Industrial revolution before the first millenium!

How about the use of steam engines to pump out mines?

That doesn't seem like something easily doable even with vast, cheap #s of slaves.
 
How about the use of steam engines to pump out mines?

That doesn't seem like something easily doable even with vast, cheap #s of slaves.

[Stalin]There is nothing you cannot do with enough slaves![/Stalin]

More seriously, the Roman mines weren't as tapped-out as the European mines were by 1700. It's not really as much of an issue.
 
[Stalin]There is nothing you cannot do with enough slaves![/Stalin]

More seriously, the Roman mines weren't as tapped-out as the European mines were by 1700. It's not really as much of an issue.

Also, look at the mines they were first used for. Coal mines, with steam engines powered by coal. Ain't gonna power a steam engine with lead or gold.
 
Also, look at the mines they were first used for. Coal mines, with steam engines powered by coal. Ain't gonna power a steam engine with lead or gold.

Wood might work. Wood was used before coal, but the forests were largely destroyed, so coal was used instead.
 
You could also spur on industrialization with the early spread and dissemination of technologies that would improve crop yields and therefore support larger populations and reduce the demand for agricultural labor.

The horse collar, wheel barrow, mouldboard plow, crop rotation and windmills could have all been conceivably adopted with roman technology.
 
What about internal demand?

Traditional methods of manufacture are sufficient to meet internal demand, talk of modernising the whole empire wouldn't work.
Perhaps you could manage this with making one city industrial and selling to the rest but I doubt everywhere else would let it get away with being so rich and propsperous and they'd look to develop themselves so the whole thing would unravel.

Also of course: there just weren't that many people in the empire. Even taking in the whole world the population is quite pitfully low compared to the 18th century.
 
You could also spur on industrialization with the early spread and dissemination of technologies that would improve crop yields and therefore support larger populations and reduce the demand for agricultural labor.

The horse collar, wheel barrow, mouldboard plow, crop rotation and windmills could have all been conceivably adopted with roman technology.

This in itself isn't enough, but definitely a prerequisite. Song China had a large agricultural surplus (no famines to speak of during the Song dynasty, I believe).

Song China also had most of the wealth belonging to the nobility and the merchants, and merchants used to invest broadly, several merchants invested in the same vessel, and each merchant invested in many vessels. Spreading the risks, so to say.

Still, all this wasn't enough for an industrial revolution. Perhaps the bureaucracy was too controlling, or perhaps China was too rich?
 
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Wood might work. Wood was used before coal, but the forests were largely destroyed, so coal was used instead.

I might not be clear .

Steam engines at coal mines make sense since the fuel is the product; your transport costs are basically nil. In the case of any other mines, this is not the case.
 
One of the major obstacles to technological development is the Romans. They had access to a lot of technological innovations, but that was more just conquering people who had these ideas and then using them. If the Romans could take a bit more philosophy from their Greek cousins, it would help immensely and you might actually see Roman mathematicians, inventors, and scientists instead of just generals and hedonists. Then it's just a matter of easing the fall so all of Europe doesn't go into shock for a century or two.
 
I'd like to suggest that in order for these civilizations to truly capitalize on industry the way the West has, it might helpful to have someone come up with a native version of the scientific method. Otherwise, there's a pretty good chance that advances will only appear sporadically, and the new technologies and methods will mostly remain stagnant.
 
I'd like to suggest that in order for these civilizations to truly capitalize on industry the way the West has, it might helpful to have someone come up with a native version of the scientific method. Otherwise, there's a pretty good chance that advances will only appear sporadically, and the new technologies and methods will mostly remain stagnant.

Why?

First, I'd argue that the basics were there in the Hellenistic world.
The Greek World After Alexander/, by Graham Shipley, talks about the use of trial and error in building better war machines; and I am sure this happened elsewhere.
 
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