15 amazing facts about the Antikythera mechanism. This is the most mysterious mechanism in the world.

Antikythera mechanism found on seabed at the beginning of the last century, lay in a museum window for half a century until Derek Price drew attention to it. Recently, researchers who took a participant in scientific project“Exploration of the Antikythera Mechanism” revealed new interesting facts about this unusual device.

1. The mechanism was found at the site of a Roman-era shipwreck.

Located in the Aegean Sea between mainland Greece and Crete, the name of the island of Antikythera literally means “the opposite of Kythera,” another, much larger island. The ship, now believed to be Roman, sank off the coast of the island in the mid-1st century AD. A huge number of artifacts were found on board.

2. Finding at the cost of life

In 1900, Greek divers searching for sea sponges at the bottom found the remains of a shipwreck at a depth of almost 60 meters. Diving equipment at that time consisted of linen suits and copper helmets.
When the first diver rose to the surface and reported seeing a shipwreck on the seabed and many "decaying horse corpses" (which later turned out to be bronze statues covered with a layer of marine organisms), the captain assumed that the diver had been poisoned by nitrogen while under the water. water. Later exploration work in the summer of 1901 led to the death of one diver and paralysis from decompression sickness of two more.

3. The culprits of the shipwreck

An astrophysicist at the University of Athens, Xenophon Moussas, theorized in 2006 that the ship on which the mechanism was found may have been bound for Rome as part of a triumphal parade for Emperor Julius Caesar in the 1st century AD. Another theory states that the ship was carrying the looted valuables of the Roman general Sulla from Athens in 87-86 BC.
During the same time period, the famous Roman orator Marcus Tullius Cicero mentioned a mechanical planetarium called the Archimedes Sphere, which demonstrated how the Sun, Moon and planets moved in relation to the Earth. More recent research, however, suggests that the ship may have sailed to Rome from Turkey.

4. The meaning of the mechanism was unknown for 75 years

A unique object made of bronze and wood was found on the ship next to sculptures, coins, glass and ceramics. Because all other artifacts seemed more worthy of preservation, the mechanism was effectively ignored until 1951. After two more decades of research, the first report on the Antikythera Mechanism was published in 1974 by physicist and historian Derek de Price. But Price's work was unfinished when he died in 1983, and it was not yet clear how the device actually worked.

5. Jacques Cousteau and Richard Feynman admired the mechanism

Famed marine explorer Jacques-Yves Cousteau and his crew sank to the bottom of the Antikythera shipwreck in 1976, shortly after Price's initial publication. They found coins from the 1st century AD and several smaller bronze pieces of machinery.
A few years later, physicist Richard Feynman visited the National Museum in Athens. Feynman was completely disappointed with the museum as a whole, but later wrote that the Antikythera mechanism was "an absolutely strange, almost impossible... machine with gears, very similar to a modern clock mechanism."

6. This is the first known prototype of a computer

Long before the invention of the digital computer, analog computers undoubtedly existed. These essentially ranged from mechanical aids to devices that could predict tides. The Antikythera Mechanism, which was designed to calculate dates and predict astronomical phenomena, is therefore called an early analog computer.

7. The mechanism could have been created by the inventor of trigonometry

Hipparchus is primarily known as an ancient astronomer. He was born in modern Turkey in 190 BC, and he worked and taught mainly on the island of Rhodes. Hipparchus was one of the first thinkers to suggest that the Earth revolved around the Sun, but he could never prove it. Hipparchus created the first trigonometric tables to try to solve a number of astronomical questions, which is why he is known as the father of trigonometry.
Because of these discoveries, and because Cicero mentions a planetary device that was built by Posidonius (who became head of the school of Hipparchus at Rhodes after his death), the creation of the Antikythera Mechanism is often attributed to Hipparchus. New research, however, has shown that the mechanism was created by at least two different people, so it is quite possible that the mechanism was created in a workshop.

