The earliest known vending machine dispensed holy water.

Vending machines feel like snacks, soda, and office hallways. The earliest known version belongs somewhere stranger. Hero of Alexandria, a first-century engineer in Roman Egypt, described a coin-operated device that dispensed holy water. A coin's weight opened a valve and released a measured amount. The basic pay-and-dispense idea is about 2,000 years old, and its product was ritual water, not candy. It is the same simple exchange pattern, just in a temple setting instead of a train station. The machine logic is ancient. The product is the twist. Very old tech.

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