Quote Originally Posted by KozaK13 View Post
I agree, and i think that if rome hadn't risen the greeks would have recognised the possibilities of steam, paticularly in Ptolemaic egypt eg. Abdraxus' machines of alexandria
Funnily enough, I picked up a book for some light reading (The Hellenistic Age by Peter Green), and he puts in a small claim that the Greeks ingnored - and the bit on technological advances culminates with "Any device that left servile labor force with spare energy was seen as a direct stimulus to revolution."

That's a pretty interesting idea, but it's just glanced over here. I bet there's been a thesis or two on the idea of technological advance tied to fear of revolts...would be pretty interesting to read, but I'd reluctant to take Green's statement at face value until I read more. Very intriguing all the same though.