The Moving Statues

Ancient literature is replete with tales of artificial humans. Prominent among these are references to android serving girls in Homer’s Iliad and moving statues crafted by Daedalus, father of the legendary Icarus. The Greeks also relate that the god Hephaistos gave King Minos of Crete a giant metal man named Talos, who defended his kingdom. Talos was nearly indestructible, and its only vulnerability was its ankle, where a pipe carrying fluid ran close to the metal skin. Talos was destroyed when the ankle was punctured and the pipe was cut.

Stories of moving statues in ancient Egypt include one made by priests of Ammon around 1100 B.C. It reportedly chose the next pharaoh by stretching out its arm and selecting a male member of the royal family. Moving statues were obviously very useful as religious propaganda. In Egypt, they were considered the vessels through which the soul was reincarnated.

These machines may have been more than myth. Written documents reveal that ancient Egyptians had enough knowledge of elementary principles of mechanics to build non-digital robots, or automata. The usual method employed an elaborate system of ropes and pulleys. A sacred flame would be lit, heating and expanding the air, thus activating the system.

This process was further developed and refined through the centuries. The Greek Ctesibius of Alexandria built an automaton operated by cams (disc-shaped devices) enabling it to sit or stand as it was moved in a procession. None of Ctesibius’s writings survive, but later ancient engineers refer to his plans for automata powered by hydraulics, steam, and pneumatics. The technology of the age only allowed for limited, repetitive motion, but we can still trace the origin of robots to Ctesibius.