Ancient Discoveries.....0_o

[Ahovking]

the Ancients (Egypt, China,Greece,Rome) Discover many inventions which are thought to be modern have ancient roots or in some cases may have been lost and then reinvented.

Do you believe that the Ancients did do all of this and if they did how did they got lost in time.

meany Ancients Discovers were

Ancient Computer (This episode investigates the Antikythera Mechanism, a computer-like device that may have been used to calculate the movements of stars and planets. It also highlights ancient inventors Archimedes and Ctesibius)

Cars & Planes (This episode examines transportation technology that existed in the ancient world. It discusses a Greek railway, Chinese wind-powered vehicles, and possibility of flying machines in Greece, Egypt and China)

Robots (An examination of ancient robotics includes a look at the automata of ancient China, the Hellenistic engineers Heron and Philon, the Arabic engineer Al-Jazari, the Byzantine Empire, and Leonardo da Vinci. Also includes reconstructions of ancient inventions)

Lost Science of the Bible (Investigating Bible stories to find if they have basis in scientific fact; determining Goliath's size and considering the technology of the sling David used to fell him; Tower of Babel; levitating a replica of the Ark of the Covenant)

Airborne Assault (Assault from the air didn't begin with the era of the airplane. The kite bomb was a medieval siege weapon that dropped bombs from a kite over cities. Ancient bouncing bombs that actually skipped across water terrorized shipping in Turkey in 1453. Ancient China's whistling arrows, the world's earliest rocket-powered explosive missile, and the earliest known successful parachute, are also examined.)

Ancient Discoveries​

Ancient Discoveries is a documentary television series that premiered on December 21, 2003 on The History Channel. The program focuses on ancient technologies. Ancient Discoveries was made for The History Channel by Wild Dream Films based in Cardiff in the UK. Much of the filming was done on location across the world. The series uses contributions from archaeologists and other experts, footage of historical sites and artifacts, computer generated reconstructions and dramatized reconstructions along with experiments and tests on reconstructed artifacts.

 

[duckduckswan]

Ancient Discoveries is a documentary television series that premiered on December 21, 2003 on The History Channel. The program focuses on ancient technologies. Ancient Discoveries was made for The History Channel by Wild Dream Films based in Cardiff in the UK. Much of the filming was done on location across the world. The series uses contributions from archaeologists and other experts, footage of historical sites and artifacts, computer generated reconstructions and dramatized reconstructions along with experiments and tests on reconstructed artifacts.

-emphasis mine.

In my personal opinion the History Channel is the poor man's Discovery when it comes to documentaries and likes to go with heresay over facts in some instances. I don't have any examples off the top of my head sadly. Sounds like an interesting premise though, why indeed have we lost knowledge from antiquity? I'd be curious if they have Greek Fire Boats on there.

 

[Masada]

Yeah, history channel is usually terrible. That said, it sometimes has quality programs but this doesn't sound like one.

 

[Lord Baal]

Yeah, history channel is usually terrible. That said, it sometimes has quality programs but this doesn't sound like one.

I've seen the program he's talking about. It is far from a quality program. With the exception of its mentions of Greek Fire - which it incorrectly attributes to the Ancient Greeks, rather than the Byzantines - and its piece on the use of poison gas in counter-siege operations by the Parthians, it's essentially bollocks.

Ancient Computer: The Antikythera Mechanism is a planetarium, not a computer. The abacus is a much better example of an ancient computer, seeing as how it actually is a computer.

Cars and Planes: I've seen some decent theories about flying machines - airships and balloons, mostly - in ancient Peru, which would potentially explain the Nazca Lines. With the exception of kites, which may well have been used in Egypt as well as, obviously, China, the technology for flying machines simply didn't exist until very recently. It requires lightweight materials which were unknown at the time.

Robots: The idea of mechanical automatons is a common psychological trait among many human cultures, as is the belief in mysterious beings from the heavens. But there is absolutely no evidence whatsoever to support the existence of such devices. Most mentions of them are in poems. Using the Odyssey as a source - as this program does - is ridiculous, as we know for a fact that its author was full of it. Unless you've noticed two monsters guarding the passage between Sicily and Italy lately. There is some merit to claims of primitive automtons in the Middle Ages, but they hardly qualified as robots.

Lost Science of The Bible: Goliath was no taller than my father-in-law. The Dead Sea Scrolls state that he was slightly less than two metres tall, not the more than three metres claimed in modern Bibles. This is due to either a translation error, or simply a bald-faced lie on the part of copiers. As for the sling, they're simple devices. I've used them. They're made of leather, and were used as weapons for hunting as far back as the Ice Age. They'll easily kill a man of any size, especially if the stone cracks him in the head.

The Tower of Babel is simply one of the many ziggurats (step pyramids) constructed in Babylonia and Sumeria. The Hebrews had a great deal of contact with these peoples, most of it negative, so making up a story about them that paints them in a negative light isn't exactly unusual.

As for the Ark, it is certainly an unusual device. It appears to be a one-way radio of some kind. As Belloche (sp?) said in Raiders of the Lost Ark, it may well have been intended as "a radio for talking to God." But the damn thing doesn't levitate. I know, I've seen replicas of it too, made according to the same instructions given in the Bible.

Airborne Assault: All of this, with the exception of the bouncing bombs - I don't recall them, are they talking about Greek Fire there as well? - and the parachute are true. Considering the kite-bomb and the whistling arrow weren't invented until after the Chinese Three Kingdoms period, they're hardly "ancient" anyway.

 

[Harvin87]

Yeah, history channel is usually terrible. That said, it sometimes has quality programs but this doesn't sound like one.

