ANCIENT ROMAN MACHINES IN HANDS-ON SHOW

ANCIENT ROMAN MACHINES IN HANDS-ON SHOW

(ANSA) - Rome, January 12 - The technological secrets behind the might of the Roman Empire are the focus of a unique new show that has opened in Rome, with visitors positively encouraged to touch many of the exhibits.

Around 100 examples of ancient Roman machines - from rotating platforms to freight elevators for wild beasts - that advanced the empire's long hold over the Mediterranean and much of Europe are on display at the Museo della Civilta' Romana for the show.

''Our aim was to revisit the extraordinary technology that contributed to the construction and management of the empire,'' said the exhibition's curator, Rita Correnti Percivalli.

But in addition to archaeological finds, the show features large-scale working models of many of the ancient mechanisms which have been specially reconstructed by Florentine craftsman Gabriele Niccolai for visitors to get to grips with.

Niccolai based his reproductions on studies of surviving machines and literary accounts but used computer technology to design and reproportion the models.

''The machines that have built from scratch are there to be touched and made to function,'' Rome Culture Councillor Umberto Croppi stressed.

Divided into 11 sections, the show covers different areas of strategic importance to the creation of the empire, including construction, military technology, agriculture, communications and transport.

Among the highlights is an array of impressive war machines, including Niccolai's models of a battering ram and a siege tower with retractable gangways used to get troops over enemy walls.

Visitors can also crank into action models of cranes and pulleys used to build bridges, aqueducts and theatres as well as a water mill and a wheeled plough.

While most of the machines on display were powered by water, wind or animals, the exhibition also acknowledges the invention of the first ever steam engine by Greek mathematician Hero of Alexandria in the 1st century AD, when Egypt was a Roman province.

The steam engine, or aeolipile, spun when heated but never caught on with the Romans, who weren't convinced it was rational to burn expensive fuel to create another kind of energy, according to Correnti Percivalli.

The final section of the show highlights the machines and methods behind the creation of mosaics, frescoes and sculptures.

''We're used to antiquity having given us the most beautiful artworks in marble and stone, but it's not often we can say we understand the mechanisms and the technology that lay behind them,'' Correnti Percivalli said.

The section also explores behind-the-scenes wizardry at public entertainment venues such as theatres, amphitheatres and chariot racing stadiums.

Particularly impressive are the Colosseum's freight elevators, which transported caged wild animals from their stalls underneath the amphitheatre up to the arena for public fights, as well as the venue's massive retractable awning, or velarium, which was operated by squads of sailors and shaded spectators in the seating area from the sun.

Also highlighted is a hinged mechanism with seven wooden eggs and seven bronze dolphins used to signal the number of laps run by chariots at Rome's Circus Maximus, and the resonating bronze vases developed by 1st-century BC engineer and writer Vitruvius to function as primitive loudspeakers to improve sound quality in theatres.

Machina: Technology of Ancient Rome runs at the Museo della Civilta' Romana until April 5.