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1 results

  • 26 - Technological Progress

  • from Empirical Approaches
  • Edited by Sitta von Reden, Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg, Germany
  • Book:
    The Cambridge Companion to the Ancient Greek Economy
    Published online:
    21 July 2022
    Print publication:
    04 August 2022, pp 392-403

  • Summary

    This chapter analyses the concept of technological progress in Greek antiquity. It briefly surveys the historiography of technological progress, in particular Moses Finley’s view and its links with his view of the ancient economy, and more recent reactions to Finley. The chapter charts the idea that technology has helped humankind develop from a semi-brutish state to a more civilised condition in some classical Greek sources, including Greek tragedy, and focusses on the case-study of ancient accounts of catapults, which include a history of discovery and of cumulative improvement. The last section is devoted to the ambiguous morality of technological progress.