Prometheus

Which of these would you make a gift of to Caesar Augustus?

  • Total voters
    34

Tynnin

If you could by some quirk of fate or science travel back in time and deliver a vital piece of information to Caesar Augustus what would that be?

I know we all have our favorite civilization (my own, as I’m sure it’s no shocker to most who know me, are the Celts) but to keep the poll simple I just threw a dart at my library and picked Rome – however, if you must, feel free to choose your “Gift” and explain who you would rather have receive it.
 

Forum Lurker

I went for the steam engine, because it's the one most likely to result in social reform. Rome was, at that time, pretty much built on the backs of slaves. If steam-powered machinery replaces the need for slaves, and spurs the economy heavily (the impact on trade and transport alone would do this, let alone machining and mass-production), you have an enormous lower class and a sudden influx of wealth at once, possibly leading to the creation of a genuine middle class and setting the stage for real reform.
 

Mike Stearns

I'd have to go with either the steam engine for the reason mentioned by Forum Lurker or gun powder. Dealing with the Germanic tribes wouldn't be a problem if the Legions were armed with muskets and cannons.
 

Syphon

steam engine

I have to go for the steam engine as I have a TL going along these lines.

One problem I have found with my TL is the lack of known metals and as such my TL has been paused while I decide how these metals are discovered.
In OTL most of the metals we know today that were used in the industrial revolution were discovered after the 1500's.
One way to leed to there discovery is the discovery and use of electricity amonst other things but this needs some of the metals that need to be discovered.

If anybody has any ideas just drop me a line. :D :D
 
Thande

Thande

Donor
If I'm honest, I'd give him a kick in the gadanganangas.

Now if it was someone like Constantine or Justinian, that's a different matter. A printing press, I think, and instructions on how to make more.
 
Thande

Thande

Donor
To be honest I just thought of it myself.

But I think that in the long term it could be more influential than gunpowder or the steam engine.

And it might lead to a more decentralised and healthier Church (i.e. no Reformation needed, so no religious conflict, and easier evangelisation of barbarian neighbours).
 

Abdul Hadi Pasha

Banned
All of you that said "steam engine" aren't thinking very clearly. It wouldn't operate long before it broke down and nobody knew how to maintain it or manufacture spare parts.
 

Tynnin

Well, perhaps in that case we can say that along with the gift of the Steam Engine - or what have you - that the benifactor also bestows the knowledge of how to build more.

I must say I agree with the your printing press statement - personally I think the spread of knowledge in whatever form it takes would probably have the most far reaching and long lasting impact.
 
Thande

Thande

Donor
On my above post that should have been "less religious conflict", not "no religious conflict", which is a tad optimistic. :eek:
 

Faeelin

Abdul Hadi Pasha said:
All of you that said "steam engine" aren't thinking very clearly. It wouldn't operate long before it broke down and nobody knew how to maintain it or manufacture spare parts.
Click to expand...

Agree.

I vote Printing Press.
 

Forum Lurker

Abdul Hadi Pasha said:
All of you that said "steam engine" aren't thinking very clearly. It wouldn't operate long before it broke down and nobody knew how to maintain it or manufacture spare parts.
Click to expand...

The post said "vital piece of information". I was assuming diagrams, schematics, construction and operation methods, etc., not just plunking one down on the floor and leaving.
 

wkwillis

I wouldn't have given him anything. Rome was a huge, slave based empire.
I would have given the barbarians gunpowder because it would have smashed the legions and their shield walls. In a shield wall fight well trained and well armed soldiers can beat ten times their numbers. In a melee fight, they can beat maybe twice their numbers before they overwhelmed.
Gunpowder and bronze cannon kill two men to a gun before the charge arrives, unless they are in a shield wall, and then it is a bloody massacre. Imagine case shot against a legion.
It also makes mining very easy. That means cheaper metals, cheaper coal, faster global warming, more iron tools to cut down forests, cheaper canals, eventually horse drawn railroads with the cheaper iron, and then steam.
Steam technology to pump water out of mines is about four hundred years old. They used wooden cylinders for cheapness, and a negative pressure engine with wadded and oiled cloth as a steam leak caulk.
 

Forum Lurker

Rome might have been slave-based and imperialistic, but it was also civilized. Say what you will about the glories of Germanic or Celtic culture, but they were completely unsuited to maintaining a stable, long-lasting state, which is the single greatest prerequisite for the wealthy, secure, and relatively free culture we enjoy today.
 

Tynnin

I wouldn’t say Rome was the perfect state – we all have are problems – but I think for all its evils it did give more than it took.

However, I wouldn’t agree with the Germanic/Celt comment. They were actually a very civilized people (over all – as could be said about Rome, over all it had great potential). Unfortunately The only thing most people equate to the Germaics/Celts is there ferocity on the battlefield. If not for the invasions, migrations, and enslavements they would have made a fine empire (see Gallic League :) ).

But, having said all of that, I really didn’t intend for this Thread to be turned into a “which culture is better” discussion.
 
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