Comment by jcranmer

9 months ago

> kicked off the industrial revolution early.

Short answer: no. Longer answer: read https://acoup.blog/2022/08/26/collections-why-no-roman-indus... (which covers it better than I could, from an actual historian).

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jcranmer

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90s_dev  9 months ago

I meant technologically not economically.

  • jcranmer  9 months ago

    Technologically, probably not. The first invention of the Industrial Revolution isn't a steam engine, it's the flying shuttle, and the Romans are using far more primitive looms than 18th century Europe is, and I'm not sure their looms could have taken advantage of the flying shuttle.

    • MandieD  9 months ago

      First, they’d need spinning wheels. Even with the primitive looms the Romans were using, far more labor went into producing the yarn (processing flax, cleaning wool, spinning with hand spindles)