The Ancient Engineers

The Ancient Engineers
First edition
Author	L. Sprague de Camp
Cover artist	Robert Flynn
Country	United States
Language	English
Subject	Engineering
Publisher	Doubleday
Publication date	1963
Media type	Print (Hardback)
Pages	408 pp

The Ancient Engineers is a 1963 science book by L. Sprague de Camp, one of his most popular works. It was first published by Doubleday and has been reprinted numerous times by other publishers. Translations into German and Polish have also appeared. Portions of the work had previously appeared as articles in the magazines Fate, Isis and Science Digest.^[1]^[2]

The work is an examination of engineering through the ages from 3000 BC to 1519 AD, from the monumental works of the Egyptians through the speculative inventions of Leonardo da Vinci. The technological legacies of Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece, Rome, China, the medieval Arabs and Europeans, and Renaissance Europe, are all covered in separate sections, focusing particularly on architectural, military and Civil engineering.

Review

The following review is often quoted in reference to this book: "Mr. de Camp has the trick of being able to show technology engaging in feats as full of derring-do as those of Hannibal's army. History as it should be told." -- Isaac Asimov, The New York Times Book Review, 1963

Notes

↑ Laughlin, Charlotte; Daniel J. H. Levack (1983). De Camp: An L. Sprague de Camp Bibliography. San Francisco: Underwood/Miller. pp. 23–24.
↑ The Ancient Engineers title listing at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database

Works by L. Sprague de Camp

Viagens Interplanetarias

Krishna	"Finished" (1949) "Perpetual Motion" (1950) The Queen of Zamba (1949) "Calories" (1951) The Hand of Zei (1950) The Hostage of Zir (1977) The Prisoner of Zhamanak (1982) The Virgin of Zesh (1953) The Bones of Zora (1983) The Tower of Zanid (1958) The Swords of Zinjaban (1991)

Kukulkan	The Stones of Nomuru (1988) The Venom Trees of Sunga (1992)

Other	"The Animal-Cracker Plot" (1949) "The Colorful Character" (1949) "The Continent Makers" (1951) "The Galton Whistle" (1951) "Git Along!" (1950) "The Inspector's Teeth" (1950) Rogue Queen (1951) "Summer Wear" (1950)

Collections	The Continent Makers and Other Tales of the Viagens (1953) The Virgin of Zesh & The Tower of Zanid (1983)

Harold Shea (with Fletcher Pratt and others)

de Camp/ Pratt canon	"The Roaring Trumpet" (1940) "The Mathematics of Magic" (1940) The Castle of Iron (1941/50) "The Wall of Serpents" (1953) "The Green Magician" (1954) "Sir Harold and the Gnome King" (1990) "Sir Harold of Zodanga" (1995)

Collections	The Incomplete Enchanter (1941) Wall of Serpents (collection) (1960) The Compleat Enchanter (1975) The Complete Compleat Enchanter (1989) The Enchanter Reborn (1992) The Exotic Enchanter (1995) The Mathematics of Magic (2007)

Pusadian series

Stories	The Tritonian Ring (1951) "The Eye of Tandyla" (1951) "The Owl and the Ape" (1951) "The Hungry Hercynian" (1953) "The Stone of the Witch Queen" (1977) "Ka the Appalling" (1958) "The Rug and the Bull" (1974) "The Stronger Spell" (1953)

Collections	The Tritonian Ring and Other Pusadian Tales (1953)

Novarian series

Stories	"The Emperor's Fan" (1973) The Fallible Fiend (1973) The Goblin Tower (1968) The Clocks of Iraz (1971) The Unbeheaded King (1983) The Honorable Barbarian (1989)

Collections	The Reluctant King (1985)

Neo-Napolitanian series

Novels	The Incorporated Knight (1987) The Pixilated Peeress (1991)

Conan series (with Robert E. Howard and others)

Novels	Conan and the Spider God (1980) Conan of the Isles (1968) Conan the Barbarian (1982) Conan the Buccaneer (1971) Conan the Liberator (1979) The Return of Conan (1957)

