Economic calculations played an important role in shaping scientific and technological developments in the Hellenistic period. In an era of cheap, abundant labor, the wealthy owners of farmland, mines, and other economic assets had little incentive to invest in costly, and potentially risky, new production methods and technologies. Instead, they increased their profits by expanding the scale of their operations, acquiring more land or more slaves as their means allowed. As a result, the period saw little technological innovation in agriculture and manufacturing. In sharp contrast, Hellenistic rulers saw every reason to invest in new military technology. War was both constant and extremely expensive. If a new weapon or technique could reduce the number of soldiers needed to defend a strategic outpost or decrease the time it took to force the capitulation of an enemy city, it was well worth the cost of its development.

This dynamic shaped the actions and activities of Hellenistic scholars and thinkers. Dependent on elite patronage for their support, they focused their attention on the application of theoretical insights to military problems, knowing that potential patrons would be far more interested in a new catapult or siege engine than an improved plow or crop rotation system. Thus, while Archimedes was the foremost military inventor of his day, he was not alone in devoting his time to the development of weapons of war. In fact, the Hellenistic period was, in many ways, an era of technological warfare, one in which the fortunes of battle hinged as much on the power of machines as they did on the bravery of men. Think about these issues as you read the accounts of the siege of Syracuse included in this activity. How did Archimedes’s inventions shift the balance of power in favor of Syracuse’s defenders? How did the Romans respond to the unexpected problems they encountered?