Recent studies of the history of technology increasingly take as their theme, besides invention, the transfer of technology, that is the adoption of technological knowledge from other societies or the transfer of one's own technology to other regions. The development of Greek civilization in archaic times was to a high degree based on the appropriation of the technological achievements of Egypt and Mesopotamia; while the historically relevant process of Romanization, especially in the western Mediterranean and in north-western Europe, also included the spread of Roman technology in the provinces. An important result of modern research in the history of technology is the insight into the interdependency of technological and economic developments. In ancient agriculture, numerous innovations are attested, for example in the threshing of grain for which rotating sledges were used. Technical advances that were of economic relevance such as grain mill, oil presses, wine presses, can be substantiated in various areas of the ancient economy.

After Alexander's death in 323 BC, his generals divided the empire and for more than thirty years fought one another for a larger portion of Alexander's heritage. One of these warlords was Seleucus, who on Alexander's order had married Apame. The Seleucid dynasty sprang from the Macedonian-Iranian union. This chapter focuses political organization, financial organization and the internal structure of Seleucid Iran. Alexander and the Seleucids preserved the Persian division of the empire into enormous satrapies. As the Seleucid standard was identical with the Attic standard which was followed in the greater part of the Hellenistic world, the trade from the Indian Ocean to the Adriatic Sea was based on the same monetary system. Greek settlers in Iran wanted to remain Greeks. Alexander's colonists demanded 'A Greek education and a Greek way of life' in Iran and after Alexander's death some of them began to return home, since they felt deprived of Greek civilization.