Greatest Ships

10th August 2014 43 mins Season 1 Episode 7

Some of the greatest ships in history were actually designed, built and sailed thousands of years ago. Join us as we examine the greatest warship of the ancient world, the Greek Trireme. What made Triremes so deadly and fast? We also examine the most impossibly opulent ships ever created, the notorious sex ships, built by the notorious Roman Emperor Caligula. Ships built for pleasure which contained marine technology that would not be reinvented for centuries. We also explore what many believe may have been the world's first ironclads the Korean Turtle Ships.

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Season 1 · Episode 8

Biggest Builds

A mega factory is a modern invention–wrong–the ancients were the first to build these thousands of years ago. What was the incredible 16 wheel Roman automated factory in the south of France which could feed 12,500 people a day? How did the ancient Egyptians produce hundreds of vehicles of war every month? How did the Romans forge enough iron to equip an army, and mine enough gold to keep an economy afloat? With today’s technology, this would be achievable, but how did the ancients do this thousands of years ago? We reveal the impossible ingenuity and techniques that made it possible for the ancients to have “Mega Factories” of their own.

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