eli5: why wasn’t there an Industrial Revolution at an earlier point in time?

Question

Was it a lack of manpower? Was it geographic circumstances? Why couldn’t civilizations like, say, Babylon or Rome have an Industrial Revolution?

In: 448

Answer 1

Really really good explanation here of specifically why there was no Roman industrial revolution: https://acoup.blog/2022/08/26/collections-why-no-roman-industrial-revolution/