It is seldom that a book appears which provides an entire missing dimension to human history, but this is one such book. Based upon 33 years of research all over the world, in museums from Stockholm to Shanghai, from Athens to Cairo, and in thousands of books in several languages, Robert Temple has reconstructed a wholly forgotten story: the story of light technology in ancient civilisation. It goes back at least to 2600 BC in Old Kingdom Egypt, and continues throughout Western antiquity. Unknown to our modern archaeologists and historians, a science of optics and a sophisticated technology for the manufacture of lenses was widespread and fundamental in ancient times. It inspired awe in cultures who used it, so that it permeated their mythologies and religions, and led even to a ‘theology of light’ in mediaeval Christianity.Now at last we can know how it was that the earliest Egyptians surveyed their pyramids and other structures with such uncanny precision; they used the equivalent of theodolites with lenses, and were masters of optical surveying techniques. We can also understand how for thousands of years the ancients were able to produce miniature carvings on gems, including some so small they are invisible to the naked eye altogether. The burning mirror by which Archimedes destroyed a Roman fleet has been successfully reconstructed and proved to work. The Greek philosopher Democritus spoke of the moon having mountains and being a second earth because he had viewed it through a rudimentary telescope. A similar instrument was used for studying the moon by the ancient British, and Temple has located many lost crystal lenses in English museums.Myths are explained, and many religious motifs can now be understood for the first time, from the Eye of Cyclops and the Eye of Horus to the fire that Prometheus brought from heaven.This is one of the most revolutionary studies in the history of science and civilisation to be published for decades.

Robert K. G. Temple

Temple, Robert

Random House (UK)

C W Daniel Co Ltd

Arrow Books Ltd

Orbit

United Kingdom and Ireland, United Kingdom

Di 1 ban, London, 2000

London, England, 2000

Reissue edition

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Archaeologists have always insisted most strenuously that lenses did not exist in ancient times. Robert Temples real-life detective story proves them wrong. His research began with the discovery that an ancient artifact in the British Museum, believed to be a piece of rock crystal, had, in fact, been ground to form a lens.
In this fascinating book, one of the most revolutionary studies in the history of science and civilization to be published for decades, Robert Temple reconstructs the story of light technology in ancient civilization. Dating back at least to 2600 BC to Old Kingdom Egypt, but unknown to modern archaeologists and historians, a science of optics and a sophisticated technology for the manufacture of lenses was widespread and fundamental in ancient times. It inspired awe in cultures who used it, so became encoded in their mythologies and religions.
From the Paperback edition.

Archaeologists have always insisted that ancient lenses never existed. Temple's detective work began when he discovered an artefact in the British Museum, believed to be plain rock crystal. He discovered it had been ground to form a lens and proved the true age of optical surveying techniques.

The Author Reconstructs The Story Of Light Technology (including The Science Of Optics And A Sophisticated Technology For The Manufacture Of Lenses) In Ancient Civilization. Robert Temple ; Imtroduction By Sir Arthur C. Clarke. Includes Bibliographical References And Index.

2024-11-17