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Technical automation in classical antiquity / Maria Gerolemou.

By: Gerolemou, Maria [author.]Material type: TextTextSeries: Bloomsbury classical studies monographsPublisher: London ; New York : Bloomsbury Academic, 2023Description: 193 pages : illustrations ; 25 cmContent type: text Media type: unmediated Carrier type: volumeISBN: 9781350077591; 9781350303843Subject(s): Greek literature -- History and criticism | Technology in literature | Machinery in literature | Robots in literature | Automatic machinery -- Greece -- History -- To 1500 | Technology -- Greece -- History -- To 1500DDC classification: 880.9/356 LOC classification: PA3015.T4 | G47 2023
Contents:
Introduction -- Natural automation -- Dramatic automation -- Mechanical automation -- Conclusion.
Summary: "Technical automation - the ability of manmade (or god-made) objects to move and act autonomously - is not just the province of engineering or science fiction. In this book, Maria Gerolemou, by taking as her starting point the close semantic and linguistic relevance of technical automation to natural automatism, demonstrates how ancient literature, performance and engineering were often concerned with the way nature and artifice interacted. Moving across epic, didactic, tragedy, comedy, philosophy and ancient science, this is a brilliant assembly of evidence for the power of 'automatic theatre' in ancient literature. Gerolemou starts with the earliest Greek literature of Homer and Hesiod, where Hephaestus' self-moving artefacts in the Iliad reflect natural forces of motion and the manufactured Pandora becomes an autonomous woman. Her second chapter looks at Greek drama, where technical automation is used to augment and undermine nature not only through staging and costume but also in plot devices where statues come to life and humans behave as automatic devices. In the third chapter, Gerolemou considers how the philosophers of the 4th century BCE and the engineers of the Hellenistic period with their mechanical devices contributed to a growing dialogue around technical automation and how it could help its audience glance and marvel at the hidden mechanisms of self-motion. Finally, the book explores the ways technical automation is employed as an ekphrastic technique in Late Antiquity and early Byzantium"-- Provided by publisher.
Holdings
Item type Current library Call number Status Date due Barcode
Books Books The BIAA David H. French Library
Shelf 38 - Main Room 		G1h GEROL 33369 Not for loan BOOKS-000000027486

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Includes bibliographical references (141-185) and index.

Introduction -- Natural automation -- Dramatic automation -- Mechanical automation -- Conclusion.

"Technical automation - the ability of manmade (or god-made) objects to move and act autonomously - is not just the province of engineering or science fiction. In this book, Maria Gerolemou, by taking as her starting point the close semantic and linguistic relevance of technical automation to natural automatism, demonstrates how ancient literature, performance and engineering were often concerned with the way nature and artifice interacted. Moving across epic, didactic, tragedy, comedy, philosophy and ancient science, this is a brilliant assembly of evidence for the power of 'automatic theatre' in ancient literature. Gerolemou starts with the earliest Greek literature of Homer and Hesiod, where Hephaestus' self-moving artefacts in the Iliad reflect natural forces of motion and the manufactured Pandora becomes an autonomous woman. Her second chapter looks at Greek drama, where technical automation is used to augment and undermine nature not only through staging and costume but also in plot devices where statues come to life and humans behave as automatic devices. In the third chapter, Gerolemou considers how the philosophers of the 4th century BCE and the engineers of the Hellenistic period with their mechanical devices contributed to a growing dialogue around technical automation and how it could help its audience glance and marvel at the hidden mechanisms of self-motion. Finally, the book explores the ways technical automation is employed as an ekphrastic technique in Late Antiquity and early Byzantium"-- Provided by publisher.