They domesticated horses, cows and raised honey bee.

Emrecan cabukcu
 THE HITTITES
Some interesting facts
about the Hittites
11. The Hittites planted grapes,
apple, pomegranate, trigo
and barley.
12. The Museum of Anatolian
Civilizations houses the
richest collection of Hittite
and Anatolian artifacts. It is
located in Ankara, Turkey.
13. The Hittites were mentioned
several times in the Bible. www.traveltriangle.com
 THE HITTITES
Contribution of the Hittites to the World
•Discovery of iron
•Used of iron as weapons
•Usage and respect of different languages
•Land titles and list of titles
•Inventory of land and products that became the basis of taxation
 THE LYDIANS

 The Lydians of Northern

Asia Minor began the use
of coins in trade.

 Gold, silver or a mixture

of both metals was
formed into disks of equal
weight.

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 THE LYDIANS
 Stamped into the metal
of the coin were its
value and a symbol that
showed government
authority and approval.

 Official Lydian coinage

was in use by about 560
B.C. during the reign of
www.lunatic.blogspot.com Croesus.
 THE LYDIANS
Contributions of Lydian Empire
•The Lydians were the first to use metallic coinage.
•They made a major contribution to development of human civilization by introducing money.
•They established permanent retail shops.
•Invention of money accelerated economic activities of the ancient world.
 THE LYDIANS
Contributions of Lydian Empire
•Coinage helped to make commerce easier in the ancient
world.
•The first coins created by the Lydians were about the size
of a bean.
•Merchants used tablets as similar to contemporary
CREDIT CARDS. These tablets, as the foregoer of modern
credit cards, were used in Western Anatolian territories
2500 years ago.
 THE LYDIANS
Contributions of Lydian Empire
A merchant holding such a tablet
used to show this while purchasing
bulk amount of goods in leading
cities.
There was a note on the tablets,
stating “holder of this tablet is a
well-known and trusted merchant
of our kingdom. His commercial
activity is approved by the King. He
could purchase goods to pay the www.techcrunch.com
cost later.” These tablets were also
under state warranty.
 THE LYDIANS
Contributions of Lydian
Empire
•Ruins and archeological
findings in Sardis reveal
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that the first ever open
market of history was
established by Lydians.
Having bulk amount of
gold.
•Jewelery shops were
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opened at places closer to
Karavan: Treasures from Turkey
gold mines.
 THE LYDIANS

Contributions of Lydian Empire

Perfumes were sold in all
Aegean region, in vases called
“Lydion”.

Terracotta Lydion (Perfume jar)

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 THE LYDIANS
Contributions of Lydian Empire
•Persian King Darius started the
construction of a road to facilitate
communication and transportation
between Persepolis and Lydian capital
Sardis.
•The road is 2699km long. There were
stations to change horse at every 28 km.,
where reserve horses were kept. This road,
named as Royal Road was used as a trade
road.
•Ruins of this road, considered as the
oldest highway of the road could be seen in
Sardis, at some places near Kütahya and
Afyonkarahisar, and in Ballıhisar (Pessinus)
www.atlasobscura.com near Sivrihisar.
 THE PHOENICIANS
 Southeast of Asia Minor, along the eastern shore of the
Mediterranean Sea, was the land of Phoenicia.
 Phoenicians were sailors, shipbuilders and merchants.

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 THE PHOENICIANS

 The Phoenicians were also

the first to make objects of
clear glass.

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 THE PHOENICIANS
 Another famous product was cloth dyed a deep purple.
 The dye was obtained from seashells and cost so much to produce
that only the wealthy could afford garments dyed with “royal
purple.”

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 THE GREEKS
 Building on the discoveries and knowledge of civilizations in Egypt and Mesopotamia, among others, the Ancient Greeks developed a sophisticated
philosophical and scientific culture.

 The Greeks made a major contribution to Mathematics and Science. We owe our basic ideas about geometry and the concept of mathematical proofs to ancient
Greek mathematicians such as Pythagoras, Euclid and Archimedes.

