Ancient Discoveries Episode 4: Ancient Tank Tech
The history of the elephant as the ancient tank, right up to the addition by the Indian emperors of a fully rotational cannon. The ancient battering ram - the king of siege machines - how did it work, and could the ancients have really discovered the secrets of chemical fire-proofing? The amazing flexibility of the medieval fully armoured cavalry knight. An investigation into English civil war bullet-proof armour. Anti elephant rockets - how the rocket ended the elephants 2000 year domination of the battlefield.
ABOUT THE SERIES
Ancient Discoveries series - selected episodes
Shot on location in the Mediterranean and the Middle East, Ancient Discoveries unearths amazing technologies we think of as modern, but which actually have their origins in antiquity. The series travels back in time to uncover remarkably sosphisticated inventions and to celebrate the ancient engineers whose ingenuity laid the foundations for todays technology.
In the ancient texts of Homer and the walls of Egyptian tombs lie tantalizing clues that are causing historians to re-think just how sophisticated centuries-old societies were. Drawings show that the Egyptians may have unlocked the secret to flight with primitive helicopter designs, and that the Chinese had a “wind car” in the 6th century AD that could transport them over land at up to 30 miles per hour. Even more amazing are 600-year-old designs from Italy for a Batmobile-like “rocket car” that appeared to be fueled by gunpowder.
Mechanical maids that could fetch water for people on their own were created by the inventor Philos in the Third century, a concept we still struggle to perfect today! And discoveries about ancient machines of warfare give a new vision of what truly defined the Egyptian empire. Ancient Discoveries unearths new clues that connect the present with the past in more startling ways than we had ever imagined.
