9 ancient inventions ahead of the age of 1000 years

Some of the most useful inventions in history have been lost. Today, when we look back on our ancestors' inventions, we may feel confused and ashamed of the genius and creativity of the previous generation.

We have reached the same level as some of these inventions, but there are still inventions that we have not yet reached.

1. Greek Flame: Mysterious chemical weapons

The image from an illuminated manuscript - Madrid Skylitzes - shows that the "Greek Flame" was used against the rebel fleet of Thomas the Slav. The note above the ship on the left has the content: 'The Roman fleet is burning the enemy's fleet' (Source: Wikimedia Commons).

Around the 7th and 12th centuries, the Greek Empire (Byzantines) used a mysterious substance to fire at enemies in naval battles. This type of liquid is fired through a hose or hose, burned in water and can only be extinguished by vinegar, sand and urine.

We still do not know what material the chemical weapon named Greek Fire is made of. The Greek empire kept this secret, only for certain people to know and eventually that knowledge was completely lost.

2. Flexible bending glass: Super precious material

Three records of a material known as flexible glass, flexible glass, are not clear enough to determine whether this material exists or not. The story of this kind of material was first mentioned by Petronius (died in 63 AD).

In Petronius's account, a glass craftsman gave to Emperor Tiberius (the 2nd Roman Emperor, reigned from AD 14 - 37) to see a glass jar. When he asked the king to hand it over to him, at that moment, the glass maker dropped it on the floor.

A statue of Emperor Tiberius Marble, in 37 AD in marble

It was not broken but only concave and the glass maker quickly mounded it back to its original shape. Worried that this valuable technology might be spread out, Tiberius ordered the beheading of its maker. Therefore, the secret of flexible glass disappeared as well.

Pliny The Elder (a Roman writer - who died in 79 AD) also told this story. He said, although the story is recounted regularly, it may not be entirely true.

Another version recounted several hundred years later by Dio Cassius. He changed the glass maker into a magician. When the glass jar fell on the floor, it crumbled and the glassmaker repaired it with his bare hands.

In 2012, Corning Glass Manufacturing Company introduced a flexible 'Willow Glass' . Heat-resistant and flexible enough to be rolled up, it has been proved to be particularly useful for making solar panels .

If the unfortunate Roman glass maker had actually invented flexible glass, he would have been ahead of his thousands of years of history.

3. Universal antidote

It is said that the medicine called 'universal antidote' was invented by King Mithridates VI of the Pontus Empire (reigned from 120 to 63 BC) and perfected by Hoang 's own physician. Nero .

A statue of the statue of King Mithridates VI of the Pontus Empire

As explained by Adrienne Mayor - a researcher of folk tradition and scientific history at Stanford University - in a 2008 article, titled 'Greek Flame, Poison Arrow and Scorpion Bomb: Birth War In the Ancient World ' , the original formula was lost, but the ancient historians have documented that its composition consists of chopped opium, snake vipe and a combination of small doses of poison and antidote them.

This substance is called Mithridatium , named after King Mithridates VI.

Mayor noted that Serguei Popov, a former researcher in biological weapons in the Soviet Union's massive 'Biopreparat' biological weapons program, who defected to the United States in 1992, also tried force to create a modern Mithridatium type.

4. Heat ray weapon

Greek mathematician Archimedes (d. 212 BC) developed a heat ray weapon, challenging the technologies in Discovery Channel's 'Mythbusters' program when he wanted to recreate. Mayor described the weapon as a "row of shiny bronze shields reflecting the sun's rays on enemy ships."

A picture depicts how Archimedes burned the previous Roman ships of Syracuse with parabolic mirrors.(Source: Wikimedia Commons)

Although the Mythbusters program failed to rebuild this ancient weapon and claimed it was a myth, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) students successfully built it in 2005. They burned Fire a ship in San Francisco port using this 2,200-year-old weapon.

A heat beam weapon was announced in 2001 by the Advanced Defense Projects Agency (under the Pentagon, USA) - DARPA - uses ultra-short waves to penetrate the victim's skin surface , heat it to 130 0F (54.4 0 C), creating a feeling of burning in the fire ' , Mayor explained.

