Editing Engine (section)

=== Antiquity ===
[[Simple machine]]s, such as the [[Mace (bludgeon)|club]] and [[oar]] (examples of the [[lever]]), are [[Prehistory|prehistoric]]. More complex engines using [[human power]], [[Working animals|animal power]], [[Water wheel|water power]], [[Windmill|wind power]] and even steam power date back to antiquity. Human power was focused by the use of simple engines, such as the [[Capstan (nautical)|capstan]], [[windlass]] or [[Treadwheel|treadmill]], and with [[rope]]s, [[pulley]]s, and [[block and tackle]] arrangements; this power was transmitted usually with the forces [[mechanical advantage|multiplied]] and the speed [[gear reduction|reduced]]. These were used in [[Crane (machine)|cranes]] and aboard [[ship]]s in [[Ancient Greece]], as well as in [[Mining|mines]], [[Pump|water pumps]] and [[siege engines]] in [[Ancient Rome]]. The writers of those times, including [[Vitruvius]], [[Frontinus]] and [[Pliny the Elder]], treat these engines as commonplace, so their invention may be more ancient. By the 1st century AD, [[cattle]] and [[horse]]s were used in [[Mill (grinding)|mills]], driving machines similar to those powered by humans in earlier times.

According to [[Strabo]], a water-powered mill was built in Kaberia of the [[Parthian Empire|kingdom of Mithridates]] during the 1st century BC. Use of [[water wheel]]s in mills spread throughout the [[Roman Empire]] over the next few centuries. Some were quite complex, with [[aqueduct (bridge)|aqueducts]], [[dam]]s, and [[sluice]]s to maintain and channel the water, along with systems of [[gears]], or toothed-wheels made of wood and metal to regulate the speed of rotation. More sophisticated small devices, such as the [[Antikythera Mechanism]] used complex trains of gears and dials to act as calendars or predict astronomical events. In a poem by [[Ausonius]] in the 4th century AD, he mentions a stone-cutting saw powered by water. [[Hero of Alexandria]] is credited with many such [[wind]] and [[steam]] powered machines in the 1st century AD, including the [[Aeolipile]] and the [[vending machine]], often these machines were associated with worship, such as animated altars and automated temple doors.