Through Legos Antiquity Makes Advances

 

Legos were introduced in 1949 as a child's toy. Many adults today can recall playing with these rectangular shapes before they became so mainstream, or before there were idolized and "cool."

 

 

 Today, lego has begun its epic march to take over the world! They have marketed with films such as Star Wars, the Hobbit and LOTR, Indiana Jones, Harry Potter, DC Comics to create television shows, miniatures, collectibles, and video games.

 

 

As, a fan of certain films I own several Lego video games due to the clever nature of making an adult or even serious film (LOTR & Pirates of the Caribbean) approachable to a younger generation. They were require problem solving and logical thinking beyond mere chaos- but that is included as well!

 

 

 As can be seen in the following images, Legos have become a new medium in which hobbyist will attempt to rebuild to scale various ancient sites or ideas:

Gladiators

 

Colosseum

 

Colosseum and Arch of Titus

 

Inside the Colosseum

 

Roman Temple

 

Greek Doric Temple

 

Acropolis

 

Plato's Cave

 

Athens: Agora, Acropolis (Parthenon) and the Theater of Dionysus

 

Building of a Pyramid along the Nile 

 

There is much educational usefulness in having students of any age build such replicas. Beyond the mathematical scale knowledge, it takes some knowledge in order to realize what colors, size, or even trees would be populating an area. One would have to research if the placement of a certain type of boat or body of water was realistic or simple extra flourishing.



Legos are assisting the ancient world through these types of builds to excite young people about the history. However, for actual Classicist and Historians, Legos are advancing our understanding of the mysteries of the Ancient World.

 

 The above video showcases how Legos were built to show a demonstration of the use of a very mysterious artifact known as the Antikythera Mechanism.

Antikthera Mechanism Remains

  "The Antikythera Mechanism is argued to be the world's oldest known computer, this ancient Greek invention was used some time circa 100BC to calculate and "predict celestial events and eclipses with unprecedented accuracy." Skipping past the two millennia in which it lay lost on a sea floor somewhere, the Mechanism has now been recreated by an Apple software engineer by the name of Andrew Carol, who has lovingly pieced 1,500, Lego Technic blocks together, creating 110 gears and four gearboxes in total." Courtesy of Engadget  Vlad Sovov.