8. The technology of the mechanism was so complex that nothing more complex could be created for almost 1500 years

A mechanism consisting of 37 bronze gears in a wooden container, only the size of shoe box, was very progressive for its time. By turning the knobs, the gears moved, rotating a series of dials and rings on which there were inscriptions, as well as symbols of the Greek zodiac signs and Egyptian calendar days. Similar astronomical clocks did not appear in Europe until the 14th century.

9. The mechanism was created to track different events and seasons

The mechanism tracked the lunar calendar, predicted eclipses, and showed the position and phases of the moon. It was also used to track seasons and ancient festivals such as Olympic Games. Thanks to lunar calendar people could count optimal timing For Agriculture. Also, the inventor of the Antikythera mechanism provided two dials that rotated to show lunar and solar eclipses.

10. The mechanism has a “built-in” instruction manual

On a bronze panel at the back of the mechanism, the inventor left either instructions on how the device worked or an explanation of what the user saw. Inscriptions in Koine Greek (the most common form of the ancient language) mention cycles, dials, and some of the mechanism's functions. Although the text does not provide specific instructions on how to use the mechanism and assumes some prior knowledge of astronomy, it does help describe the device.

11. No one knows where and how the mechanism was used

While many of the mechanism's functions have been elucidated, how and where it was used is still unknown. Scholars think it may have been used in a temple or school, but it could also have belonged to some wealthy family.

12. It is known where the mechanism was manufactured

Thanks to the use of Koine in numerous inscriptions on the mechanism, it is easy to guess that it was created in Greece, which was geographically very vast at the time. The latest analysis of the inscriptions suggests that the mechanism could have tracked at least 42 different calendar events.
Based on some of the dates mentioned, the researchers calculated that the creator of the mechanism was probably at 35 degrees northern latitude. Combined with Cicero's mention of a similar device in the school of Posidonius, this means that the Antikythera mechanism was most likely created on the island of Rhodes.

13. The device was also used for fortune telling

Scientists from the Antikythera Mechanism Project, based on the surviving 3,400 Greek symbols on the device (although many thousands more symbols are missing due to the artifact being incompletely preserved), discovered that the mechanism could detect eclipses. Since the Greeks regarded eclipses as good or bad omens, they could predict the future based on them.

14. The movements of the planets were measured with an accuracy of up to 500 years

The mechanism features indicators for Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn, all of which are clearly visible in the sky, as well as a rotating ball that shows the phases of the moon. The working parts that powered these pointers are gone, but the text on the front of the mechanism confirms that the planetary motion was mathematically very accurately modeled.

15. There May Actually Be Two Antikythera Shipwrecks

Since Cousteau explored the shipwreck in the mid-1970s, very little work has been done in terms of underwater archaeological excavations due to the depth at which the remains of the ship lie. In 2012, marine archaeologists from the Woodshole Oceanographic Institution and the College of Underwater Antiquities of the Greek Ministry of Culture returned to the wreck using the latest scuba gear. They discovered massive accumulations of amphorae and other artifacts. This means that either the Roman ship was significantly larger than previously thought, or another ship was sunk nearby.

In 1900, on the eve of Easter, two sponge catchers returning from the coast of Africa dropped anchor off the small Greek island of Antikythera (Antikethera) in the Aegean Sea, located between the island of Crete and the southern tip of mainland Greece - the Peloponnese Peninsula. There, at a depth of about 60 meters, divers discovered the remains of an ancient ship.

Sponge divers, 1900

The following year, Greek archaeologists, with the help of divers, began exploring the sunken ship, which turned out to be a Roman merchant ship that was wrecked around 80-50. BC. According to the most likely hypothesis, the ship was sailing from the island of Rhodes, most likely to Rome with trophies or diplomatic “gifts”. As is known, the conquest of Greece by Rome was accompanied by the systematic export of cultural property to Italy.

