Steam powered rams in Hellenistic/Roman period?

Question is: Would it have been possible for the Greeks/Romans to develop a steam engine - independent of other technological advances - capable of powering a steam ram?
 
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Question is: Would it have been possible for the Greeks/Romans to develop a steam engine - independent of other technological advances - capable of powering a steam ram?

IIRC the biggest problem would have been metallurgy -- the Greeks and Romans just didn't have the capacity to build an engine capable of withstanding the necessary pressure. (The aeliopile was too small to do any practical work.)
 
If you're asking if Classical craftsmen could build one if given reasonable instructions then the answer is most likely yes (although it'd have to be pretty low pressure and you couldn't pay me to stand next to it). If you're asking if they could develop one in exclusion to other technological advances then I'm a lot more hesitant. A project like that would need a wealthy patron with a clear vision of a technology that didn't exist and significant financial resources to throw at it for years, possibly decades.
 
If large Bronze works like the 100 foot tall Colossus of Rhodes, a Newcomen engine is not technically out of the question to get others thinking about steam power in the classical era
 
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