Editing Hydraulics (section)

=== Greco-Roman world ===

In [[Ancient Greece]], the Greeks constructed sophisticated water and hydraulic power systems. An example is a construction by [[Eupalinos]], under a public contract, of a watering channel for [[Samos]], the [[Tunnel of Eupalinos]]. An early example of the usage of hydraulic wheel, probably the earliest in Europe, is the Perachora wheel (3rd century BC).<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Tomlinson |first1=R. A. |title=The Perachora Waterworks: Addenda |journal=The Annual of the British School at Athens |volume=71 |year=2013 |pages=147–8 |jstor=30103359 |doi=10.1017/S0068245400005864 |s2cid=129173283 }}</ref>

In [[Greco-Roman Egypt]], the construction of the first hydraulic machine [[automata]] by [[Ctesibius]] (flourished c. 270 BC) and [[Hero of Alexandria]] (c. 10 – 80 AD) is notable. Hero describes several working machines using hydraulic power, such as the [[force pump]], which is known from many Roman sites as having been used for raising water and in fire engines.<ref>Museum, Victoria and Albert. "Catalogue of the mechanical engineering collection in the Science Division of the Victoria and Albert Museum, South Kensington, with descriptive and historical notes." Ulan Press. 2012.</ref>

[[File:Segovia Aqueduct.JPG|thumb|250px|[[Aqueduct of Segovia]], a 1st-century AD masterpiece]]

In the [[Roman Empire]], different hydraulic applications were developed, including public water supplies, innumerable [[Aqueduct (water supply)|aqueduct]]s, power using watermills and [[hydraulic mining]]. They were among the first to make use of the [[siphon]] to carry water across valleys, and used [[hushing]] on a large scale to prospect for and then extract metal [[ore]]s. They used [[lead]] widely in [[plumbing]] systems for domestic and public supply, such as feeding [[thermae]].{{citation needed|date=November 2016}}

Hydraulic mining was used in the gold-fields of northern Spain, which was conquered by [[Augustus]] in 25 BC. The alluvial [[gold-mine]] of [[Las Medulas]] was one of the largest of their mines. At least seven long aqueducts worked it, and the water streams were used to erode the soft deposits, and then wash the tailings for the valuable gold content.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/803|title=Las Médulas|last=Centre|first=UNESCO World Heritage|website=Whc.unesco.org|language=en|access-date=2017-06-13}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.patrimoniocastillayleon.com/en/las-medulas|title=Las Médulas|date=2014-10-30|work=Castilla y León World Heritage UNESCO|access-date=2017-06-13|language=es-ES}}</ref>