John Peter Oleson

Sennacherib, Archimedes, and the Water Screw: The Context of Invention in the Ancient World

Invention of the water screw is traditionally credited to the third-century B.C. Greek scientist-engineer Archimedes, on the basis of numerous Greek and Latin texts and the technological context of Hellenistic Alexandria. An Assyrian text from the seventh century B.C. may be interpreted to show that king Sennacherib cast such a device in bronze at Nineveh, for use in his palace garden. Such an argument may be strengthened by comparison with details of Assyrian technical capabilities in large-scale casting and in making bearings, and with later Greek texts referring to the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. The method for casting a bronze screw implied in the Assyrian text and instructions for building a wooden water screw provided by Vitruvius were reproduced for a television program. Arguments are presented for and against the invention of the device centuries before Archimedes, together with a discussion of the social context in which such inventions took place in antiquity.

The Water-Supply Systems of Nabataean and Roman Humayma

The only Nabataean settlement of any consequence between Petra and Medaʾ in Ṣāliḥ, Ḥumayma (ancient Auara) became a major station on the Via Nova Traiana after the Roman annexation of Arabia and remained an important garrison-town into the Byzantine period. Although Ḥumayma was the most promising site for settlement in the northern Ḥismā, skillful mobilization of the scarce water resources in this arid zone was required if the inhabitants of the town were to survive and prosper. Previous descriptions of the extensive water system (reservoirs, cisterns, aqueduct) the Nabataeans developed have concentrated on the visible ruins and have had little to say about the relative capacities of the water sources or the pattern of consumption over time. The regional survey we conducted in 1983, on which this article is based, not only produced a more reliable measurement of capacities but also provided an assessment of the strategy of mobilization the inhabitants devised in response to the harsh desert conditions.

Cement Microstructures and Durability in Ancient Roman Seawater Concretes

Roman hydraulic maritime concretes of the central Italian coast have pumiceous volcanic ash, or pulvis Puteolanus, from the Bay of Naples as mortar pozzolan. Petrographic and mineralogical analyses of cement microstructures in relict lime, tuff, and pumice clasts suggest that pozzolanic reaction at high pH produced gel-like calcium-aluminum-silica-hydrate cements. Orthorhombic 11 A-tobermorite, with unit cell dimensions a = 5.591(1)A, b = 3.695(1)A, c = 22.86(1)A, developed in the residual cores of portlandite clasts and in certain pumiceous clasts, as well. Ettringite and calcium-chloroaluminate formed in discrete, perimetral microstructures and in the cementitious matrix. Phillipsite and chabazite cements may reflect later dissolution of alkali-rich volcanic glass at pH 9–10. The cement systems have remained stable for 2,000 years, during partial to full immersion in seawater. Vitruvius’ De architectura and other ancient texts describe the raw materials of the concretes, preparation of lime, and construction of submerged wooden forms. Information concerning the materials, formulations, and installations of the concretes was apparently spread by movement of central Italian engineers around the Mediterranean but also, perhaps, by the circulation of sub-literary engineering manuals. Further analytical investigations will determine the diverse chemical processes that produced the cement microstructures, and why the harbour constructions have endured for two millennia.

The Caesarea Ancient Harbor Excavation Project (C.A.H.E.P.): Preliminary Report on the 1980–1983 Seasons

AbstractUnderwater and shoreline survey and excavation at the Herodian harbor of Sebastos, the port of Caesarea Maritima on the Mediterranean coast of Israel, have provided important new information on Roman harbor design and construction. Local and imported materials were carefully selected and used to construct two immense breakwaters that framed outer and inner basins. Hydraulic concrete was used in a sophisticated manner, and ingenious sluice gates and a subsidiary breakwater provided protection against siltation and storm damage.

Sebastos: Herod's Harbor at Caesarea Maritima

The authors report on recent excavations conducted at this important Mediterranean site.

Underwater Survey and Excavation in the Port of Pyrgi (Santa Severa), 1974

Abstract The first extensive survey of the underwater remains at Pyrgi (Santa Severa) has been completed and it yields new information concerning the design of the Etruscan and Roman harbors and the shape of the Roman castrum. A series of natural shoals, previously unknown, supporting the rubble-mound jetties suggest that a semi-protected natural harbor may have attracted the original Etruscan settlement at the site. Wooden forms were found preserved around the concrete structure on the west jetty and a new wall or quay excavated at the base of the east jetty. Aerial photographs revealed that the tumbled remains of the seaward castrum wall did not complete a rectangular design, but responded to the oblique angle of the coast. Survey work was begun in the submerged area in front of the temples.

Bronze Age, Greek and Roman technology: a select, annotated bibliography

Covers 11 categories, including: ancient authors on technology; mining and metallurgy; construction and civil engineering; and manufacture and trade. Comments or summaries are provided for each title cited. -- AATA

Sebastos, the Harbor Complex of Caesarea Maritima, Israel: The Preliminary Report of the 1978 Underwater Explorations

From the 28th of May to the 21st of June, 1978, a team of three individuals conducted a preliminary archaeological survey of the harbors and shoreline of Caesarea Maritima, the major Roman and Byzantine city on the coast of ancient Palestine (Frova 1965, Levine 1975a, 1975b, Ringel 1975). This ancient metropolis and its extraordinary port and habor facilities were constructed by Herod the Great at the end of the First Century B.C. (Oestreicher 1962) and were in use until ca. 640 A.D., when the city and its environs fell to Arab conquerors. The site of Caesarea (32°30.5′N, 34°53.5′E) is located ca. 45 km south of the modern city of Haifa on the Mediterranean coast of Israel and now embraces the farms, residences and industries of Kibbutz Sdot Yam.

A Reproduction of an Etruscan Tomb in the Parco dei Mostri at Bomarzo

Bomarzo is a small town, typical of the tufa region around Viterbo, perched on a foothill of the Ciminian Mountains ninety kilometers north of Rome, 2.5 kilometers west of the Tiber. Etruscan tombs have been found nearby at Pianmiano, Piano della Colonna, and Monte Casuli, and there was probably an Etruscan, then a Roman settlement on the site. After apparently continuous occupation in late antiquity and the medieval period, a castle was built in the eleventh century. The Orsini family has local connections as early as the fourteenth century, and Gian Corrado Orsini, who came into possession of the town in 1502, immediately began to transform this castle into a Renaissance palace. Vicino Orsini, who ruled from 1532 to 1585, avidly continued this building activity in the town while simultaneously laying out a large pleasure garden below the west edge of the city plateau.1