Steampunk Greeks

[merkavah12]

A new clown on the reviews for "Genesis of Science" is blabbering the usual nonsense, but along with that he seems
to be bringing up a talking point I've been hearing more recently from the usual suspects: that the greeks discovered steam power
and were only stopped because of "those mean old xians!".

www.amazon.com/review/R3CG7TIKUTOSD5/ref=cm_cr_rev_detmd_pl?ie=UTF8&asin=1596981555&cdForum=Fx2BSV5D6MADU30&cdMsgID=MxY4G19LJY6KDF&cdMsgNo=40&cdPage=4&cdSort=oldest&cdThread=Tx3HV5QZ7DXB5AI&store=books#MxY4G19LJY6KDF

Let's not forget that even though the Ancient Greeks have discovered the power of steam, because of Christianity it took about 18 centuries until this power was used technologically!

Is this a new thing?

[James Hannam]

Feb 21, 2015 19:31:02 GMT merkavah12 said:

A new clown on the reviews for "Genesis of Science" is blabbering the usual nonsense, but along with that he seems
to be bringing up a talking point I've been hearing more recently from the usual suspects: that the greeks discovered steam power
and were only stopped because of "those mean old xians!".

Thanks for the head's up and to Himself for replying to the poster.

The steam engine reference, of course, is to Hero of Alexandria's rotating toy from about 100AD.

What I don't get is why Christians are blamed for the toy not turning into a full scale locomotive when this was invented at least two centuries before Christians got a look into the corridors of power.

Among historians the only ones I've found who still think that the Greeks were on the point of a scientific revolution before the rise of Christianity are Richard Carrier (whose chapter on this on the Christian Delusion I refuted over at Quodlibeta a few years back) and an Italian Lucio Russo (who thinks Greek science peaked in the third century BC), whose book I've just obtained in English translation from the ever-wonderful London Library.

Best wishes

James