Ancient Engineering Memes
Just for fun, Dr. Ressler creates ancient engineering memes, as a vehicle for gaining new perspectives on Greek and Roman technologies. His collection–a work in progress–is provided below.
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- ROMAN COLUMNS: For times when you need to raise the roof.
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- ROMAN PANTHEON: Because concrete isn’t just for sidewalks.
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- IONIC COLUMN: Some assembly required.
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- POMPEIIAN MILL: Feeding the Roman world with 2.0 horsepower.
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- ROMAN HYPOCAUST: Radiant sub-floor heating only seems like a new idea.
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- GREEK THEATER: Western culture, set in stone.
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- VOUSSOIRS: United we stand.
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- TRAJAN’S BRIDGE: Bringing civilization to the barbarians, whether they want it or not.
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- COLUMN INSCRIPTION: It’s all Greek to me.
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- BATHS OF CARACAALLA: Where the unwashed masses got washed.
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- GREEK COLUMN DRUM: Insert square peg into square hole.
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- ENTASIS: Middle-age spread in Greek columns.
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- RAM-TORTOISE OF HEGETOR: Someone’s knocking at the door.
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- ROMAN ROAD: The shortest distance between two points.
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- ROMAN MILL AT BARBEGAL: Because water was going to flow down that hillside anyway.
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- VITRUVIUS: Keeping things in proportion since the 1st century B.C.
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- PUBLIC TOILET: Building a sense of community in the Roman city.
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- ROMAN AQUEDUCT: It’s all downhill from here.
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- ROMAN CRANE: When the ancient world really needed a lift.
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- ATHENIAN TRIREME: We can accomplish anything, if we all pull together.
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- CORINTHIAN CAPITAL: Support your entablature in style.
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- ARCHIMEDES’ SCREW: Converting shaft power into potential energy since the 3rd century B.C.
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- GREEK TRIREME CREW: Nonconformists need not apply.
“Dad, you don’t really understand what a meme is, do you?”
~Anne Ressler
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