Geschichte der Simulation / Simulation der Geschichte. Eine Einführung

Abstract

In recent years, simulation has become one of the central methods in the natural and technical sciences. However, until today it has played a largely peripheral role in historical sciences, not least due to the lack of awareness of the possibilities and limits of the technology. In a double approach, the following paper tries to remedy this. On the one hand a close look at the historical development of technology will be taken in order to derive a clear definition of simulation, and on the other hand the value and the limits for its use in the historical sciences and the existing approaches in ancient studies are discussed. After a general look at simulations of antiquity, the paper focuses on the use of simulation technology for researching transport and traffic in antiquity and concludes with the presentation of considerations for the implementation of a dynamic simulation of ancient transport times.