Among the objects recovered from the sunken ship was a shapeless lump of corroded bronze, initially mistaken for a fragment of a statue. In 1902, archaeologist Valerios Stais began studying it. Having cleared it of lime deposits, he, to his surprise, discovered a complex mechanism, like a clockwork, with many bronze gears, the remains of drive shafts and measuring scales. It was also possible to make out some inscriptions in ancient Greek.

Having lain on the seabed for 2,000 years, the mechanism has reached us in a severely damaged state. Wooden frame, on which it was apparently attached, completely disintegrated. Metal parts were severely deformed and corroded. In addition, many fragments of the mechanism were lost. In 1903, the first official scientific publication was published in Athens with a description and photographs of the Antikythera Mechanism, as the device was called.

It took painstaking work to clear the device, which lasted for decades. Its reconstruction seemed almost hopeless, and it remained little studied for a long time until it attracted the attention of the English physicist and historian of science Derek J. de Solla Price. In 1959, Price's paper "The Ancient Greek Computer" on the Antikythera Mechanism was published in Scientific American, a milestone in his research.

Radiocarbon dating carried out in 1971 and epigraphic studies of the inscriptions made it possible to establish that this device was created in 150-100 BC. Investigation of the mechanism using X-ray and gamma radiography provided valuable information about the internal configuration of the device.

All surviving metal parts of the Antikythera mechanism are made of sheet bronze 1-2 millimeters thick. Many fragments have been almost completely transformed into corrosion products, but in many places the elegant details of the mechanism can still be discerned. Currently, 7 large and 75 small fragments of this mechanism are known.

More on initial stage research, thanks to surviving inscriptions and scales, the Antikythera mechanism was identified as a kind of device for astronomical needs. According to the first hypothesis, it was some kind of navigation tool, perhaps an astrolabe - a kind of circular map of the starry sky with devices for determining the coordinates of stars and other astronomical observations, the inventor of which is considered to be the ancient Greek astronomer Hipparchus (c. 180-190 - 125 BC). e.).

However, it soon became clear that the level of miniaturization and complexity of the Antikythera mechanism is comparable to the astronomical clock of the 18th century. It contains more than 30 gears with teeth in the shape of equilateral triangles. Such high complexity and impeccable craftsmanship suggest that it had a number of predecessors that have not been discovered.

According to the second hypothesis, the mechanism was a “flat” version of the mechanical celestial globe (planetarium) created by Archimedes (c. 287 - 212 BC), which is reported by ancient authors.

The earliest mention of Archimedes' globe dates back to the 1st century BC. In the dialogue “On the State” by the famous Roman orator Cicero, the conversation between the participants in the conversation turns to solar eclipses, and one of them says:

I remember how I once, together with Gaius Sulpicius Gallus, one of the most learned people of our fatherland, was visiting Marcus Marcellus... and Gall asked him to bring the famous “sphere”, the only trophy with which Marcellus’s great-grandfather wished to decorate his house after the capture of Syracuse , a city full of treasures and wonders.

I have often heard people talk about this "sphere", which was considered the masterpiece of Archimedes, and I must confess that at first glance I did not find anything special about it. More beautiful and more famous among the people was another sphere, created by the same Archimedes, which the same Marcellus gave to the Temple of Valor.

But when Gall began to explain to us with great knowledge the structure of this device, I came to the conclusion that the Sicilian had a talent greater than what a person can possess. For Gall said that... a solid sphere without voids was invented long ago... but, said Gall, such a sphere on which the movements of the Sun, Moon and five stars, called... wandering, would be represented, could not be created in the form of a solid body.

The invention of Archimedes is amazing precisely because he figured out how to maintain unequal and different paths during dissimilar movements during one revolution. When Gall set this sphere in motion, it happened that on this ball of bronze the moon replaced the sun during the same number of revolutions as in how many days it replaced it in the sky itself, as a result of which the same eclipse of the sun and the moon took place in the sky of the sphere. entered into the same place where the shadow of the earth was when the sun left the area... (Gap).