 Some of the first astronomical models were developed by Ancient Greeks trying to describe planetary movement, the Earth’s axis and the heliocentric system –
a model that places the sun at the center of the solar system. Hippocrates, another ancient Greek, is the most famous physician in antiquity.
 THE GREEKS
1. Anchor
Anchors of huge stones have been around
since the Bronze Age, but the Hellens were the
first to solve the problem in a technological
manner.
Most often these anchors–often referred to
‘teeth’ (ὀδὁντες, dentes) in Hellenic poetry–
consisted of sacks or buckets which were filled
with stones, although later versions were made of
stone and already had the shape of anchors so
well know today. Every ship had several anchors.
 THE GREEKS
2. Alarm Clock
The ancient Greek philosopher Plato (428–348
BC) was most likely the first to possess an alarm
clock.
It was a water clock of some design that, when
having counted to the desired time, played
something with the sound of a water organ.
Ctesibius (285–222 BC) had a device which
would drop balls of some sort onto a metal plate
at a specified time, thus waking up the sleeping
party.
THE GREEKS
3. Automatic Doors
Heron of Alexandria created a hydraulic
system, based on steam power, which
automatically opened the doors to an
Alexandrian temple.
The engine used air from a closed chamber
heated by an altar fire to displace water from a
sealed vessel; the water was collected and its
weight, pulling on a rope, opened temple doors.
 THE GREEKS
4. Catapult

Accounts of Hellenic versions of the catapult

date back to 399 BC.

They often shot out arrow-shaped projectiles,

not boulders, but the mechanism was very much
the same as the later medieval catapults.
THE GREEKS
5. Cement

Cement is a binder, a substance that sets and

hardens independently, and can bind other
materials together.
Although the word is Roman, the Hellens
already had a version of it, adding limestone to
a mixture of clay, water and sand.
It was used from 100 BC onwards, and
mostly in what is now the coast of Turkey.
 THE GREEKS
6. Central Heating

Although the Romans perfected the design, the

ancient Hellens already had a system in place
where a fire heated up air, which was then forced
through pipes hidden under the floor.
The air warmed up the floor and, in turn, the
room. Slaves kept the fire burning, of course.
THE GREEKS
7. Clock Tower
The ancient Tower of the Winds dates back to
about 100 BC. It housed a water clock which
was connected to eight sundials on the outside
of the tower.
The entire mechanism has since vanished,
but the tower remains, including the depictions
of the eight wind deities: Boreas (N), Kaikias
(NE), Eurus (E), Apeliotes (SE), Notus (S),
Livas (SW), Zephyrus (W), and Skiron (NW).
 THE GREEKS
8. Coin Money

Long before the rule of the Hellens, we

developed a trade system that relied on a
token, not goods.
Commodity money was born, but the Hellens
were the first to develop coins of different sizes
and materials and put a value on various
trading goods.
THE GREEKS
9. Crane
In the sixth century BC, the Hellens invented
a way to lift the heavy stone blocks onto the
emerging temple walls: a crane.

Holes drilled into the stone suggest ropes

were attached to the blocks and pulled up to be
fitted in place.
 THE GREEKS
10. Crossbows
Like the catapult, crossbows emerged in
ancient Hellas and were a favored weapon.
The arrows they fired traveled far, were
absolutely deadly, and the weapon was
relatively easy to load.

The earliest evidence for the crossbow in

Europe dates back to the 5th century BC when
the gastraphetes, an ancient Greek crossbow
type, appeared.

The device was described by the Greek

author Heron of Alexandria in his work
Belopoeica (“On Catapult-making”)
THE GREEKS
11. Lighthouse
The famous lighthouse of Alexandria was
constructed around 300 BC, by Sostratus of
Cnidus.

With a height around 400 ft (120 m), it stood

as one of the tallest man-made structures on
Earth for many centuries.

It was one of the original Seven Wonders of

the Ancient World.
The early lighthouses used wick lamps as a
source of light.

In the olden times the light beam could only

travel a few miles.
 THE GREEKS
12. Maps
Anaximander, who lived from 610 to 546 BC,
was the first to create maps with the concept of
latitude and longitude, and it were later Hellens
Eratosthenes and Strabo who created maps of
the entire known world at the time, which–
granted–was not the known world as we know
it today.

Maps in western literature were first

produced in 6200 B.C.

Maps are one of the most ancient Greek

inventions that are used today.
THE GREEKS
13. Odometer

An odometer–as car enthusiasts will most

likely know–is an instrument that indicates
distance traveled by a vehicle.

In ancient Hellas, it was used to measure the

distance between cities. Although the actual
device was never recovered, some of the
measurements were.

They were so accurate that some form of

technology had to be involved.
 THE GREEKS
14. Plumbing
In the 400s BC, Athens began to develop
highly extensive plumbing systems for baths
and fountains, as well as for personal use
within individual homes.

Many houses in ancient Greece were

equipped with closets or latrines that drained
into a sewer beneath the street.

They seemed to have been flushed by waste

water. Some of the sewers were fitted with
ventilating shafts.
THE GREEKS
15. Sinks
The ancient Hellens were the first to
have an automated sink with running
water, so both hands could be washed at
the same time.

