主題: 神匠 Hephaestus
Iliad 18: 369-467
Achilles的母親親自前往神匠Hephaestus 的家，金碧輝煌的神殿，全是Hephaestus親自建造。這位神匠的好手藝眾所皆知，另外，他的長相在眾神中最為突出，因為他的跛腳（κυλλοποδίων, club-footed)，此時，神匠正在打造20作三腳鼎，為了讓這些鼎可以自由滑動，Hephaestus已經在每一隻腳裝上金色的輪子，之後，還會加精緻的手把和純金的鉚釘。這真是太神奇了！也說明希臘人對「自動化」的觀念，只是三輪會如何滑動呢？是一個有趣的題目。
以下圖片與資料出處:
http://kotsanas.com/gb/exh.php?exhibit=0501001
They were programmed auto-mobile tripods which,
according to Homer, were built by Hephaestus ''with golden wheels that could automatically
enter the assembly of the gods and again return to their residence''.
The development and application of the relative
technology, by the Alexandrian engineers (Philon, Heron) to corresponding
auto-mobile vehicles, allows us its hypothetical re-establishment.
The motion producing mechanism of the tripod
consisted of a) a cylindrical clepsydra filled with millet, b) a lead weight
placed inside the clepsydra, c) two ropes which connected the weight and the
axles of the two rear wheels with the help of loops and transversal pins and d)
a sliding operation switch.
The motion programming mechanism consisted of
three types of rope circumvolution on the two independent driving axles of the
wheels. The right circumvolution ensured the right turning of the wheels and
therefore the forward course of the automatic tripod. The left circumvolution
ensured the left turning of the wheels and therefore the reverse course of the
automatic tripod. The free circumvolution ensured the immobility of the wheels
and therefore the stillness of the automatic tripod for ''the serving of the
gods''. The right circumvolution on the right wheel and simultaneously the free
circumvolution on the left wheel ensured the turn of the automatic tripod
towards the left while the free circumvolution on the right wheel and
simultaneously the right circumvolution on the left wheel ensured its turn
towards the right.
With the pulling of the slide, the clepsydra began
to empty at a steady pace and the lead weight fell at the same speed pulling
the ropes of the drive wheels.
The combination of circumvolution on each driving
axle ensured whichever desired automatic course of the tripod in its space, its
required stops and finally the return to its starting position.
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ὣς οἳ μὲν τοιαῦτα πρὸς ἀλλήλους
ἀγόρευον:
Ἡφαίστου δ᾽ ἵκανε δόμον
Θέτις ἀργυρόπεζα
ἄφθιτον ἀστερόεντα
μεταπρεπέ᾽ ἀθανάτοισι
χάλκεον, ὅν ῥ᾽ αὐτὸς
ποιήσατο κυλλοποδίων.
τὸν δ᾽ εὗρ᾽ ἱδρώοντα ἑλισσόμενον
περὶ φύσας
σπεύδοντα: τρίποδας γὰρ ἐείκοσι
πάντας ἔτευχεν
ἑστάμεναι περὶ τοῖχον ἐϋσταθέος
μεγάροιο,
χρύσεα δέ σφ᾽ ὑπὸ κύκλα ἑκάστῳ
πυθμένι θῆκεν,
ὄφρά οἱ αὐτόματοι θεῖον
δυσαίατ᾽ ἀγῶνα
ἠδ᾽ αὖτις πρὸς δῶμα νεοίατο
θαῦμα ἰδέσθαι.
οἳ δ᾽ ἤτοι τόσσον μὲν ἔχον
τέλος, οὔατα δ᾽ οὔ πω
δαιδάλεα προσέκειτο: τά ῥ᾽ ἤρτυε,
κόπτε δὲ δεσμούς. (Iliad 18.368-379)
Meanwhile, silver-footed
Thetis reached Hephaestus’ home.
Made of eternal bronze and
gleaming like a star,
it stood out among the
homes of the immortals.
The crippled god had
constructed it himself.
She found him working with
his bellows, moving round,
sweating in his eager
haste. He was forging
twenty tripods in all, to
stand along the walls
of his well-built house.
Under the legs of each one
he had fitted golden
wheels, so every tripod
might move all on its own
into a gathering of the gods
at his command and then
return to his own house.
They were wonderful to look
at. His work on them
had reached the stage where
finely crafted handles
had still not been
attached. He was making these, forging the rivets.
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