Nothing is known for certain about the internal mechanism of Archimedes' celestial globe. It can be assumed that it consisted of complex system gears, like the Antikythera mechanism. Archimedes wrote a book about the structure of the celestial globe - “On the Making of Spheres”, but, unfortunately, it was lost.

Cicero also writes about another similar device made by Posidonius (c. 135 - 51 BC), a Stoic philosopher and scientist who lived on the island of Rhodes, from where the ship carrying the Antikythera mechanism may have sailed: “If someone whoever brought to Scythia or Britain that ball (sphaera) that our friend Posidonius recently made, a ball whose individual revolutions reproduce what happens in the sky with the Sun, Moon and five planets on different days and nights, then who in these barbaric countries Would you doubt that this ball is the product of a perfect mind? (Cicero. On the nature of the gods, II, 34)

Further research showed that the Antikythera Mechanism was an astronomical and calendar calculator, used to predict the positions of celestial bodies in the sky, and could also serve as a planetarium to demonstrate their movements. Thus, we are talking about a more complex and multifunctional device than the celestial globe of Archimedes.

According to one hypothesis, this device was created at the Academy founded by the Stoic philosopher Posidonius on the Greek island of Rhodes, which at that time was known as a center of astronomy and “mechanical engineering.” It is also suggested that the engineer who developed the device may have been the astronomer Hipparchus (c. 190-120 BC), also living on the island of Rhodes, since it contains a mechanism that uses his theory of the motion of the Moon.

However, recent findings from the Antikythera Mechanism Project, published July 30, 2008, in the journal Nature, suggest that the concept of the mechanism originated in the colonies of Corinth, which may point to a tradition going back to Archimedes.

Despite the poor preservation and fragmentation of parts of the Antikythera mechanism, thanks to the painstaking work of researchers, it is possible to outline its structure and functions with reasonable confidence.

After setting the date, the device was presumably activated by rotating a knob located on the side of the case. The large 4-spoke drive wheel was connected by multi-stage gears to numerous gears that rotated at different speeds and moved the indicators on the dials.

The mechanism had three main dials with concentric scales: one on the front panel and two on the rear panel. There were two scales on the front panel: a fixed outer one, representing the ecliptic (the large circle of the celestial sphere along which the visible annual movement of the Sun occurs) - was divided into 360 degrees and 12 segments of 30 degrees each with the signs of the Zodiac, and a movable inner one, which had 365 divisions according to the number of days in the Egyptian calendar, which was used by Greek astronomers. The calendar error, caused by the greater actual length of the solar year (365.2422 days), could be corrected by turning the calendar dial back 1 division every 4 years.

The front dial probably had three pointer indicators: one indicating the date, and the other two indicating the positions of the Sun and Moon relative to the ecliptic plane. The position indicator of the Moon made it possible to take into account the unevenness of its movement, caused by the fact that the Earth's satellite moves not in a circular, but in an elliptical orbit. For this, a clever gear system was used, which included two gears with a center of gravity shifted relative to the axis of rotation.

On the front panel there was also a mechanism with a moon phase indicator. A spherical model of the Moon, half silver and half black, was displayed in a round window, showing the current phase of the Moon.

There is a point of view that the mechanism could have indicators for all five planets known to the Greeks (these are Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn). But not a single gear responsible for such planetary mechanisms has been found. At the same time, recently discovered inscriptions that mention the stationary points of the planets suggest that the Antikythera mechanism could also describe their movement.

Finally, on a thin bronze plate covering the front dial, there was a parapegma - an astronomical calendar indicating the rising and setting of individual stars and constellations, indicated by Greek letters corresponding to the same letters on the zodiac scale.

Thus, the device could show the relative positions of the luminaries on the celestial sphere on a specific date, which could have practical use in the work of astronomers and astrologers, eliminating complex and time-consuming calculations.

There were two large dials on the back panel. The upper dial, shaped like a spiral with five turns and 47 compartments in each turn, displayed the Metonic cycle, named after the Athenian astronomer and mathematician Meton, who proposed it in 433 BC. It was used to coordinate the length of the lunar month and solar year in the lunisolar calendar.

