[HN Gopher] Why no Roman industrial revolution?
       ___________________________________________________________________
        
       Why no Roman industrial revolution?
        
       Author : jseliger
       Score  : 23 points
       Date   : 2023-07-28 21:43 UTC (1 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (rootsofprogress.org)
 (TXT) w3m dump (rootsofprogress.org)
        
       | yakubin wrote:
       | The collapse of mathematical thought that was the Middle Ages
       | actually began with a huge slow-down in hellenistic (Roman)
       | times, i.e. the Middle Ages was more of a continuation of a
       | trend. I'm not convinced that Rome on its own would develop the
       | necessary mathematics to drive progress forward.
        
       | libraryofbabel wrote:
       | Don't bother with this amateurish article and instead just read
       | the work it's responding to, which is Bret Devereaux's fantastic
       | essay on the topic https://acoup.blog/2022/08/26/collections-why-
       | no-roman-indus... . Actually by a professional historian and
       | expert on the Roman Empire, and a lovely piece of writing.
        
       | dkural wrote:
       | The linked article dismisses Robert Allen's explanations,
       | unfairly. I find Allen's work to be very clearly articulated and
       | convincing. The question many economic historians ask is, why the
       | British as opposed to the Dutch, or the previously-wealthy states
       | in Italy? etc. The Dutch comparison is especially important,
       | because prior to the Industrial Revolution the Dutch were
       | actually more "advanced" on most metrics.
        
       | isykt wrote:
       | One precursor to the Industrial Revolution was the bubonic
       | plague. When the Black Death wiped out so much of Europe, labor
       | became more expensive, and farming required the invention of
       | tools. Did Rome have any similar events?
        
         | felipellrocha wrote:
         | A ton. The Antonine plague comes to mind.
        
           | mitthrowaway2 wrote:
           | A bit later, after the fall of the western empire, but the
           | Plague of Justinian is another significant one.
           | 
           | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plague_of_Justinian
        
         | rjsw wrote:
         | Rome had slaves, they didn't get the option to move jobs for
         | better pay.
        
       | karpierz wrote:
       | tl;dr: The author starts with the assumption that the Industrial
       | Revolution is inevitable, and uses that to conclude that the
       | Industrial Revolution would've inevitably happened, while
       | dismissing a bunch of other authors who put a lot more thought
       | into their writing.
        
       | holoduke wrote:
       | Because no steam engines. No steam engines means lots of labour
       | work in the metal mines. Yield was therefor insufficient to
       | produce large machinery needed to spark the industrial
       | revolution.
        
         | [deleted]
        
       | black_13 wrote:
       | [dead]
        
       ___________________________________________________________________
       (page generated 2023-07-28 23:00 UTC)