| Technology | Date | Description | |
|---|
| Archimedes' screw | c. 3rd century BC | This device, capable of lifting solid or liquid substances from a lower plane to a higher elevation, is traditionally attributed to the Greek mathematicianArchimedes ofSyracuse.[10][11] |  |
| Streets | c. 400 BC | Example: The Porta Rosa (4th–3rd century BC) was the main street ofElea (Italy) and connected the northern quarter to the southern quarter. The street is 5 meters wide. At its steepest, it inclines to 18%. It is paved with limestone blocks, girders cut in square blocks, and on one side a small gutter for the drainage of rainwater. The building is dated during the time of the reorganization of the city during the Hellenistic age. (4th to 3rd centuries BC) |  |
| Cartography | c. 600 BC | First widespread amalgamation of geographical maps developed byAnaximander, although it is possible he had been exposed tomapmaking practices of the Near East.[12] | |
| Rutway | c. 600 BC | The 6 to 8.5 km longDiolkos represented a rudimentary form of railway.[13] |  |
| Differential gears | c. 100–70 BC | TheAntikythera mechanism, from the Roman-eraAntikythera wreck, employed a differential gear to determine the angle between theecliptic positions of the sun and moon, and thus thephase of the moon.[14][15] |  |
| Caliper | 6th century BC | Earliest example found in theGiglio wreck near the Italian coast. The wooden piece already featured one fixed and a movable jaw.[16][17] | |
| Truss roof | 550 BC[18] | SeeList of Greco-Roman roofs | |
| Crane | c. 515 BC | Labor-saving device that allowed the employment of small and efficient work teams on construction sites. Later winches were added for heavy weights.[19] |  |
| Escapement | 3rd century BC | Described by theGreek engineerPhilo of Byzantium (3rd century BC) in his technical treatisePneumatics (chapter 31) as part of awashstand automaton for guests washing their hands. Philon's comment that "its construction is similar to that of clocks" indicates that such escapement mechanisms were already integrated in ancient water clocks.[20] | 
Washstand automaton |
| Tumbler lock | c. 5th century BC | The tumbler lock, as well as other varieties of lock, was introduced in Greece in the 5th century BC. | |
| Gears | c. 5th century BC | Developed further than in prehistoric times for a variety of practical purposes. | |
| Plumbing | c. 5th century BC | Although there is evidence forsanitation in the Indus Valley civilisation, theancient Greek civilization ofCrete, known as theMinoan civilization, was the first civilization to use underground clay pipes for sanitation and water supply.[21] Excavations at Olympus, as well as Athens, have revealed extensive plumbing systems for baths, fountains, and personal use. | |
| Spiral staircase | 480–470 BC | The earliest spiral staircases appear in Temple A inSelinunte, Sicily, to both sides of thecella. The temple was constructed around 480–470 BC.[22] | 
Plan of ground floor of Temple A atSelinunte (c. 480 BC). The remains of the two spiral stairs between the pronao and the cella are the oldest known to date. |
| Urban planning | c. 5th century BC | Miletus is one of the first known towns in the world to have a grid-like plan for residential and public areas. It accomplished this feat through a variety of related innovations in areas such as surveying. | |
| Winch | 5th century BC | The earliest literary reference to a winch can be found in the account ofHerodotus of Halicarnassus on thePersian Wars (Histories 7.36), where he describes how wooden winches were used to tighten the cables for a pontoon bridge across the Hellespont in 480 BC. Winches may have been employed even earlier inAssyria, though. By the 4th century BC, winch and pulley hoists were regarded byAristotle as common for architectural use (Mech. 18; 853b10-13).[23] | |
| Showers | 4th century BC | A shower room for femaleathletes with plumbed-in water is depicted on an Athenian vase. A whole complex of shower-baths was also found in a 2nd-century BCgymnasium atPergamum.[24] | |
| Central heating | c. 350 BC | The Great Temple of Ephesus was warmed by heated air that was circulated through flues laid on the floor. | |
| Lead sheathing | c. 350 BC | To protect a ship's hull from boring creatures; seeKyrenia ship | |
| Canal lock | early 3rd century BC | Built intoAncient Suez Canal underPtolemy II (283–246 BC).[25][26][27] | |
| Ancient Suez Canal | early 3rd century BC | Opened by Greek engineers underPtolemy II (283–246 BC), following earlier, probably only partly successful attempts.[28] | |
| Lighthouse | c. 3rd century BC | According toHomeric legend, Palamidis of Nafplio invented the first lighthouse, although they are certainly attested with theLighthouse of Alexandria (designed and constructed bySostratus of Cnidus) and theColossus of Rhodes. However,Themistocles had earlier established a lighthouse at the harbor ofPiraeus connected to Athens in the 5th century BC, essentially a small stone column with a fire beacon.[29] | |
| Water wheel | 3rd century BC | First described byPhilo of Byzantium (c. 280–220 BC).[30] | |
