Die älteste Getriebedarstellung der Welt Ammianos, der „Daedalos“ und Erfinder aus Hierapolis in Phrygien

Klaus GREWE   397–402 | Download

Abstract: There was a huge demand for marble slabs in Antiquity in order to cover the floors and to face the walls in rich villas and especially in baths. Only some literary sources yet give information on its production. The archaeological finds of two marble workshops in Gerasa and Ephesus provided the first insight into the production process in the Byzantine period. The decrypting of a relief from Hierapolis in Phrygia (2nd half of the 3rd century AD) has made it possible to see technical sophistication with which this problem was attended to in Antiquity: The transmission of power from a waterwheel on a double-stone saw with the aid of gears, a crankshaft and pushrods is finely depicted in the relief. This is the first pictorial representation of a gear drive in the history of technology.

Keywords: Hierapolis; Ammianos; waterwheel; gear drive; double-stone saw.

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