Yea, history channel is sometimes unbelievable , I can't stand it anymore.

 

[Cheezy the Wiz]

I see they've come up with another non-Americans-in-WWII show to promote the idea that they not the Hitler Channel.

 

[LightSpectra]

Let me hop aboard this History Channel hatewagon.

Basically they've become a complete trashy channel, because they seem to figure that sensationalism to the Nth degree gets ratings. When they're not airing Ice Road Truckers (which I swear is on at least five hours a day), it's all conspiracy theories now; "the Roman Empire didn't exist, it was aliens," "Catholicism inherited its beliefs and traditions from pagan religions," "JFK's murder was predicted by Nostradamus," and other putridities.

 

[Joecoolyo]

Let me hop aboard this History Channel hatewagon.

Basically they've become a complete trashy channel, because they seem to figure that sensationalism to the Nth degree gets ratings. When they're not airing Ice Road Truckers (which I swear is on at least five hours a day), it's all conspiracy theories now; "the Roman Empire didn't exist, it was aliens," "Catholicism inherited its beliefs and traditions from pagan religions," "JFK's murder was predicted by Nostradamus," and other putridities.

This.

 

[Louis XXIV]

Every so often, they'll have a good program on. The problem is they fill most of the day with crap, so it's hard to find the good one within.

BTW, for a good example of an ancient invention, the Greeks invented a flame thrower during the Peloponnesean War according to Thucydides. I've never read the description (assuming there is a good one), so I've always wondered how practical it was. It did get the Athenians (iirc) to abandon a fort and that was a plus considering how terrible Greek siege warfare was at the time.

 

[Ajidica]

I agree, the history chanel for the most part seems to be more the History Fail Channel. I mentioned in a different thread in one of my classes we watched some of their movies on the Gods of Greece and Scandanavia. Most of it was mediocre crap to give you a brief overview of the Gods and such, accompanies by such overused lines as 'But what is the connection to reality.', 'Christianity used their ideas', and of course, 'buff muscle guy without a shirt to represent [insert greek god]' crap. The worst was in a movie on Thor. They depicted the Carolingian 'oppressors' of Nordic Paganism as 2nd Crusade era Templars and the Vikings were using Lateen (triangular) sail longships.
They do occasionaly have a few good shows on. I remember one on the Soviet Space Program. Most of the history was probably mediocre but it had alot of nice soviet era footage which is always a plus.

 

[ZeletDude]

The history channel is pretty non historic now, I mean, Ice road truckers, Axe Men and some new shooting show, and something where they slice machines in half.. and modern marvels while its good isnt really history :\ (at modern marvels the other shows are crap)

 

[Dudemeister]

Last time I checked the History Channel out i saw some show about two teams of trucks who competed in brining log to wherever the fastest or whatever.

I had to check a few times if it really was the right channel...

 

[bombshoo]

This is diverging more off topic but.....

I can personally testify that Catholic school religion and theology classes are terrible and teach the subject very poorly.

Most of the Catholic schools (where I live at least) are very tightly knit communities and as a result the teachers often come from their own former students and the administration is usually very reluctant to fire them or force them to retire. This of course meant we had a lot of senile and plain old incompetent teachers that also felt their job was extremely secure. As a result, many of the teachers of the subject were not the least bit shy of mixing in their own personal beliefs and politics into their curriculum. I actually stopped going to Church before I was even in high school and I probably understood the religion better than most of my peers simply from reading a general history book every now and then...

Now to get back on topic a bit...What are some actual good theories or readings on the first human voyages to Australia (and Tasmania)? I've heard some theories (both plausible and crazy) but what is actually the consensus (if there is one) these days on the boats used?

 

[Plotinus]

Moderator Action: I've split the argument about Bertrand Russell into a new thread in OT, and the one about saints into a new thread in this forum.

 

[Birdjaguar]

The dilemma of the history channel is their desperate need for content. it is a constant problem for all the cable shows. If you could provide a regular source of good content to them, I'm pretty sure you could make a good living.

 

[Centurio]

Unless you've noticed two monsters guarding the passage between Sicily and Italy lately.

Am I really the only one? I'd better go see the doctor...

 

[Ajidica]

The history chanel doesn't really need more content, it needs a better way of presenting it. Example: I saw this one program on one religous network about Pope Leo and his influence on the early church and canon law. It was mainly one guy talking with a couple of pictures occasionaly, and it was actualy quite interesting.
They already have the whole of history to draw from, I don't think they lack topics.

 

[LightSpectra]

There's probably upwards of a thousand graduate students in the field of history that would love to make a History Channel documentary for free, just for something to put on their resume. The problem with that is that it doesn't have enough religious conspiracy theories or aliens for the HC's standards.

I really liked that show Decisive Battle though, where they recreated ancient battles using Rome: Total War. That's the proper way to mix historical fact with sparkly lights that plebians can watch without falling asleep. You can see most of the episodes of it on YouTube.

 

[ugabug]

There's probably upwards of a thousand graduate students in the field of history that would love to make a History Channel documentary for free, just for something to put on their resume. The problem with that is that it doesn't have enough religious conspiracy theories or aliens for the HC's standards.

I really liked that show Decisive Battle though, where they recreated ancient battles using Rome: Total War. That's the proper way to mix historical fact with sparkly lights that plebians can watch without falling asleep. You can see most of the episodes of it on YouTube.

I loved that show it was one of the things that got me interested in history when i was a kid.

 

[LightSpectra]

For lazy people that don't want to go to YouTube to see what I'm talking about, here's one of the episodes:

Spoiler :

Link to video.

Link to video.

Link to video.