rySlavery, which had been a commonly accepted practice throughout the history of ancient civilization, remained a prominent part of Hellenistic culture. Most labor was hand labor, and slavery had the effect of degrading the value of labor and discouraging the search for alternative methods of production. Thus, in spite of the fact that the Hellenistic era is noted for its scientific achievements, the increase in theoretical knowledge did not lead to practical applications. Industry remained essentially hand-craft industry, and agriculture remained the primary occupation. Trade and commerce, though enhanced by the mercantile and shipping expertise of a professional class of merchants, was limited, almost entirely to agricultural products such as the grains of the river valleys, and wine and olives of the MediterraneanScienceThe empirical traditions established by the Greek natural scientists (such as Democritus and Aristotle) continued to be followed by a number of notable individuals. Aristarchus of Samos (c. 310-230 BC)Only through references from Archimedes and Plutarch do we have knowledge of this ancient scientist. We know that Aristarchus put forth the amazing observation (amazing for his time, anyway) that the sun is the center of the cosmos and that the earth travels around the sun--not the sun around the earth. He also made some quite daring estimation of the sizes and distances of the sun and moon. Although he greatly underestimated both size and distance, they were radically greater than anything thought possible in his days--and as with the rest of his work, held to ridicule because they seemed so obviously wrong at the time. Today, of course, he seems to be a lonely voice pointing in the right direction, one that was not followed up by others that anciently might have led us to more accurate estimations of the scope and movement of our universe. Archimedes (287-212 BC)Archimedes was a scientist in the way we understand the t...
