*This is part one of two of several modern Greek inventions.
When you hear the words "Ancient Greece" what thoughts cross your mind? Mount Olympus? The Parthenon? Socrates? Well yes, these are all things associated with ANCIENT Greece, but would you ever associate any of the following inventions with being thousands of years old? Doubt it!
Here are five "modern" inventions that were first produced by the ancient Greeks.
1. Odometers
Hey, there were no cars in ancient Greece!
Nope. However the odometer originally was invented for cranes (which the Greeks also first created!) It dates as far back as the Punic War, and was a miraculous innovation for the creation of roadways, marking road length and drawing out miles.
2. Alarm Clocks
You might hate hearing that annoying ringing or buzzing noise first thing in the morning, but imagine if you woke up to hearing tiny stones smacking a tympani? Modern alarms depend on electricity, but Greek alarms ran on water (hence the term 'water clock.') The alarm system was created by Plato, who used his clock as a reminder of his dawn lectures. Modern day clock hands are also from Greece, and were created by another philosopher called Ctesibius.
3. Protractors
The ancient Greeks were a people obsessed with precision, and their contribution to modern geometry shows this. All facts had to be deducted by reasoning, not just estimated. Pythagoras, Euclid, and Archimedes are the most well known of all. (If you haven't heard of the Pythagorean theorem, I recommend staying awake in math class!)
4. Vending machines
Potato chips have only been around since 1853, but the machine which we get them out of dates back to the time of Aristotle (or at the very least, Hero of Alexandria.) A person placed a coin into the slot, which then fell into a pan. The pan pushed weight onto a lever, which activated a valve, depositing its contents. Once the coin fell off, a counterweight would harness the lever up and turn off the valve. The first item to be sold? Holy water.
5. Showerheads
Next time you decide to wake up to a morning shower, you can thank the Greeks for your fresh clean water. Not only were they the first to use our modern-day showers, they also invented the modern plumbing system. This allowed water to be pumped into and flushed out of communal showers. Used by both elites and commoners, the Greek showers were some of the first "luxury" inventions to be used by all.
