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If you were sent back to the roman era and could only bring a backpack of goods. What would you bring?

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[-] starman2112@sh.itjust.works 40 points 8 months ago

A book with pictures detailing all the processes required to make paper, and the schematics for a printing press. I know better than to presume my knowledge of electricity will be of any use, I know better than to think that I understand math better than ancient mathematicians, and I know better than to try to convince them that tiny little creatures are what cause illness. What I can do is jump-start humanity's ascent to modern technology by improving literacy a few centuries early

[-] emptyother@programming.dev 13 points 8 months ago

Dont forget ink recipe. A new type of ink had to be invented for the printing press. Soot, turpentine, and walnut oil should do it.

[-] AnAngryAlpaca@feddit.de 15 points 8 months ago

And you give away the press for free, but the ink will cost a fortune!

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[-] _Sprite@lemmy.world 31 points 8 months ago

I'm either gonna bring a bunch of 'For Dummies' books to speed up development and get executed or make a fortune selling meth and get executed

[-] ininewcrow@lemmy.ca 26 points 8 months ago

Lol .... Roman Empire collapses 300 years before it's time because of a meth crisis.

[-] ivanafterall@kbin.social 12 points 8 months ago

Why not sell psychedelics and change history?

[-] _Sprite@lemmy.world 9 points 8 months ago

Turning Ceaser and his forces into tweakers won't change history?

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[-] Blackout@kbin.social 29 points 8 months ago

Gray's Sports Almanac 1950-2000.

[-] bionicjoey@lemmy.ca 16 points 8 months ago

Just wait 1950 years and you'll be rich

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[-] lvxferre@mander.xyz 28 points 8 months ago

If I'm going to be transported to the European peninsula too, besides time travelling, I'd want at least:

  • my laptop. Download everything from multiple Wikipedias, including the Italian one for good measure. (Why Italian? Largest Wikipedia in a Romance language that I'm proficient with.)
  • some charger for the above. I don't even mind if manual.
  • Latin vocabulary printed book. I can speak some but I'm not proficient in the language.
  • Some silver and gold. Money back in Roman times was still based on the value of the coins. And money never hurts.
  • Clothes carefully prepared to not look Roman, but typical enough from the times. The idea is to pass as a cultured barbarian from a tribe that is too far away from Rome to bother.
[-] jaschen@lemm.ee 14 points 8 months ago

You're going to need medicine. Penicillin for sure.

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[-] j4k3@lemmy.world 27 points 8 months ago

Current geological mineral distribution map. A dozen ball screws, some linear rods, bearings, grease. A dozen staters of various sizes, and a few hundred thousand diodes, maybe millions. Then as much enameled copper wire and magnet steel as I could carry. Then a e-paper tablet with a long list of patent documents, along with text books from Primary school clear to graduate level physics, chemistry, and math.

Then I would lug a vintage mini lathe over my shoulder for the few steps I have to take because you didn't specify how far I have to walk.

I should be able to make the industrial revolution from there.

...welcome to 1500 years in the future...now!

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[-] nokturne213@sopuli.xyz 21 points 8 months ago

A towel. Maybe some peanuts.

[-] Nemo@midwest.social 14 points 8 months ago

A hoopy frood right here.

[-] ArbitraryValue@sh.itjust.works 21 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

There's a legend that the Roman Emperor Tiberius executed the inventor of flexible glass.

After the inventor swore that he was the only man alive who knew the manufacturing technique, Tiberius had the man beheaded. He feared that the glass would devalue gold and silver, since the material might be more valuable.

So y'all better watch out with any plastic...

[-] nxdefiant@startrek.website 15 points 8 months ago

That guy was definitely a time traveler.

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[-] VirtualOdour@sh.itjust.works 19 points 8 months ago

Old Roman artifacts so I can confuse them with how rusted and dirty they are, great conversation starter.

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[-] Psiczar@aussie.zone 18 points 8 months ago

The recipe for making soap A general practitioner’s medical book A dummies guide to Latin A compass Water bottle with filter A taser Instructions on how to make a battery Instructions on how to make gun powder The rise and fall of the Roman Empire books

[-] semperverus@lemmy.world 12 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

I would take a smartphone with all of wikipedia stored locally on it, and a USB solar panel or two.

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[-] bizzle@lemmy.world 17 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

Modern cannabis seeds, because if I'm going to be in Ancient Times I still don't want to smoke schwag.

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[-] Lenny@lemmy.zip 16 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

Portable power supply

Portable dvd player

Portable display

Bluetooth speakers

A copy of Morbius on dvd

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[-] Sir_Fridge@lemmy.world 16 points 8 months ago

A (tape) camera to document how I obliterate the roman empire by spreading pathogens that have yet to evolve but I have developed immunity for.

And something like a time capsule to burry the camera in.

