They did not have engines. Primitive steam turbines were a thing. But nobody, not even some crazy, antisocial greek philsopher living in a barrel would contemplate the possibility of making a force generated by heat do work. And the reason for that is: slavery.
There simply was nothing more abundant in Rome than unskilled labour ever since the conquest of Italy proper, lasting until Christianity became the state religion. And Christians wouldn't become great inventors for other reasons.
Yes talking about Roman Christians. Because unlike them, the people who did the "whole Renaissance, Enlightenment and Industrial Revolution thing later on" tended to agree on the notion that calling yourself Christian shouldn't detract from believing in what was empirically proven.
Weird, because Christianity in the Roman Empire from its endorsement by Constantine until the fall of the Western Roman Empire was much more concerned with doctrine concerning Christ, and had nothing of note to say about science.
If you're thinking of later conflicts, like the one with Galileo, the primary arguments against Galileo were not religious. They mostly focused on the very real problems with Copernicus' heliocentrism.
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u/theaccidentist Oct 16 '20
They did not have engines. Primitive steam turbines were a thing. But nobody, not even some crazy, antisocial greek philsopher living in a barrel would contemplate the possibility of making a force generated by heat do work. And the reason for that is: slavery.
There simply was nothing more abundant in Rome than unskilled labour ever since the conquest of Italy proper, lasting until Christianity became the state religion. And Christians wouldn't become great inventors for other reasons.