The significance which the ancient Greeks attached to technology is made manifest in their mythological narratives: Hephaestus, the god of fire and creator of stupendous works, represents “empirical technique”, whereas wise Athena, patron goddess of letters, the arts, but also craftsmen and handicraft exemplifies “practical wisdom”.

The high-level technological thinking and resourcefulness of the ancient Greeks played a pivotal role in the development of their culture, offered solutions and opened new paths in many aspects of their daily life, such as water management, shipbuilding, the arts and the various artisanal activities, music, medicine, war machines, and many more.

In the Hellenistic period, precision instruments, automatic mechanisms and even instruments that predicted astronomical events were devised. The most famous among them is the celebrated Antikythera Mechanism dating back to the 1st c. BC. It is a technological masterpiece, a product of utmost precision and complexity that presupposed a highly advanced level of knowledge of mathematics and astronomy, but also an equally sophisticated manufacturing and control system. The first analogue computer in the history of mankind was used, among other things, to calculate the dates of each Olympiad and other athletic competitions, such as the Pythian, the Isthmian and the Nemean Games.

Technology was also employed to provide solutions to practical problems associated with sports, such as the false start in running events and horseraces. The ancient engineers invented and built the hysplex, a kind of barrier that compelled all contestants in running competitions to start the race simultaneously. A variation of the hysplex was the hippaphesis, used in hippodromes in order to control the non-simultaneous, yet fair start of horses.