【简译】罗马人的磨坊

2022-07-31 12:37 作者:神尾智代 0人读过 | 我要投稿

The Romans constructed mills for use in agriculture, mining and construction. Around the 3rd century BCE, the first mills were used to grind grain. Later developments and breakthroughs in milling technology expanded their use to crushing ores in mining and such construction activities as cutting wood and marble. Mills became an important part of the Roman economy, decreasing the reliance on human labour, and dramatically increasing productivity and efficiency in many sectors of the Roman economy.

罗马人建造了用于农业、采矿和建筑的磨坊。大约在公元前3世纪，第一批磨坊被用来磨碎谷物。后来，磨坊技术的发展和突破将其用途扩大到采矿中的矿石粉碎以及切割木材和大理石等建筑活动。磨坊成为罗马经济的一个重要组成部分，它减少了对人力的依赖，极大地提高了罗马许多经济部门的生产力和效率。

用于农业的磨坊

手推式磨坊

In the agricultural sector, mills allowed for the production of large quantities of flour which was essential to bread production. Before mills were ever invented, humans ground cereals with the use of saddle querns which consisted of a rounded stone pressed manually against a flat stone bed. The first significant innovation in milling came in the late 5th century BCE in Greece, with the introduction of the first milling machine: the Olynthus Mill, also known as the hopper mill. The Olynthus Mill consisted of rectangular-shaped lower and upper stones. The top stone had a long handle and was moved in reciprocal fashion from side to side. The mill also had a hollow cavity (or hopper) with a narrow slot at its centre through which the miller fed the grain.

在农业部门，磨坊负责生产大量的面粉，这对面包生产至关重要。在发明磨坊之前，人们使用马鞍式磨坊研磨谷物，马鞍式磨坊由一块圆形石头手工压在一个平坦的石床上组成。公元前5世纪末，希腊出现了第一台磨粉机：Olynthus磨粉机，也被称为料斗式磨粉机，这是磨粉机的第一个重大创新。Olynthus磨坊由长方形的下石和上石组成。上层石块有一个长长的把手，可以从一侧向另一侧往复移动。磨坊还有一个中空的空腔（或料斗），其中心有一个狭窄的槽，磨坊主通过这个槽将谷物送入磨机。

动物驱动的磨坊

Rotary mills were an improvement over the Olynthus Mill in that cranks could be attached to a beast for grinding. The animal-driven rotary mill appeared around the 3rd century BCE in Italy, one of the best examples being the Pompeian mill which is often associated with the rise of commercial bakeries. Such Pompeian mills were driven by two donkeys harnessed to a wooden frame. The mill consisted of two parts: the lower stone (the meta) and the upper stone (the catillus), both made of strong volcanic rock. The upper concave and hour-glass shaped catillus was turned by donkeys. It had a hole through its centre and a hopper at its top through which the miller poured the grain. This stone rotated against the lower meta stone which was slightly convex and immobile. The animal-driven rotary mill saved humans from the drudgery of milling and significantly increased the flour output and quality as donkeys could drive the mill for hours at a time.

旋转式磨坊是对Olynthus磨坊的改进，因为它的曲柄可以连接到动物身上，驱使动物带动曲柄进行研磨。动物驱动的旋转磨坊大约在公元前3世纪就出现在意大利，最好的例子之一是庞贝磨坊，它通常与商业面包店的崛起有关。这种庞贝式磨坊由两头驴子驱动，驴子被束缚在一个木架上。磨坊由两部分组成：下面的石头（meta）和上面的石头（catillus），都是由坚固的火山岩制成。上部的凹面和小时玻璃形状的磨盘是由驴子转动的。它的中心有一个孔，顶部有一个料斗，磨坊主通过它倒入谷物。这块石头相对于下部的元石旋转，元石是微凸的，不能移动。由动物驱动的旋转式磨坊将人从繁重的磨坊工作中解救出来，并大大提高了面粉的产量和质量，因为驴子可以一次驱动磨坊工作数小时。

水力驱动的磨坊

The watermill was another significant invention which, according to most historians, came later in the last century BCE, or slightly earlier. In this version of the mill, water striking paddles drove the upper catillus stone with much greater power than had been available from animals. Watermills could therefore produce even greater amounts of flour.

水磨是另一项重要的发明，根据大多数历史学家的说法，它出现在公元前最后一个世纪，或稍早一些。这种磨坊，水击桨驱动上颚石，其力量比动物的力量大得多。因此，水磨可以生产更多的面粉。

Many engineering challenges had to be solved for their construction. For example, a constant supply of running water was needed, with the ability to turn it off during inspections and repairs. This was addressed with mill-channels, sometimes several kilometres long, with a system of reservoirs and sluice-gates that could limit or cut off the amount of water admitted to the paddle wheels. In some cases, aqueducts rather than canals ensured a constant water supply.

