Pulley

Pulleys are simple machines that change the direction of force, making it easier to move objects. The earliest evidence of pulleys dates back to Ancient Egypt in the Twelfth Dynasty (1991-1802 B.C.E.). Pulleys were used to draw water from wells and may have been used in the construction of pyramids. 

The exact origins of pulleys are not known, but it is believed that some of the first pulley systems were used in Mesopotamia by 1500 BC. The Ancient Greeks may have invented a pulley system of ropes and levers to lift blocks weighing up to 900 lbs when building their enormous structures. 

Archimedes, a Greek philosopher, mathematician, and inventor, invented the compound pulley. The most sophisticated pulleys were compound pulleys, also called block and tackle.