, shows them to have been employed as hydraulic machines, on a grand scale, for draining lands, or conveying water over a * Jul.
Julius Pollux says they were used for tasting wine * ; and Heron of Alexandria, the first writer of consequence who mentions them, and who lived under Ptolemy Evergetes II.  , shows them to have been employed as hydraulic machines, on a grand scale, for draining lands, or conveying water over a * Jul.  Poll.