The ancient Greeks washed themselves

with lumps of clay, had steam baths and
rubbed their skin with oil, such as olive oil,
which they then scraped off with an
instrument called a “strigil”, along with any
dirt.
 THE GREEKS
16. Showers
The ancient Greeks were the first people to
have showers. Their aqueducts and sewage
systems made of lead pipes allowed water to
be pumped both into and out of large
communal shower rooms used by elites and
common citizens alike.

These rooms have been discovered at the

site of the city Pergamum and can also be
found represented in pottery of the era.

The depictions are very similar to modern

locker room shower, and even included bars to
hang up clothing.
THE GREEKS
17. Spiral staircase
Temple A at Selinunte, Italy, was special. It
was built around 480 BC. Selinunte was one of
the most important of the Greek colonies in
Sicily.

There were five temples, but of only the ‘E’-

temple, it is sure whom it was dedicated to:
Hera.

Who the A-temple was dedicated to is not

clear, but it had a unique design feature: the
first spiral staircase in history.
 THE GREEKS
18. Steam engine
It was a children’s toy, designed by Heron of
Alexandria.

He called it an aeolipile; a cylinder, arranged

to rotate on its axis, having oppositely bent or
curved nozzles projecting from it.

When the cylinder is pressurized, steam

blows through the nozzles and the aeolipile
spins around.

It was the first steam-powered anything, and

extraordinary in its own way.
THE GREEKS
19. Surveying tools
The Hellenes were well aware that a building
needed a solid foundation, and a city needed
proper planning in order to stand safely for a
long time.

In order to do this, the Hellenes devised many

tools to test the soil, measure out the slope of
the ground, and gather other valuable
information before building their structures.

It shows; much of what stood then, survives

to this day, more or less intact.
 THE GREEKS
20. Thermometer
Philo of Byzantium was a Hellenic Jewish
philosopher who discovered that air expanded
when heated.

He attached a tube to a hollow sphere and

extended it over a jug of water. When the
device was in the sun, air expanded out of the
sphere and into the water, creating bubbles.

When he put the device in the shade, nothing

happened. Around that same time (+/- 50 AD)
Heron of Alexandra worked on the first
thermometer for medicine.
THE GREEKS
21. Umbrella
Umbrellas were made from larger bones,
wood or plant leaves, and used to block rain or
sun.

While they certainly were not up to par with

modern umbrella’s, they served their purpose
well.

Depictions dating back to the late 4th century

BC display umbrellas that could apparently
open and close.

Ancient Greek culture considered it a mark of

effeminacy if a man carries one.
THE GREEKS
22. Urban planning
The Greek Hippodamus (c. 407 BC) has been
dubbed the “Father of City Planning” for his
design of Miletus; Alexander commissioned him
to lay out his new city of Alexandria, the
grandest example of idealized urban planning
of the ancient Mediterranean world, where the
city’s regularity was facilitated by its level site
near a mouth of the Nile.
The Hippodamian, or grid plan, was the basis
for subsequent Greek and Roman cities.
Aristotle’s critique and indeed ridicule of
Hippodamus, is perhaps the first known
example of a criticism of urban planning.
 THE GREEKS
23. Vending machine
The first vending machine was a construction of
Heron of Alexandria (c. 10–70 AD). His invention of the
vending machine became really popular when a coin
was introduced via a slot on the top of the machine,
and a set amount of holy water was dispensed.

This was included in his list of inventions in his book,

“Mechanics and Optics”. When the coin was
deposited, it fell upon a pan attached to a lever. The
lever opened up a valve which let some water flow out.

The pan continued to tilt with the weight of the coin

until it fell off, at which point a counter-weight would
snap the lever back up and turn off the valve.
THE GREEKS
24. Water mill
Even back in the day, power was needed to set
mechanisms to work. The earliest evidence of a
water-driven wheel is the Perachora wheel (3rd c.
BC), in Greece.

The earliest written reference is in the technical

treatises Pneumatica and Parasceuastica of the
Greek engineer Philo of Byzantium (ca. 280−220
BC).

The British historian of technology M.J.T. Lewis

has shown that those portions of Philo of
Byzantium’s mechanical treatise which describe
water wheels and which have been previously
regarded as later Arabic interpolations, actually date
back to the Greek 3rd century BC original.
 THE GREEKS
25. Wheelbarrow
The wheelbarrow existed in ancient Greece in the
form of a one-wheel cart.

Two building material inventories for 408/407 and

407/406 B.C. from the temple of Eleusis list, among
other machines and tools.

Although evidence for the wheelbarrow in ancient

farming and mining is absent, it is surmised that
wheelbarrows were not uncommon on Greek
construction sites for carrying moderately light loads.
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