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The Wind in Antiquity

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Wind Science and Engineering

Part of the book series: Springer Tracts in Civil Engineering ((SPRTRCIENG))

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Abstract

This chapter addresses the will of men, which took place in the period that goes from the beginning of history to the Renaissance, to know the wind, to exploit its beneficial aspects and to protect themselves from its harmful effects. Accordingly, it describes a mythological view that emphasises the dualism between the wind as a source of life and as a means of death, the advent of a naturalistic speculation inspired by observation and the first scientific concepts, prodromes of experience, mainly focused on mathematical, mechanical and astronomical problems, as well as the innate interest of man for weather knowledge and forecasting. At the same time, it describes the first man’s attempts to exploit the wind power as an energy source, equipping boats with sails, using atmospheric currents to support kites, taking advantage of wind power to operate mill blades for multiple forms of work. In the same spirit of profound dualism, the development of architectural principles inspired by local climate is described as well as the mechanical role of wind actions and effects on buildings. The chapter ends dealing with the outstanding interest of Leonardo da Vinci towards wind and his studies on fluid and solid mechanics, meteorological instrumentation, aerodynamics and human flight.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    A description of the harp is contained in Liber IX, Magia Phonotactica, Machinamentum X, Aliam Machinam harmonicam Automatam concinnare, quae nullo rotarum, follium, vel Cilindri phonotactici ministerio, sed solo vento & aerte perpetuum quondam harmoniosum sonum excitet.

  2. 2.

    Orientals argue that five-element theory (“pentchatouan”) was born in India thanks to Kanada. From this conception, comes the atomistic theory.

  3. 3.

    Someone described Aristotle as a proponent of the experimental method for his sentence: “Experience must give its own matter to be elaborated and converted into general principles; logic is not the instrument that must provide the form of science.”

  4. 4.

    Throughout the classical era, there were two wind roses in the Mediterranean, one referring to twelve directions, the other to eight. According to some researchers, the wind rose of twelve winds originated from the Mesopotamian Zodiac, namely of 12 signs. Moving the Zodiac from heaven to earth organises the territory in the image of heaven, attracting the favour of gods. It is possible that Aristotle was influenced by this conception.

  5. 5.

    Bede the Venerable introduced the term “calculator” to indicate a man dedicated to the calculation of time.

  6. 6.

    Saint Thomas Aquinas , one of the most important philosophers and theologians of the Middle Ages, was the author of Summa theologica (1269). Alongside a discovery of the difference in weight of hot air and cold air, there is also the statement that wind and storms are acts of the devil.

  7. 7.

    Interest in vibrations was born with the discovery of the first musical instruments (Sect. 3.10). Music aroused great interest, from 4000 BC, with the Chinese, the Hindu, the Japanese, and probably the Egyptians. From 3000 BC, the first strings, especially harps, appeared on the walls of Egyptian tombs; one of these, housed in the British Museum, comes from Ur and dates back to 2600 BC. Our current musical concepts come from the Greek civilisation, where musicians and philosophers studied the laws of sound production to improve instruments.

  8. 8.

    Aristotle explained the motion of a falling body stating that, after leaving its own motor, the movement is maintained by the medium in which it moved.

  9. 9.

    Having visited the Acropolis, Marcus Vitruvius Pollio (70–23 BC) provided a precise description of the Tower of the Winds. This showed interest in the wind vane, evidently an instrument unknown to the Romans.

  10. 10.

    Two books, written by Wan Chen in the third century AD and by Kang Tai , around 260 AD, describe Chinese ships that avoided mutual shielding of sails, by staggering the positions of the masts, on either side of the ship. A book by Li Ch’üan in 759 AD states that a board was used that was lowered into the water on the leeward side of the ship, to increase its stability. This arrangement appeared in Europe around 1570, built by the Dutch and Portuguese, who traded with China.

  11. 11.

    It is said that in 559, Yuan Huang-T’ou was the first to come back to earth unharmed, after a 2-mile flight. However, he was left to die of hunger.

  12. 12.

    In Manuscript Z, Marco Polo wrote that when a ship had to undertake a voyage, a test was carried out to find out how the trade would go. A grating was taken and attached to its corners, joined at the other end to form a cable. When the wind was strong, an idiot or drunk was sought to tie to the frame. If the frame lifted into the air, it was said that the ship would have a fast, safe voyage. If the frame did not take off, it was said that no merchant would go on board.