许多工程方面的挑战必须为其建设而解决。例如，需要有持续的流水，并能在检查和维修期间将其关闭。这是用磨坊渠道解决的，有时长达几公里，有一个水库和水闸系统，它可以限制或切断进入桨叶轮的水量。在某些情况下，水渠确保了持续的水供应。

Another technical challenge was the conversion of the circular movement of the waterwheel to a rotation of the upper catillus or "runner stone" outside the water stream. In the horizontal-wheeled mill version, this movement was transferred directly to the runner stone by means of a vertical shaft. In the vertical-wheeled watermill, the vertical, circular movement of the waterwheel was converted to a horizontal rotation through the use of a right-angle gear. The right-angle gear, invented about 270 BCE, was a transmission system consisting of two cogwheels which increased the velocity of the runner stone, thereby, generating additional power.

另一个技术挑战是如何将水车的圆周运动转换为水流外的上颚或 "流道石 "的旋转。在卧式水车的版本中，这种运动通过一个垂直轴直接转移到转轮石上。在立轮水车中，水车的垂直圆周运动通过使用直角齿轮转换为水平旋转。约在公元前270年发明的直角齿轮是一个由两个齿轮组成的传动系统，它增加了流道石的速度，从而产生了额外的动力。

There were three variants of the vertical-wheeled mill:

the undershot mill (water hitting the bottom of the wheel)

the overshot (water hitting the paddles at the top of the wheel)

the breastshot water wheel (water hitting the middle of the wheel)

立磨有三种不同的形式：

底轮磨（水打在轮子的底部）。

高速水轮（水打在轮子顶部的桨上）

前轮水车（水打在轮子中间）。

The undershot mill was the simplest, earliest, and most common application of the three.

底轮磨是三者中最简单、最早出现和最常见的磨机。

To justify a watermill's construction costs there had to be a large enough concentration of people (between 200 and 400 inhabitants in the surrounding area). When the population's concentration was even greater than this, clusters of mills were built, such as the Janiculum mills (early 3rd century CE) in Rome or the Barbegal complex (early 2nd century CE) in southern France. At the Barbegal complex, for example, an aqueduct could supply water to sixteen overshot wheels while on the slope of the Janiculum hill in Rome, a large number of mills also used aqueduct water to produce flour on an industrial scale from the 3rd through to the 6th century CE.

为了证明水磨的建造成本是合理的，必须有足够多的人口聚集某地（在周围地区有200至400名居民）。当人口的集中度比这还要高时，人们就会建造水车群，如罗马的Janiculum水车（公元3世纪初）或法国南部的Barbegal建筑群（公元2世纪初）。例如，在Barbegal建筑群中，一条水渠可以为16个轮子供水；而在罗马的Janiculum山坡上，大量的磨坊也使用水渠水，从公元3世纪到6世纪，以工业规模展开面粉的生产活动。

采矿业中使用的磨机

Stamp mills were used in mining to crush ore from deep deposits into small pieces before further processing. The metal ores needed to be crushed down to a pea or walnut size before it could be smelted. At times, the mills were also used in metal working after the completion of the smelting while the metal was red hot. The presence of stone anvils with marks from trip-hammers at Dolaucothi and other ancient Roman mining sites is proof that stamp mills were widely used in this way to pound extracted ore.

冲压机被用于采矿业，在进一步加工前将深层矿藏的矿石粉碎成小块。金属矿石在被冶炼之前需要被粉碎成豌豆或核桃大小。有时，在冶炼完成后，当金属被烧得通红时，磨坊也被用于金属加工。在Dolaucothi和其他古罗马采矿遗址中出现的带有绊锤痕迹的石砧，证明了石砧碾压机被广泛用于这种方式来捣毁开采的矿石。

These stamp mills consisted of waterwheels, cams and trip-hammers (mola). They first appeared in Greece around the 3rd century BCE, and then spread across Italy throughout the first century CE. Before this invention, such crushing of ores was done manually, which required a lot of men and effort. As was the case with grain mills, these stamp mills saved greatly on manpower, while also greatly increasing the speed of ore processing. Stamp mills were mostly used in mining applications, but at times were also used to pound and hull grain.

这些冲压机由水车、凸轮和绊锤（mola）组成。它们最早出现在公元前3世纪左右的希腊，然后在整个公元1世纪传播到意大利。在这项发明之前，矿石的粉碎是由人工完成的，需要花费大量的人力和精力。如同谷物粉碎机的情况一样，这些冲压式粉碎机大大节省了人力，同时也大大提高了矿石加工的速度。冲压机主要用于采矿业，但有时也被用来捣碎谷物和去壳。

Because water powered these stamping machines, aqueducts were often constructed near mining sites. For example, at the Dolaucothi mines in Wales, or in the Rio Tinto in Spain, long aqueducts were built to power a number of such stamp mills. There, aqueduct water was used as well in ore extraction techniques known as "hushing" and "ground sluicing". Some metal ores such as gold needed to be finely ground in order to release the tiny metal particles from surrounding rock, salts and sands. For this purpose, the Romans constructed watermills similar to the previously mentioned agricultural ones, but these had even harder grinding stones.

