Hero of Alexandria was an ancient Greek mathematician and engineer who was a resident of Rome. He is considered the greatest experimenter of antiquity and his work is representative of the Hellenistic scientific tradition. Hero was given credit to inventing the earliest mention of steam power. But perhaps even more innovative than the mechanisms themselves was what they were used for. Hero created devices used in temples to instill faith by deceiving believers and to convert people to the said one true religion. One of Hero’s engines used air from a closed chamber heated by an altar fire to displace water from a sealed vessel. The water was collected and its weight pulled on a rope that opened the temple doors, thus convincing people they were controlled by God himself. Hero also created engines that made marble sculptures cry tears, again to persuade people of God’s existence and power.
