If you were sent back to the roman era and could only bring a backpack of goods. What would you bring?
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
Lol … Roman Empire collapses 300 years before it’s time because of a meth crisis.
Why not sell psychedelics and change history?
Turning Ceaser and his forces into tweakers won’t change history?
they probably would have conquered the New World too.
They would have conquered the New World … in their minds!!!
Then by the late Middle Ages we would have had the Holy Roman Pharmaceutical Corporation.
And a copy of the army improvised weapons manuals.
Jump start military tech by 1000 years or so right quick
Six weights of charcoal, one of brimstone, and one of saltpetre. Done, you already advanced military tech by 800 years.
Gray’s Sports Almanac 1950-2000.
Just wait 1950 years and you’ll be rich
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.
You’re going to need medicine. Penicillin for sure.
Penicillin might be a good idea, but once you set up some simple electricity production, you can generate bleach (electrolyse brine, then input the chlorine back into solution; discard the hydrogen). Being able to bleach your water is huge.
Power has yet to be invented. Once your laptop dies it becomes uselesss. Batteries deteriorate over time and without the latest security patches you’ll definitely get infected sooner rather than later.
No need to worry, those security patches would be millennia ahead of any contemporaneous trojans.
without the latest security patches you’ll definitely get infected sooner rather than later
By what?
Trojan Horse virus
Yeah you gotta watch out for those ancient roman black hats. Or togas.
Tunicae? “Per Hercle, tunicae nigrae sunt diri - computatrum meum inuaserunt! Merda!” doesn’t sound too bad.
Power has yet to be invented. Once your laptop dies it becomes uselesss.
That’s why I mentioned a charger in the following line.
Batteries deteriorate over time
Sure, that is a concern. For a few years later; the idea is to at least have at hand some knowledge to translate into Latin and put into useful applications.
Also, remember that electricity can be produced with a bar of copper, a bar of iron, and some acid. Such as vinegar or even citrus.
and without the latest security patches you’ll definitely get infected sooner rather than later.
Yeah, because Mark Anthony will totally send me files like cleopatrahotpix.jpg.exe [/sarcasm]
I find it uncanny just how close this reply is to an idle thought I’ve had for many years.
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.
You need good quality metal to make precise clockwork. You need to be able to make those metals.
You could bring plans for a high quality forge
The fuel it takes to run a forge wasn’t common so you are still stuck.
Charcoal???
That is what they used, but so much is needed that despite being easy to make it wasn’t available in large enough quantity. You get it by the basket, what you need is train loads.
Nice!
Also seeds for modern veggies. Easier to grow and more nutritious.
Just nothing from Monsanto, as many of their seeds are sterile.
Best to get some modern old stock. Hell just some beef steak tomatoes and corn would be invaluable.
Most seeds are not steril. Farmers wish they were as hybrids never breed true.
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…
That guy was definitely a time traveler.
If we lived in a world where plastic didnt exist, and some body brought it in. The closest approximation of articulating clear plastic would be flexible glass.
Portable power supply
Portable dvd player
Portable display
Bluetooth speakers
A copy of Morbius on dvd
it’s morbin’ time!
Probably mostly medical supplies. I don’t want to die of a stubbed toe.
You and everyone you interact with will probably get very sick. Neither of you will be resistant to each others germs. Maybe you will set off another plague. Probably. I’m not an expert.
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.
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.
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.
A latin/english dictionary.
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!
A towel. Maybe some peanuts.
A hoopy frood right here.
Do I have to go? They didn’t even have A/C back then :/
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/
For rich people there were passive air cooling systems available
Bro for rich people there were active air cooling systems.
Unless you’re talking about something like a guy fanning you with a big frond, then i don’t think that’s true. If you have a specific example please cite it.
I’m talking about a guy fanning you with a big frond.
I’d fill the entire backpack with antibiotics, and vaccines for TB, Polio, and Smallpox.
And don’t forget the condoms, Mr. I’m my great-great-great-great…-great grandfather!
He did do the nasty in the pasty
A gun and plenty of ammo. Don’t need anything else to be Caesar.
Speaking of Caesar, I think you vastly overestimate how useful a gun is against a bunch of determined guys with knives.
Dude isn’t planning on sleeping for the 15 years of life expectancy left.
Et tu, Brute?
I didn’t say which gun. I think the right submachine gun would do fine.
Submachine guns eat ammo very quickly. You’ll maybe survive one fight or two, depending on your proficiency - and then you’re that barbarian with the death stick whose death stick isn’t working anymore, but has made a people who are famous for holding deep grudges for years and coming up with very creative punishments for their defeated foes extremely angry.
Also, it’s not like Romans don’t have ranged weapons. They were experts at using the sling, which can kill you at the same distance as a firearm. They had bows and crossbows, throwing spears, etc. You are not prepared for any of this.
You’re not really thinking this through. You started from the premise that this will fail and are only presenting thoughts that support that premise.
The gun gets you whatever you want, including armor and whatever else. Kill one person, hopefully Caesar, and do it in front of as many people as possible. Then your demands start and must be met ASAP.
There are plenty of possible paths to success just as there are to failure and neither is guaranteed.
Not that easy. Sure you could kill ceaser, but you can’t kill everyone who might take offense. you can be killed in you sleep. you can be killed by a mob as eventually someone gets through.
A man’s gotta sleep
