We have a lot of poetry, historical book, religious, mathematical or astronomical book from the past. But have we found any technical or engineering books ? When i think of babylon sewer system, the pyramids, the four stories romans house or their aqueducts, i wonder how they knew how to build them ? Do we have any technical books from ancient times ? or was it only oral knowledge ? Did some of these ancient culture had construction norms ? if so, did we find any ?
Have we found any technical or engineering books?
Yes! Perhaps the most famous is De Architectura by Vitruvius (1st century BC). This includes descriptions of architectural plans and techniques (like those needed for building aquaducts), machines of all known types, and siege engines.
However, the use of writing to transmit technical knowledge goes back much further than Vitruvius. Arguably, one of the first works of Greek literature was a manual: Hesiod's epic poem Works and Days, written around 700 BC, includes careful instructions on how to run a household and supervise farm work.
From the late 5th century BC onward, the idea took hold in the Greek world that anything could be taught as long as the right teachers and materials were available, and from that moment on, the writing of treatises and manuals became an established activity of philosophers. Digressions on engineering and interesting technological feats (like the flame thrower of the Boiotians at Delion) also become a feature of historical writing pretty much from its beginning. In the 4th century BC we get the first works of military theory, but also the earliest surviving works on raising and training horses (written in response to another work on the topic, which is lost) and on hunting, both by Xenophon.
The invention of siege engines seems to have boosted this practice, and we know of a string of technical treatises on the construction of stone-throwers and bolt-throwers in particular (by Heron, Biton, and Philon). These treatises are incredibly detailed, describing every single part of each engine and its size; they were clearly meant to allow the knowledge of building engines to be exported so that every city could build its own.
One should not forget about De aquaeductu by Frontinus, one of the technical books I personally find the most interesting because it is so specialised and hints at how much specialised technical literature was probably lost to us (and not referred to in other literature because of this specialisation).