水流为这些冲压机器提供动力，因此在矿区附近经常建造引水渠。例如，在威尔士的Dolaucothi矿，或在西班牙的Rio Tinto，人们建造了长长的水渠，为一些这样的冲压厂提供动力。在那里，水渠的水也被用于被称为"冲洗"和"地面冲刷"的矿石提取技术。一些金属矿石，如黄金，需要进行精细的研磨，以便从周围的岩石、盐和沙子中脱落出微小的金属颗粒。为此，罗马人建造了类似于前面提到的农业磨坊的水磨，但这些水磨的磨石更坚硬。

建筑业中使用的磨坊

The sawmill was another example of a surprisingly-sophisticated machine which consisted of a reciprocating saw powered by a waterwheel. It could cut large amounts of wood or stone, thereby saving enormous amounts of effort and labour. The waterwheel was connected to a rod linked to one or multiple crank-activated saws. The earliest known sawmill was the Hierapolis mill dating back to 250-300 CE. It was the earliest known machine to use a crank with a connecting rod mechanism. A relief on the sarcophagus of Marcus Aurelius Ammianos (dating back to 250-300 CE), in the ancient city of Hierapolis near modern-day Pamukkale in Turkey, gives a clear representation of how it functioned.

锯木机是另一个令人惊讶的先进机器的例子，它由水车驱动的往复式锯组成，可以切割大量的木材或石头，从而节省大量的精力和劳动力。水车与一个连接到一个或多个曲柄激活的锯的杆相连。最早的已知锯木机是希拉波利斯磨坊，它可以追溯到公元250-300年。它是已知最早的使用曲柄与连杆机制的机器。在现代土耳其帕穆卡莱附近的希拉波利斯古城，马库斯·奥雷利乌斯·阿米亚诺斯石棺上的一幅浮雕（可追溯到公元250-300年），清楚地展示了它的功能原理。

Sawmills were also commonly used to cut marble. A Roman poet called Ausonius writes in an epic poem about the river Moselle in Germany in the late 4th century CE and describes the shrieking sound of a water-powered sawmill used to cut marble. These sawmills were also used to cut various other types of stones. Sawmills dating from the 6th century CE were also found in Gerasa (in modern-day Jordan) and Ephesus (in modern-day Turkey). Therefore, it is safe to say that they were used throughout the Roman empire for various uses.

锯木厂也常用来切割大理石。一位名叫Ausonius的罗马诗人在一首史诗中写到了公元4世纪末日耳曼的摩泽尔河，并描述了用于切割大理石的水力锯木机发出的嘶嘶声。这些锯木机也被用来切割其他各种类型的石头。在杰拉萨（位于现代约旦）和以弗所（位于现代土耳其）也发现了公元6世纪的锯木厂。因此，我们可以说，它们在整个罗马帝国境内都被用于各种用途。

总结

The invention of mechanically-driven milling technology, and later of watermills, decreased reliance on human labour and greatly improved productivity in many sectors of the Roman economy, thereby, improving the daily lives of Romans. Watermills such as the Janiculum mills in Rome allowed for the production of flour and bread on industrial scales. Stamp mills accelerated ore processing at mining sites throughout the empire, while sawmills allowed for marble and other stones to be cut precisely and at record speeds. Roman milling technology progressed from manual to animal-driven rotary mills in the 1st century BCE, and then to the more complex water-powered and crank activated sawmills of the 3rd century CE. Many of the principles used in the construction of these early machines are still applied to modern mill designs today. Such mills are additional examples of the ingenuity, impressive design, and manufacturing skills of the Romans.

机械驱动的制粉技术的发明，以及后来水磨的发明，减少了对人力的依赖，大大提高了罗马许多经济部门的生产力，从而改善了罗马人的日常生活。水磨，如罗马的Janiculum水磨，使面粉和面包的生产达到了工业化的规模。冲压机加速了整个帝国的采矿场的矿石加工，而锯木机使大理石和其他石头能够以创纪录的速度被精确切割。罗马磨粉技术在公元前1世纪从手工磨到动物驱动的旋转磨，然后在公元3世纪发展到更复杂的水力和曲柄驱动的锯机。这些早期机器建造中使用的许多原理在今天仍然适用于现代磨坊设计。这些磨坊是罗马人的聪明才智、令人印象深刻的设计和制造技能的又一个典范。