5. Roman concrete

The great Roman architecture that has spent thousands of years of history is clear evidence that the features of Roman concrete are superior to modern concrete with signs of degradation after 50 years.

In recent years, scientists have been working to secretly extract the durability of this ancient city wall. The main secret ingredient is volcanic ash .

Nearly 2,000-year-old concrete in Rome

An article published in 2013 by the University of California-Berkeley News Center said the university researchers have for the first time described how Aluminum's incredible calcium (calcium) - Aluminum compound ( Aluminum) - Silicate (compound consisting of anionic silicon) - Hydrate (a water-containing substance) (CASH) binds materials.

The process of making this compound produces less carbon dioxide (CO ₂ ) than modern concrete production. Some performance disadvantages such as taking more time to harden; and despite being longer, it is weaker than modern concrete.

6. Damascus steel

In the Middle Ages, forged swords made of Damascus steel were made in the Middle East with raw materials, Wootz steel , originating from Asia. It is hard to understand. It is not that by the time of the industrial revolution, the extremely strong metal could be reworked.

A sword made from Damascus steel

The secret of Middle Eastern Damascus steel fabrication technology has just been reappeared in modern labs using electron microscopes. It was first used around 300 BC. By the middle of the 18th century, manufacturing technology seemed to be lost unexplainably.

Nano technology (the technology for making tiny devices) has been used to make Damascus steel, considering that the added materials in the steel making process are to create reactions. studying at the quantum layer, according to archaeologist K. Kris Hirst in an article written for About Education. It is an alchemy .

7. Washing machine in ancient Rome

According to IFL Science, washing is a profession in the Roman Empire, including scrubbing cloth in a lye tank, such as water and urine or mineral water. In the ancient city of Antioch, now in Turkey, scientists found evidence that the washing process could be mechanized. The Romans created the first washing machine in the world from the 1st century.

Picture of washing machine in ancient Rome.(Photo: Wikipedia).

A mechanical washer may consist of a water wheel lifting a large hammer to hammer on the clothes. The canal in Antioch city can supply about 300,000 m3 per second, far exceeding the demand of a conventional foot washer. The energy generated by the channel can support industrial scale washing for 42 pairs of mechanical hammers.

8. Computer in ancient Greece

In 1900, the divers off the Greek island of Antikythera discovered the Antikythera machine . This is a system of 30 bronze gears simulating the cycle of the Moon and Sun. Dating back to the 1st century BC, the machine was in a wooden box. The gear inside the machine rotates the dial outside, allowing the location of the Moon and Sun to be displayed, as well as the appearance of specific stars. The machine can even calculate the leap year.

The Antikythera machine is on display at Athens National Archaeological Museum.(Photos: Wikipedia.)

Although the Babylonians used geometry to monitor Jupiter's movement in 1800 BC, the Antikythera was still the first device to automatically calculate astronomical phenomena . It was not until the 8th century that the mathematician Muhammed al-Fazari created the first celestial altimeter.

9. The first project on space in Iraq

In the 9th century, the capital of Baghdad in Iraq today is a gathering place for scientists, especially astronomers, to gather in a library called " Wisdom House ".

The problem arises when books of scholars written centuries ago from different cultures such as Persia, India and Greece are not uniform.King Khalip Al Ma'mun (786 - 833) decided the only solution was to build al-Shammasiyya astronomical observatory so that scholars in the city could determine the truth.

Pictures of medieval Muslim scholars.(Photo: Wikipedia).

The idea of ​​building an observatory is not new, but this is the first scientific project sponsored by the state. Researchers do not know exactly what instruments are used in the al-Shammasiyya observatory. They can include a solar meter, celestial altimeter and a ruler on the wall that accurately calculates the position of the celestial body in the sky.

Scientists at the time used tools to re-evaluate Ptolemy's mathematical theory from the 2nd century and made many astronomical observations, including the longitude and latitude of 24 fixed stars.