Cars *would* still be steam engines if they weren't so noisy and
clunky. But worldwide, steam is king. The only difference
between the technologies of nuclear, coal, oil, solar, is how to
boil the water.
[1]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steam-electric_power_station
The power grid is run off of a bunch of tea kettles, whistling
around the planet. We like to believe we're so advanced, but
we're still using variations of mid-19th century technologies in
the 21st century.
Before electricity (typically steam generated then as today - no
difference except in the amount), you had horses moving stuff.
They were fueled by sweet talking, whips, sugar cubes and hay.
Water wheels were the "big thing" in the 'middle ages', doing
some of our mundane tasks for us.
Prior to that, Rome things had some machines running off of the
aquaduct system but they made good use of human and horse power
as well.
Byzantium had some fascinating technolgoies though. They had
chairs that could lift an important person automatically up
towards the ceiling to show off JUST HOW AWESOME he was to a
visiting dignitary. All sorts of gadgets and gizmos in
Byzantium. Lots of chemistry there there, including a certain
color of royal purple that, legend has it, still can't be
recreated. Also, they use a trick every Easter for making Holy
Fire appear. Secret formula from Byzantium days. They ain't
talking - it's their yearly magic trick.
References
Visible links
1.
https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FSteam-electric_power_station&h=sAQHWqXqg
