In
1901, the most sophisticated device of the ancient world returned to
sunlight after it had spent 2000 years in a Roman shipwreck offshore the
Greek island of Antikythera. But it was as late as 1957 that this
clotted lump of gearwheels, axles, scales and pointers was recognised as
part of an astronomical instrument that is without known counterpart in
its period or the centuries after. This instrument, known as the
Antikythera Mechanism or the Antikythera Device, features a sort of
clockwork that was able to display, for any freely eligible date, the
positions of the sun, the moon and probably also of the visible planets,
taking into account many intricacies of their varying orbits. Better
still, this instrument could predict solar and lunar eclipses many years
in advance!
After the turn of the millennium, the publications of the Antikythera Mechanism Research Project (AMRP) turned attention to this unique object. If you happen to visit the National Museum of Athens, Greece, you may find it there on display; a number of functional reconstructions are spread across technical museums world-wide.
The AMRP believes that the mechanism may have originated either in Corinth or its famous colony, Sicilian Syracuse. However, the ship that kept it contained cargo from Asia Minor and, when it sank, had set a western course - probably heading for Rome. We do not know who may have used it and for which purpose. No classic author seems to have described its function, though instruments predicting the movements of the skies are mentioned, among others, by Poseidonius and Cicero. No other device of this age was found so far - the second-oldest preserved is many centuries younger and much simpler. But one fact may be safely inferred: The Antikythera Mechanism had achieved technological maturity; it cannot have been a prototype.
The Opus Gemini trilogy, a part of the Romanike series, tells the story of the Antikythera Mechanism's lost siblings.
After the turn of the millennium, the publications of the Antikythera Mechanism Research Project (AMRP) turned attention to this unique object. If you happen to visit the National Museum of Athens, Greece, you may find it there on display; a number of functional reconstructions are spread across technical museums world-wide.
The AMRP believes that the mechanism may have originated either in Corinth or its famous colony, Sicilian Syracuse. However, the ship that kept it contained cargo from Asia Minor and, when it sank, had set a western course - probably heading for Rome. We do not know who may have used it and for which purpose. No classic author seems to have described its function, though instruments predicting the movements of the skies are mentioned, among others, by Poseidonius and Cicero. No other device of this age was found so far - the second-oldest preserved is many centuries younger and much simpler. But one fact may be safely inferred: The Antikythera Mechanism had achieved technological maturity; it cannot have been a prototype.
The Opus Gemini trilogy, a part of the Romanike series, tells the story of the Antikythera Mechanism's lost siblings.
Fragments of the Antikythera Mechanism in Athens
Links:
The Antikythera Mechanism Research Project: www.antikythera-mechanism.gr
Michael Wright's reconstruction of the Antikythera Mechanism: http://www.mtwright.co.uk/
"Decoding the Heavens", the story of the Mechanism's discovery: http://www.decodingtheheavens.com/default.aspx
Rekonstruktion des Antikythera-Mechanismus im Astronomisch-Physikalischen Kabinett, Kassel: http://www.museum-kassel.de/index_navi.php?parent=1035
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