Cover -- Contents -- List of Abbreviations -- Introduction. The Persistence of Robots: An Archaeology of Automata -- Chapter 1. Rare Devices: Geography and Technology -- Chapter 2. Between Art and Nature: Natura artifex, Neoplatonism, and Literary Automata -- Chapter 3. Talking Heads: Astral Science, Divination, and Legends of Medieval Philosophers -- Chapter 4. The Quick and the Dead: Corpses, Memorial Statues, and Automata -- Chapter 5. From Texts to Technology: Mechanical Marvels in Courtly and Public Pageantry -- Chapter 6. The Clockwork Universe: Keeping Sacred and Secular Time -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index -- A -- B -- C -- D -- E -- F -- G -- H -- I -- J -- K -- L -- M -- N -- O -- P -- Q -- R -- S -- T -- V -- W -- Z -- Acknowledgments -- Color plates.