A reconstructed model of the hydraulic telegraph, with messages attached to rod, at the Thessaloniki Science Center and Technology Museum.Gts-tg/Wikimedia Commons
Posted on 11/02/2025 10:54:11 AM PST by SunkenCiv
...Tacitus, a Hellenistic writer on the art of war, invented the hydraulic telegraph.
It used a set of predetermined messages attached to a vertical rod floating in a container of water. A twin of the system sat with at the second location, and its controller could mimic the messages sent by the first via a signal sent by torchlight.
The system was adopted in situations that required urgent communication, such as war, but it had its drawbacks... the optical telegraph, also known as a semaphore telegraph, already used long-distance, line-of-sight signaling for rapid communication, typically with torches. With a predetermined set of signals, details about certain battle conditions could be communicated much faster than a horseback rider could gallop to deliver a message.
Yet, the system wasn't perfect. These optical signals could lack specificity and could lead to costly mistakes on the battlefield.
This weakness so bothered Aeneas Tacitus, one of the earliest writers on the art of war in the Hellenistic period, that he set out to seriously upgrade the method... Greek historian Polybius detailed the result of Tacitus's ingenuity -- today we call it the hydraulic telegraph...
The two signalers would then coordinate using torches. By raising them up, they each released water at the same time, and once the message reached the lip of the vessel, a torch was raised again, and the flow of water stopped.
Tactitus's invention... was a transformative, and it saw major action, appearing several times in the historical record. For example, the Carthaginians used the Greek-derived system during the First Punic War... as a means of communication between Sicily and Carthage. Although this gave Carthage an undisputed communication advantage, it couldn't quite overcome Rome's overwhelming naval power.
(Excerpt) Read more at popularmechanics.com ...
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A reconstructed model of the hydraulic telegraph, with messages attached to rod, at the Thessaloniki Science Center and Technology Museum.Gts-tg/Wikimedia Commons
Thanks for the link.
I just set up a bunch of additional "On Deck" folders to break up the possible future articles by subject area. The count had risen over 140.
Cool!
I wholeheartedly agree.
The 1600 figure is wrong. I’m only bringing it up because some nitpicking [characterization omitted] is going to bring it up. Then a couple other ones will, to throw everyone off the trail of the fact that it’s the same dunce under multiple nicks.
ηλεκτρον (elektron) is the greek word for amber
amber if rubbed with certain materials creates static electricity.
electrum is the latin word for amber. Which in modern latin is known as electricus [adj] coined by William Gilbert from electrum, which later gave rise to the use of electric.
If they weren’t so busy corn holing one another, they could have discovered electricity and made a real telegraph.
Wavin’ and hollerin’ are still in style. At least around here.
I have never seen that before. It is downright clever. What was the propagation delay at 10km?
“What was the propagation delay at 10km?”
33 microseconds
Pretty good, better than texting.
But, you have to add in water fill wait time and human response times.
I'd never heard of it either. Looks amazing. But, it seems like it didn't actually accomplish much. Maybe it just seems that way because Carthage got driven out of Sicily and eventually the city itself razed by the Romans.
You had to have a supply of water around as well, and a bucket. I bet families didn’t sit around the dinner table pouring buckets of water into a standing pipe.
I think it would be very difficult to prevent leaks in the system that would throw off the water level. Its not like they had continuously extruded hose at the time.
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