Antipater of Thessalonica was the author of over a hundred epigrams in the Greek Anthology. He is the most copious and perhaps the most interesting of the Augustan epigrammatists. He lived under the patronage of Lucius Calpurnius Piso, who appointed him governor of Thessalonica. There are many allusions in his work to contemporary history:
one anticipates his victory over the Parthians in the expedition of 20 BC
one is addressed to Gaius Caesar, who died in AD 4. None can be ascribed securely to a date later than 4.
Waterwheel
Antipater is also known for being the first to mention use of the waterwheel in a poem. He tells of an advanced overshot wheelwatermill around 20 BC/10 AD. He praised for its use in grinding grain and the reduction of human labour: The reference is important mentioning the mill, and supports other evidence of the antiquity of use. Taking indirect evidence into account from the work of the Greek technicianApollonius of Perge, the British historian of technology M.J.T. Lewis dates the appearance of the vertical-axle watermill to the early 3rd century BC, and the horizontal-axle watermill to around 240 BC, with Byzantium and Alexandria as the assigned places of invention. A watermill is reported by the Greek geographer Strabon to have existed sometime before 71 BC in the palace of the Pontian king Mithradates VI Eupator, but its exact construction cannot be gleaned from the text. The first clear description of a geared watermill offers the late 1st century BC Roman architect Vitruvius who tells of the sakia gearing system as being applied to a watermill. Vitruvius's account is particularly valuable in that it shows how the watermill came about, namely by the combination of the separate Greek inventions of the toothed gear and the water wheel into one effective mechanical system for harnessing water power. Vitruvius' water wheel is described as being immersed with its lower end in the watercourse so that its paddles could be driven by the velocity of the running water.
