French Literature Reviews - 2026

A. Collognat and B. Choppin, Ex Machina - Machines, Automata and Robots in Antiquity
History, Politics and Society

Annie Collognat and Bernadette Choppin, Ex Machina - Machines, Automata and Robots in Antiquity

Paris: Belles Lettres, 2020.

342 p.

EAN 9782251450971

15.00 EUR

Publisher's Overview:

Robots that speak Latin and Greek? This is not science fiction, but rather the fascinating history of ancient machinery and its brilliant engineers—from the mythical Hephaestus, god of the forge and patron of "technicians," who invented history's first automaton, to the surprising achievements of Greek and Roman "mechanicians" across all fields of "high technology."
Through a hundred texts in translation, this book offers an original and entertaining perspective on both the robots imagined by poets and the ingenious mechanics of Alexandrian scholars, alongside early philosophical musings on the question of artificial intelligence.

Table of Contents:

I. Homo faber: The Age of Myth
Arts and Crafts: Some Philosophical Reflections
Things Were Better Before!

II. The Workshop of the Divine Smith
Inside the Lame God's Workshop
Bringing Metal to Life: The Illusion of the Living

III. It Runs All by Itself
Marvelous Mechanics
A Giant Android

IV. Movement Is Life
Daedalus, "The Artist"
The Power of Art: Statues Ready to Come Alive
It's Magic

V. Homo faber: The Era of Technology
Questions of Mechanics
Machines and Men

VI. The Magic of Water
No Life Without Water
Aquatic Delights

VII. Entertainment and Simple Pleasures
The Automaton Theatre: A World in Miniature
The Realm of the Gods
Gadgets of All Kinds

VIII. Oh! What a Lovely War
Tension Engines
Warships
Siege Engines
And Then Came Archimedes

A former student of the École Normale Supérieure and holder of the agrégation in classics, Annie Collognat-Barès taught Latin and Greek at the advanced undergraduate level (Lettres supérieures) at the Lycée Victor Hugo in Paris. She has authored various works on antiquity and translated into Latin the 33rd Asterix album, Asterix and the Falling Sky (Caelum in caput ejus cadit), and the first album of the Alix Senator series, The Blood Eagles (Aquilae cruoris).

Bernadette Choppin-Lebedeff, holder of the agrégation in classics and a specialist in Etruscan studies, is the author of Alexander the Great (2014).

This volume belongs to the broad tradition of classical studies and intellectual history, bridging the gap between ancient science, mythology, and philosophy. By gathering roughly one hundred primary texts in translation, the authors trace a lineage from the mythical creations of Hephaestus and Daedalus to the sophisticated mechanical devices of Alexandrian scholars. The work sheds light on how ancient thinkers conceptualized technology, artificial life, and the relationship between humans and machines long before the advent of modern computing.

The book will appeal to classicists, historians of science, and readers interested in the deep roots of automation and artificial intelligence. It serves as a valuable resource for understanding ancient technological imagination, practical engineering feats such as hydraulic devices and siege engines, and early philosophical inquiries into art and nature. Scholars and curious general readers alike will find an engaging synthesis of how antiquity anticipated modern technological ambitions.