As the ancient Greek scientist of the 1st century BC noted, Geminus in his “Elements of Astronomy,” the Greeks made sacrifices to the gods according to the customs of their ancestors and therefore “they must maintain agreement in years with the Sun, and in days and months with the Moon.”

On the upper dial of the rear panel there was also a auxiliary dial, divided into four sectors, reminiscent of the seconds dial of a modern wristwatch.

In 2008, the head of the Antikythera Mechanism Project, Tony Freese, and his colleagues discovered on this dial the names of 4 Panhellenic games - Isthmian, Olympic, Nemean and Pythian, as well as the games in Dodona. The Olympic dial had to be incorporated into an existing gear train that moved the pointer 1/4 of a revolution per year.

This confirms that the Antikythera mechanism could be used to calculate the dates of religious holidays associated with astronomical events (including the Olympic and other sacred games), and also serve to correct calendars based on the Metonic cycle.

At the bottom of the back panel was a spiral dial with 223 compartments, showing the Saros cycle. Saros, possibly discovered by Babylonian astronomers, is a period after which, due to the repetition of the relative position of the Sun, the Moon and the nodes of the lunar orbit on the celestial sphere, solar and lunar eclipses are repeated in the same sequence. Saros includes 223 synodic months, which is approximately 18 years 11 days 8 hours.

On the scale of the dial showing the Saros cycle, there are Σ symbols for lunar eclipses (ΣΕΛΗΝΗ, Moon), Η symbols for solar eclipses (ΗΛΙΟΣ, Sun) and numerical designations in Greek letters, presumably indicating the date and hour of the eclipses. It was possible to establish correlations with actually observed eclipses.

The smaller sub-dial displays the "triple Saros", or "Exeligmos cycle" (Greek: ἐξέλιγμος), giving the recurrence period of eclipses in whole days. The field of this dial is divided into three sectors: one clear and two with hour indications (8 and 16), which must be added for every second and third Saros in the cycle to get the time of the eclipses. This confirms that the instrument could be used to predict lunar and possibly solar eclipses.

Computer reconstruction of the mechanism

The Antikythera mechanism was enclosed in a wooden box, on the doors of which there were bronze tablets containing instructions for its use with astronomical, mechanical and geographical data. Interestingly, among the place names in the text there is ΙΣΠΑΝΙΑ (Spain in Greek), which is the oldest mention of the country in this form, in contrast to Iberia.

Thanks to the efforts of researchers, the Antikythera Mechanism is gradually revealing its secrets, expanding our understanding of the possibilities of ancient science and technology. In 1974, in the article "Greek Gears - A BC Calendar Computer", Price presented a theoretical model of the Antikythera Mechanism, based on which Australian scientist Allan George Bromley of the University of Sydney and watchmaker Frank Percival produced the first working model. A few years later, British inventor John Gleave, who makes planetariums, designed a more accurate model that worked according to Price's scheme.

A major contribution to the study of the Antikythera mechanism was made by Michael Wright, an employee of the London Science Museum and Imperial College London, who in 2002 was able to recreate a complete reconstruction of the device, and in 2007 presented its modified model. It turned out that the Antique mechanism makes it possible to simulate not only the movements of the Sun and Moon, but also Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn.

In 2016, scientists presented the results of their long-term research. From the surviving 82 fragments of the device, it was possible to decipher 2,000 letters, including 500 words. Still, the description, according to scientists, could take 20,000 characters. They talked about the purpose of the device, in particular, about determining the dates of 42 astronomical phenomena. In addition, it contained predictive functions, in particular, the color and size of a solar eclipse was determined, and from it the strength of the winds at sea (the Greeks inherited this belief from the Babylonians).

“This device is simply extraordinary, it is one of a kind,” says Mike Edmunds, a professor at Cardiff University who is leading the research into the mechanism. “Its design is excellent and its astronomy is absolutely accurate... In terms of historical value, I consider this mechanism more valuable than the Mona Lisa.”

