One of the most astounding aspects of ancient civilizations was their grasp of engineering and many of their methods and discoveries are still being employed today in design while others have been lost forever.  For catapults to water-mills, ships of all types, aqueducts and plumbing systems here are the discoveries of the Greeks and Romans complete with helpful diagrams, plenty of allusions to how we know all this (famous classical writers play a large part here) and vivid descriptions of their uses, how they worked and what we use this knowledge for now.  It would even be possible to build working models of some of these deceptively simple devices from this book although in some cases the finer details are lost in the mists of time.

Landels has even built himself a lifesize working replica of a trireme among other items and tells us all about how he did it.  This is a highly readable book, not an abstruse work for engineers alone but for anybody who has ever looked at a drawing of an ancient drainage system/ship/plough and asked “how did they do it?”  This is an essential companion for readers and writers of historical novels and a welcome reissue of a book that was first published in 1978.  One for the reference shelf.