Notable Inventions of the 1st to 5th Centuries
Dates for inventions are often controversial. Inventions are often invented by several inventors around the same time, or may be invented in an impractical form many years before another inventor improves the invention into a practical form. Where there is ambiguity, the date of the first working version of the invention is used here.
1-100 AD: Junk ship in China
1-100 AD: Rudder in China
38 AD: Hydraulic-powered bellows: Du Shi
50 AD: Mouldboard plough in China and Gaul
77 AD: Encyclopedia (comprehensive work): Pliny the Elder
78-139: Hydraulic-powered armillary sphere: Zhang Heng
78-139: Seismometer: Zhang Heng
100s: Aeolipile: Hero of Alexandria in Roman Egypt
100s: Carding in India
105: Paper: Cai Lun in China
132: Rudimentary Seismometer: Zhang Heng in China
180: Rotary fan: Ding Huan in China
180: Winnowing fan: Ding Huan in China
200s: Kongming lantern (Hot air balloon) in China
200s: Horseshoes in Germany
200-400: Stepwell in India
300s: Toothpaste in Roman Egypt
400s: Horse collar in China
400s: Cotton gin in India
Fore-and-aft rig in India
Kamal in India
Prayer wheel: Tibet
Three-masted merchant vessel in China
Woodblock printing in China