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The Antikythera mechanism, found on the seabed at the beginning of the last century, lay in a museum display case for half a century until Derek Price drew attention to it. Recently, researchers who took part in the scientific project “Study of the Antikythera Mechanism” told new interesting facts about this unusual device.

1. The mechanism was found at the site of a Roman-era shipwreck.

Located in the Aegean Sea between mainland Greece and Crete, the name of the island of Antikythera literally means "the opposite of Kythera" - another, much larger island. The ship, now believed to be Roman, sank off the coast of the island in the mid-1st century AD. A huge number of artifacts were found on board.

2. Finding at the cost of life

In 1900, Greek divers searching for sea sponges at the bottom found the remains of a shipwreck at a depth of almost 60 meters. Diving equipment at that time consisted of linen suits and copper helmets.

When the first diver rose to the surface and reported seeing a shipwreck on the seabed and many "decaying horse corpses" (which later turned out to be bronze statues covered with a layer of marine organisms), the captain assumed that the diver had been poisoned by nitrogen while under the water. water. Later exploration work in the summer of 1901 led to the death of one diver and paralysis from decompression sickness of two more.

3. The culprits of the shipwreck

An astrophysicist at the University of Athens, Xenophon Moussas, theorized in 2006 that the ship on which the mechanism was found may have been bound for Rome as part of a triumphal parade for Emperor Julius Caesar in the 1st century AD. Another theory states that the ship was carrying the looted valuables of the Roman general Sulla from Athens in 87-86 BC.

During the same time period, the famous Roman orator Marcus Tullius Cicero mentioned a mechanical planetarium called the Archimedes Sphere, which demonstrated how the Sun, Moon and planets moved in relation to the Earth. More recent research, however, suggests that the ship may have sailed to Rome from Turkey.

4. The meaning of the mechanism was unknown for 75 years

A unique object made of bronze and wood was found on the ship next to sculptures, coins, glass and ceramics. Because all other artifacts seemed more worthy of preservation, the mechanism was effectively ignored until 1951. After two more decades of research, the first report on the Antikythera Mechanism was published in 1974 by physicist and historian Derek de Price. But Price's work was unfinished when he died in 1983, and it was not yet clear how the device actually worked.

5. Jacques Cousteau and Richard Feynman admired the mechanism

Famed marine explorer Jacques-Yves Cousteau and his crew sank to the bottom of the Antikythera shipwreck in 1976, shortly after Price's initial publication. They found coins from the 1st century AD and several smaller bronze pieces of machinery.

A few years later, physicist Richard Feynman visited the National Museum in Athens. Feynman was completely disappointed with the museum as a whole, but later wrote that the Antikythera mechanism was "an absolutely strange, almost impossible... machine with gears, very similar to a modern clock mechanism."

6. This is the first known prototype of a computer

Long before the invention of the digital computer, analog computers undoubtedly existed. These essentially ranged from mechanical aids to devices that could predict tides. The Antikythera Mechanism, which was designed to calculate dates and predict astronomical phenomena, is therefore called an early analog computer.

7. The mechanism could have been created by the inventor of trigonometry

Hipparchus is primarily known as an ancient astronomer. He was born in modern Turkey in 190 BC, and he worked and taught mainly on the island of Rhodes. Hipparchus was one of the first thinkers to suggest that the Earth revolved around the Sun, but he could never prove it. Hipparchus created the first trigonometric tables to try to solve a number of astronomical questions, which is why he is known as the father of trigonometry.

Because of these discoveries, and because Cicero mentions a planetary device that was built by Posidonius (who became head of the school of Hipparchus at Rhodes after his death), the creation of the Antikythera Mechanism is often attributed to Hipparchus. New research, however, has shown that the mechanism was created by at least two different people, so it is possible that the mechanism was created in a workshop.

