Author(s)

Marco Ceccarelli¹, Sofia Ceccarelli², Cinzia Elena Conti³, Gian Martines³

¹LARM2 Laboratory of Robot Mechatronics, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Roma, Italy.
²Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Roma, Italy.
³Ministero dei Beni e delle Attività Culturali e del Turismo, Roma, Italy.

The remains of ball bearing from the Roman imperial ships of Nemi lake are investigated to understand their mechanical design and to speculate on the machines they were used in. The imperial ships are dated at first century A.D. and they were digged out from the lake with several significant remains in titanic operations in 1930s. Today the bronze remains of the ball bearings can give new insights of the ancient Roman technology with renewed considerations and analysis both from historical and technical viewpoints as per their construction and use.

History of Roman Machines, History of Ball Bearings, Reconstruction of Ancient Machines, Performance Evaluation of Ancient Machines

Ceccarelli, M. , Ceccarelli, S. , Conti, C. and Martines, G. (2019) Ball Bearings from Roman Imperial Ships of Nemilake. Advances in Historical Studies, 8, 115-130. doi: 10.4236/ahs.2019.83009.