Short stories	"Black Sphinx of Nebthu" (1973) "The Treasure of Tranicos" (1953) "Black Tears" (1968) "The Blood-Stained God" (1955) "The Castle of Terror" (1969) "The City of Skulls" (1967) "The Curse of the Monolith" (1968) "Drums of Tombalku" (1966) The Flame Knife (1955/81) "The Frost Giant's Daughter" Conan (1953) "The Gem in the Tower" (1978) "The God in the Bowl" (1952) "The Hall of the Dead" (1967) "Hawks Over Shem" (1955) "The Ivory Goddess" (1978) "The Lair of the Ice Worm" (1969) "Legions of the Dead" (1978) "Moon of Blood" (1978) "The People of the Summit" (1970/78) "Red Moon of Zembabwei" (1974) "The Road of the Eagles" (1955) "Shadows in the Dark" (1978) "Shadows in the Skull" (1975) "The Snout in the Dark" (1969) "The Star of Khorala" (1978) "The Thing in the Crypt" (1967) "The Witch of the Mists" (1972) "Wolves Beyond the Border" (1967)

Collections	Conan (1967) The Conan Chronicles (1989) The Conan Chronicles 2 (1990) Conan of Aquilonia (1977) Conan of Cimmeria (1969) Conan the Adventurer (1966) Conan the Avenger (1968) Conan the Freebooter (1968) Conan the Swordsman (1978) Conan the Usurper (1967) Conan the Wanderer (1968) Sagas of Conan (2004) Tales of Conan (1955) The Treasure of Tranicos (1980)

Other speculative fiction

Novels	The Carnelian Cube (1948) Genus Homo (1950) The Glory That Was (1960) The Great Fetish (1978) Land of Unreason (1942) Lest Darkness Fall (1941) None But Lucifer (1939) Solomon's Stone (1942)

Short stories	"Aristotle and the Gun" (1958) "The Blue Giraffe" (1939) "The Command" (1938) "Divide and Rule" (1939) "Employment" (1939) "The Gnarly Man" (1939) "A Gun for Dinosaur" (1956) "The Hardwood Pile" (1940) "Hyperpilosity" (1938) "Internal Combustion" (1956) "The Isolinguals" (1937) "Judgment Day" (1955) "Living Fossil" (1939) "The Merman" (1938) "Nothing in the Rules" (1939) "The Reluctant Shaman" (1947) "The Stolen Dormouse" (1941) "The Wheels of If" (1940)

Collections	Aristotle and the Gun (2002) The Best of L. Sprague de Camp (1978) Divide and Rule (1948) Footprints on Sand (1981) A Gun for Dinosaur (1963) The Purple Pterodactyls (1980) The Reluctant Shaman (1970) Rivers of Time (1993) Scribblings (1972) Sprague de Camp's New Anthology (1953) Tales from Gavagan's Bar (1953/78) The Undesired Princess (1951) The Virgin & the Wheels (1976) The Wheels of If (1948) Years in the Making (2005)

Historical fiction

Novels	The Dragon of the Ishtar Gate (1961) The Arrows of Hercules (1965) An Elephant for Aristotle (1958) The Bronze God of Rhodes (1960) The Golden Wind (1969)

Fiction edited

Anthologies	The Fantastic Swordsmen (1967) The Spell of Seven (1965) Swords and Sorcery (1963) Tales Beyond Time (1973) 3000 Years of Fantasy and Science Fiction (1972) Warlocks and Warriors (1970)

Single author	Conan the Conqueror (1967) Conan the Warrior (1967) The Wolf Leader (1950)

Nonfiction

Science and history	The Ancient Engineers (1963) Ancient Ruins and Archaeology (1964) Antarctic Conquest (1949) The Ape-Man Within (1995) Darwin and His Great Discovery (1972) The Day of the Dinosaur (1968) Elephant (1964) Energy and Power (1962) Engines (1959) The Evolution of Naval Weapons (1947) The Fringe of the Unknown (1983) Great Cities of the Ancient World (1972) The Great Monkey Trial (1968) The Heroic Age of American Invention (1961) Inventions and Their Management (1937) Man and Power (1961) The Ragged Edge of Science (1980) Rubber Dinosaurs and Wooden Elephants (1996) Spirits, Stars, and Spells (1966) The Story of Science in America (1967)

Lit crit and biography	Blond Barbarians and Noble Savages (1975) The Conan Reader (1968) Dark Valley Destiny (1983) Lands Beyond (1952) Literary Swordsmen and Sorcerers (1976) Lost Continents (1954) Lovecraft: A Biography (1975) The Miscast Barbarian (1975) Science-Fiction Handbook (1953/75) Time and Chance (1996)

Nonfiction edited

Multi-author	The Blade of Conan (1979) The Conan Grimoire (1972) The Conan Swordbook (1969) The Spell of Conan (1980)

Single author	To Quebec and the Stars (1976)

Poetry

Demons and Dinosaurs (1970) Heroes and Hobgoblins (1981) Phantoms and Fancies (1972)

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The Ancient Engineers

Contents

Review

See also

Notes