[-] AnAngryAlpaca@feddit.de 9 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

Dont want to be that guy, but the platic softeners inside the tape will most likely evalporate, causing the tape to break up und cruble to dust as soon as you try to play it. The magnetic orientation of the bits will also degarde. Manufacturers give an expected shelf life of 30 years for any magnetic storage medium.

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[-] Dagwood222@lemm.ee 15 points 8 months ago

Without doing any research, the answer is "watchmaking tools." Equipment to make small things like watches, and revolvers and what ever you'd need to start a factory. A few things like microscope, binoculars.

They had good craftspeople on hand, just need a little push to start an Industrial Revolution.

[-] hglman@lemmy.world 10 points 8 months ago

You need good quality metal to make precise clockwork. You need to be able to make those metals.

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[-] Sir_Simon_Spamalot@lemmy.world 13 points 8 months ago

A laptop with the essential human knowledge, big enough abtteries to power it, and a portable solar generator to charge its batteries.

Oh, and probably a bunch of gold to hire mercenaries and engineers.

[-] cuppaconcrete@aussie.zone 8 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

I totally agree! Although I think modern medication would be more useful than gold - pure quantities of modern meds weigh next to nothing. If you save enough lives of the rulers and their families they'll give you all the wealth and resources you need. They'll consider stealing the medication from you but they won't know which medications should be used for which illnesses, until they torture you I guess. I can't really think of a way of making sure they "be nice" rather than forcing you to give them everything you have. They weren't afraid of doing the unspeakable in pursuit of power back then.

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[-] hperrin@lemmy.world 13 points 8 months ago

Probably mostly medical supplies. I don’t want to die of a stubbed toe.

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[-] Plibbert@lemmy.ml 12 points 8 months ago

Either 1, a bunch of textbooks and encyclopedias. Or 2, a tablet/computer with said texts downloaded, a battery pack for said tablet/computer, and a few fold out solar panels or maybe one of those hand crank things. If I still have space I'd bring a soldering iron, a bunch of tips for it, flux and a bunch of different solders. Maybe a few spare parts for the laptop.

[-] LanternEverywhere@kbin.social 9 points 8 months ago

Tablet with tons of downloaded info + solar panels is my answer too. If you were wise about how you used the info you could be a demigod. Just knowing the process of how to refine aluminum could make you the wealthiest person on the planet.

[-] solidgrue@lemmy.world 12 points 8 months ago

Cipromax, isoproyl alcohol, neosporin, and and as many Band-Aids as I could stuff. I'll make room for an English-latin dictionary.

Maybe one of those "facts about everything" almanacs in the outside pocket, because I'm too stupid to remember my sines and cosines or the difference between sodium carbonate and sodium bicarbonate. I can figure out the rest from there.

[-] dutchkimble@lemy.lol 11 points 8 months ago

A sports almanac would be all I need

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[-] partial_accumen@lemmy.world 10 points 8 months ago

I'd fill the entire backpack with antibiotics, and vaccines for TB, Polio, and Smallpox.

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[-] SanndyTheManndy@lemmy.world 10 points 8 months ago

Spices, all knowledge I can carry as microfiche tapes, magnifying glass, a domesticated strain of penicillin, and seeds of modern crops.

I will be able to talk to at least some of their merchants for, ahem, reasons. From then on I have at least some chance of survival.

[-] xia@lemmy.sdf.org 10 points 8 months ago

A latin/english dictionary.

[-] profdc9@lemmy.world 10 points 8 months ago

An English-Latin phrasebook, a survival manual explaining how to recognize plants, grow food, handle livestock, set traps, and make simple shelter, e-reader loaded with modern books and a usb solar panel, a multitool, sewing kit, a small dagger, cerium/magnesium flint, first-aid kit, antibiotics, water treatment (Sodium Dichloro-S-Triazinetrione), preservative and neutralizer (sodium metabisulfite), salt, potassium chloride, peanut butter.

But I'd probably be quickly ambushed and killed nonetheless, or hauled off to the slave markets.

[-] RagnarokOnline@programming.dev 10 points 8 months ago

Do I have to go? They didn’t even have A/C back then :/

[-] LanternEverywhere@kbin.social 8 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

For rich people there were passive air cooling systems available. And if you were truly wealthy you could have blocks of ice shipped to you

https://blogs.getty.edu/iris/how-ancient-romans-kept-their-cool/

[-] TropicalDingdong@lemmy.world 9 points 8 months ago

For rich people there were passive air cooling systems available

Bro for rich people there were active air cooling systems.

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[-] BilboBargains@lemmy.world 9 points 8 months ago

A bag of dildos to hand out at parties so I can be dildo guy

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[-] conciselyverbose@sh.itjust.works 8 points 8 months ago

20 identical ereaders packed with every book I can fit, solar panels, and batteries.

And the rest of the volume with gold.

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this post was submitted on 23 Feb 2024
118 points (96.8% liked)

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