8. The technology of the mechanism was so complex that nothing more complex could be created for almost 1500 years

The mechanism, consisting of 37 bronze gears in a wooden container, only the size of a shoebox, was quite advanced for its time. By turning the knobs, the gears moved, rotating a series of dials and rings on which there were inscriptions, as well as symbols of the Greek zodiac signs and Egyptian calendar days. Similar astronomical clocks did not appear in Europe until the 14th century.

9. The mechanism was created to track different events and seasons

The mechanism tracked the lunar calendar, predicted eclipses, and showed the position and phases of the moon. It was also used to track seasons and ancient festivals such as the Olympic Games. Thanks to the lunar calendar, people could calculate the optimal timing for agriculture. Also, the inventor of the Antikythera mechanism provided two dials that rotated to show lunar and solar eclipses.

10. The mechanism has a “built-in” instruction manual

On a bronze panel at the back of the mechanism, the inventor left either instructions on how the device worked or an explanation of what the user saw. Inscriptions in Koine Greek (the most common form of the ancient language) mention cycles, dials, and some of the mechanism's functions. Although the text does not provide specific instructions on how to use the mechanism and assumes some prior knowledge of astronomy, it does help describe the device.

11. No one knows where and how the mechanism was used

While many of the mechanism's functions have been elucidated, how and where it was used is still unknown. Scholars think it may have been used in a temple or school, but it could also have belonged to some wealthy family.

12. It is known where the mechanism was manufactured

Thanks to the use of Koine in numerous inscriptions on the mechanism, it is easy to guess that it was created in Greece, which was geographically very vast at the time. The latest analysis of the inscriptions suggests that the mechanism could have tracked at least 42 different calendar events.

Based on some of the dates mentioned, the researchers calculated that the creator of the mechanism was likely located at 35 degrees north latitude. Combined with Cicero's mention of a similar device in the school of Posidonius, this means that the Antikythera mechanism was most likely created on the island of Rhodes.

13. The device was also used for fortune telling

Scientists from the Antikythera Mechanism Project, based on the surviving 3,400 Greek symbols on the device (although many thousands more symbols are missing due to the artifact being incompletely preserved), discovered that the mechanism could detect eclipses. Since the Greeks regarded eclipses as good or bad omens, they could predict the future based on them.

14.The movement of the planets was measured with an accuracy of up to 500 years

The mechanism features indicators for Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn, all of which are clearly visible in the sky, as well as a rotating ball that shows the phases of the moon. The working parts that powered these pointers are gone, but the text on the front of the mechanism confirms that the planetary motion was mathematically very accurately modeled.

15. There May Actually Be Two Antikythera Shipwrecks

Since Cousteau explored the shipwreck in the mid-1970s, very little work has been done in terms of underwater archaeological excavations due to the depth at which the remains of the ship lie. In 2012, marine archaeologists from the Woodshole Oceanographic Institution and the College of Underwater Antiquities of the Greek Ministry of Culture returned to the wreck using the latest scuba gear. They discovered massive accumulations of amphorae and other artifacts. This means that either the Roman ship was significantly larger than previously thought, or another ship was sunk nearby.

The oldest computer on the planet

This is a device from 80 BC. was found at the bottom of the sea, on board an ancient Greek ship and is considered the most ancient computer.

The device, made by the ancient Greeks 2,000 years ago, was discovered among the wreckage of a sunken Roman cargo ship off the coast of the island of Ankythera and named after the place where it was found. As researchers recently discovered, this device used to calculate solar and lunar cycles. In addition, scientists believe that with its help the ancient Greeks calculated the movement of the planets known to them at that time: Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. One of the working group members, prof. Ivan Seyradakis from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki emphasized that this is a unique device that is “as important for technology as the Acropolis is for architecture.” However, not everyone agrees with the group's view of the ancient mechanism's purpose.