  13. 13.

    The major chronicle of English windmills, History of corn milling, was published by Richard Bennett (1844–1900) and John Elton (1898–1904) [37]. It shows that many stories about ancient mills were false, especially that of the concession of a mill to Croyland Abbey in 833. The first reliable reference to a windmill appeared in the Chronicles of Foycelyn de Brakelond and deals with the mill built in 1191 by Dean Herbert at Bury St. Edmunds.

  14. 14.

    According to another interpretation, the diagonal ducts (that cross the pyramid from South to North), are aligned with the stars (which played an important role in Egyptian astronomy and religion), to allow the Pharaoh’s spirit to reach the heavens.

  15. 15.

    The opening on the windward side is pressurised, that is, with a force from the outside, inwards. The opening on the leeward side is in suction, with a force from the inside, outwards. The air passes through the building due to the pressure gradient between the two openings.

  16. 16.

    In Greek culture the basic elements are physical substances (Sect. 2.2). In Chinese culture, the five essential elements have an energy meaning and evolve so that water is turned into wood, then fire, earth, metal, and finally back into water. Feng-shui positions these elements, or energies, in buildings.

  17. 17.

    The pollution of Rome in Seneca’s time was ahead of the problems that arose in the Middle Ages. In 1273, after London became the prototype for urban pollution, burning coal was banned. A commission was appointed to remedy in 1285. In 1306 King Edward I (1239–1307) forbade the burning of marine coal in furnaces. Queen Elizabeth I (1533–1603) confirmed the ban on burning coal in the city. In 1661 the naturalist John Evelin (1620–1706), wrote Fuminfugium or The inconvenience of air and smoke of London dissipated, together with some remedies humbly proposed, decrying the use of coal in factories.

  18. 18.

    The rain that falls into the Pantheon through the opening in the dome, flows into the drainage openings in the marble floor.

  19. 19.

    The description of the hygroscope in De re aedificatoria casts serious doubt on the attribution of this discovery to the German Cardinal Nikolaus Krebs von Cues (1401–1464). In book IV De staticis experimentis of his work Idiota, he describes a device, the weight of which is sensitive to the change in humidity of air.

  20. 20.

    Palladius Rutilius Taurus Aemilianus (fourth century AD), wrote De re rustica, in which he expressed architectural opinions on the villa, showing an in-depth knowledge of Greek architecture. He was inspired mainly by Marcus Cetius Faventinus (third century AD), author of De diversis fabricis architectonicae. Andrea di Pietro della Gondola (Palladio), fascinated by Palladius’s work, brought his name out of oblivion, to the point of obscuring his image.

  21. 21.

    Air circulation through the caves and trenches gives rise to exciting phenomena. The “Wind cave”, in the Apuan Alps, is made up of a close-knit network of wells and tunnels formed by rain water that penetrates the mountain via cracks. Over millions of years these first became brooks, then streams, and finally underground rivers. The cave has two openings at 627 and 1400 m height. Due to their temperature and pressure differences, in summer the cave has descending currents passing through it, which ascend in winter. These currents are so strong that, during visits, they are blocked by means of a security door.

  22. 22.

    Palladio refers to the “prison of the winds, which is an underground room, formed by the outstanding Mr Francesco Trento , and called Eolia by him, into which many wind ducts opened” (First book, De’ camini).

  23. 23.

    The concept of structural safety first manifested itself in the Code of Hammurabi (1780 BC). It deals with damage to people, providing for sanctions for damage due to negligence. It particularly states that: “If a building collapses and causes the death of the owner, the builder must be killed. If the collapse of a building causes the death of the owner’s child, the builder’s child must also be killed. If the collapse of a building causes the death of one of the owner’s slaves, the builder is required to provide him with another. If the building suffers damage, this must be repaired at the builder’s expense”.

  24. 24.

    Not all of Leonardo’s definitions are scientifically unquestionable. For example, he wrote: “I say force is a spiritual virtue, an invisible power, that due to an outside accidental violence is caused by movement and located and infused into bodies, which are taken from their natural use and bent, giving them an active life of marvellous power”.

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  1. Department of Civil, Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Polytechnic School, University of Genoa, Genoa, Italy

    Giovanni Solari

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Solari, G. (2019). The Wind in Antiquity. In: Wind Science and Engineering. Springer Tracts in Civil Engineering . Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-18815-3_2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-18815-3_2

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