| Alarm clock | 3rd century BC | TheHellenistic engineer and inventorCtesibius (fl. 285–222 BC) fitted hisclepsydras with a dial and pointer for indicating the time, and added elaborate "alarm systems, which could be made to drop pebbles on a gong, or blow trumpets (by forcing bell-jars down into water and taking the compressed air through a beating reed) at pre-set times" (Vitruv 11.11).[31] | |
| Odometer | c. 3rd century BC | Odometer, a device used in the late Hellenistic time and by Romans for indicating the distance traveled by a vehicle. It was invented sometime in the 3rd century BC. Some historians attribute it toArchimedes, others toHeron of Alexandria. It helped revolutionize the building of roads and traveling by them by accurately measuring distance and being able to carefully illustrate this with amilestone. | |
| Chain drive | 3rd century BC | First described byPhilo of Byzantium, the device powered arepeating crossbow, the first known of its kind.[32] | |
| Cannon | c. 3rd century BC | Ctesibius of Alexandria invented a primitive form of the cannon, operated by compressed air. | |
| Double-action principle | 3rd century BC | Universal mechanical principle that was discovered and first applied by the engineer Ctesibius in his double-action piston pump, which was later developed further by Heron to afire hose (see below).[33] | |
| Levers | c. 260 BC | First described about 260 BC by the ancient Greek mathematicianArchimedes. Although used in prehistoric times, they were first put to practical use for more developed technologies in Ancient Greece.[34] | |
| Water mill | c. 250 BC | The use ofwater power was pioneered by the Greeks: The earliest mention of a water mill in history occurs inPhilo'sPneumatics, previously been regarded as a later Arabic interpolation, but according to recent research to be of authentic Greek origin.[1][35] | |
| Three-masted ship (mizzen) | c. 240 BC: | First recorded forSyracusia as well as otherSyracusan (merchant) ships underHiero II of Syracuse[36] | |
| Gimbal | 3rd century BC | The inventorPhilo of Byzantium (280–220 BC) described an eight-sidedink pot with an opening on each side, which can be turned so that any face is on top, dip in a pen and ink it-yet the ink never runs out through the holes of the side. This was done by the suspension of the inkwell at the center, which was mounted on a series of concentric metal rings which remained stationary no matter which way the pot turns itself.[37] |  |
| Dry dock | c. 200 BC | Invented inPtolemaic Egypt underPtolemy IV Philopator (reigned 221–204 BC) as recorded byAthenaeus of Naucratis(V 204c-d).[38][39] | |
| Fore-and-aft rig (spritsail) | 2nd century BC | Spritsails, the earliest fore-and-aft rigs, appeared in the 2nd century BC in theAegean Sea on small Greek craft.[40] | 
A spritsail used on a Roman merchant ship (3rd century AD). |
| Air and water pumps | c. 2nd century BC | Ctesibius and various other Greeks of Alexandria of the period developed and put to practical use various air and water pumps which served a variety of purposes,[41] such as awater organ and, by the 1st century AD,Heron's fountain. | |
| Sakia gear | 2nd century BC | First appeared in 2nd century BCHellenistic Egypt, where pictorial evidence already showed it fully developed[42] | |
| Surveying tools | c. 2nd century BC | Various records relating to mentions of surveying tools have been discovered, mostly in Alexandrian sources, these greatly helped the development of the precision of Roman aqueducts. | |
| Analog computers | c. 150 BC | In 1900–1901, theAntikythera mechanism was found in theAntikythera wreck. It is thought that this device was an analog computer designed to calculate astronomical positions and was used to predict lunar and solar eclipses based on Babylonian arithmetic-progression cycles. Whereas the Antikythera mechanism is considered the proper analog computer, theastrolabe (also invented by the Greeks) may be considered as a forerunner.[43] |  |
| Fire hose | 1st century BC | Invented by Heron based on Ctesibius' double-action piston pump.[33] Allowed for more efficient fire fighting. | |
| Vending machine | 1st century BC | The first vending machine was described byHeron of Alexandria. His machine accepted a coin and then dispensed a fixed amount ofholy water. When the coin was deposited, it fell upon a pan attached to a lever. The lever opened up a valve, which let some water flow out. The pan continued to tilt with the weight of the coin until it fell off, at which point a counter-weight would snap the lever back up and turn off the valve.[33] | |
| Wind vane | 50 BC | TheTower of the Winds on theRomanagora inAthens featured atop a wind vane in the form of a bronzeTriton holding a rod in his outstretched hand rotating to the wind blowing. Below, itsfrieze was adorned with the eight wind deities. The 8 m high structure also featuredsundials and awater clock inside dates from around 50 BC.[44] | |
| Clock tower | 50 BC | SeeClock tower.[45] | 
Tower of the Winds |
| Automatic doors | c. 1st century AD | Heron of Alexandria, a 1st-century BC inventor fromAlexandria,Egypt, created schematics for automatic doors to be used in a temple with the aid of steam power.[33][dead link] | |
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