The discovery of the device dates back to 1902, when archaeologist Valerios Stais noticed a strange structure of rusty gears among the artifacts recovered from the sunken ship. After this, more fragments were discovered, and scientists were able to restore the mechanism completely. There are a total of 30 elements in the Antikythera Mechanism. Researchers believe that the structure was enclosed in an unpreserved wooden casing, as well as a lever that operated the computer. The origin of the device is still a mystery, but inscriptions discovered using X-ray analysis allow it to be dated to 150-100 BC. before the new era. This means that the device was developed by the Greeks long before similar mechanisms appeared in other regions. Moreover, according to technical specifications it surpasses anything created over the next 1000 years.

For many years, the Antikythera Mechanism became a kind of puzzle for historians and archaeologists. Scattered fragments did not allow us to guess what it looked like originally. Everyone collected it in their own way and, therefore, interpreted its purpose in their own way.

X-ray of the mechanism

But recent X-ray data appears to provide the most accurate indication of the device's functionality. On the front panel of the ancient computer, images were found representing the Greek zodiac cycle and the Egyptian calendar, designed in the form of concentric circles. On the back there are inscriptions telling about solar and lunar cycles, in particular, recording solar and lunar eclipses. Before this discovery, the use of the instrument to predict eclipses was only a hypothesis.

Unfortunately, a more detailed study of the principles of operation of the device is complicated by the unknown initial number of rings and gears and whether the whole device was given to the researchers or only part of it. But a number of conclusions can be drawn.

Drawing of the mechanism obtained from x-rays

For example, the Moon moves through some parts of its orbit faster due to its elliptical shape. To account for this unevenness and avoid errors, the designer of the ancient mechanism used a so-called planetary gear, in which the outer gear rotates around the central one. The periods of rotation of the gears are calculated so that all available options are sorted out. “When you see this, you can only open your mouth in amazement,” commented the team leader, Prof. Mike Edmunds.

During the fluoroscopy process, the team was also able to read most of the inscriptions on the surface of the mechanism. This information suggests that the Antikythera Mechanism also described the motion of planets.

Modern prototypes of the mechanism

If the Antikythera Mechanism really does correspond to the assumptions of the researchers, then the further conclusion follows that its work was based on the heliocentric theory of the structure of the solar system, very unusual for the time when most Greeks adhered to Aristotle's opinion about the rotation of the Universe around the Earth. According to Michael Wright, curator of mechanical engineering at the London Science Museum, the mechanism may have been created at an academy founded by the Stoic philosopher Poseidonis on the Greek island of Rhodes. Indeed, later his student Cicero described a device that was in many ways reminiscent of the Antikythera mechanism.

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Stone Age Calculator

Abacus of the Hellenes

Abacus from Ancient Greece

counting board

Part of a column capital

Ancient abacus

Great-great-grandfather of the computer

Archimedes' abacus

Ancient "arithmometer"

Ancestor of the calculator

Upper part of the capital

Antediluvian abacus

Accountants' Knuckles

Ancient mathematicians board

Board with pebbles

Greek "board"

Hellenic counting board

Top of the column

Slab on top of capital

Ancient "calculator"

Slab over column

The most ancient abacus

Greek ancestor of the calculator

Antique counting board

Ancient Greek pebbles that love counting

Pythagorean times calculator

Ancient counting board

Ancestor of stationery accounts

Top of the capital

In Rus' there is an abacus, but in Greece?

Antediluvian abacus of the ancient Greeks

Abacus for Pythagorean calculations

Computer from the time of Daedalus and Icarus

Analogue of accounts among the ancient Greeks

The oldest abacus

Forefather of the computer

Prototype of accounts

Abacus from the times of Pythagoras

Distant ancestor of the calculator

Antique "calculator"

Accounts from the times of Daedalus and Icarus

Abacus of ancient times

An ancient calculating device

Ancient counting board

Archaic counting board

Accounts of our ancestors

Old abacus

. Archimedes' "arithmometer"

Vintage abacus

Ancient Greek abacus

The counting board of the ancient Romans

Ancient abacus

Upper plate of column capital, pilasters

Pythagorean calculator