The Antikythera Mechanism

An astronomical clock from the Middle Ages

On display in the Athens National Archaeological Museum are fragments of a mechanism which appears to be an ancient computer a possible forerunner to the great astronomical clocks of the Middle Ages.

Enhanced X-ray of the Antikythera Mechanism

The Antikythera Mechanism was discovered in 1900 by divers searching for sponges off the Mediterranean island of Antikythera. The pieces, along with a haul of salvaged bronze and marble statues were taken to Athens' National Archaeological Museum for restoration and cleaning. At first little consideration was given to the few fragments of corroded bronze, until on May 17,1902, when they came to the attention of Spyridon Stais a prominent archaeologist who noticed the outlines of cog wheels embedded in the bronze lumps. When further examination revealed the pieces to have been made around 80 BC there was immediate controversy but no consensus as to what the objects were and there for decades the matter rested.

In 1958 all that was to change when Derek de Solla Price an Englishman researching the history of scientific instruments came across a reference to the artifact. Intrigued he visited the Athens Museum and was astounded by what he saw: “Nothing like this instrument is preserved elsewhere. . . . Nothing comparable to it is known from any ancient scientific text or literary allusion. On the contrary from all that we know of science and technology in the Hellenistic Age we should have felt that such a device could not exist.”

Reconstruction efforts produced a reasonable facsimile of the original: a wooden box with inset dials, its surface covered with inscriptions and an astronomical calendar, the cavity inside containing a complex system of meshing differential gears, their role uncertain, the unit as a whole exhibiting a level of technological sophistication not reached again until the eighteenth century. (In 1971 x-ray photographs taken by the Greek Atomic Energy Commission then later enhanced revealed how the mechanism would have worked.)

While no one can be totally sure of the object’s function, it is generaly believed to have been used to describe the apparent movement of the planets, a precursor to the astronomical clocks of the Middle Ages. [1] Whatever its purpose, the Antikythera Mechanism to quote Price "requires us to completely rethink our attitudes towards ancient Greek technology," and at a later date "It must surely rank as one of the greatest mechanical inventions of all time." Indeed its very existence is proof that ancient people possessed a level of scientific acumen far greater than previously thought by mainstream scholars.

[1] An astronomical clock, is a clock with special mechanisms and dials that display astronomical information such as the relative positions of the sun, moon, zodiacal constellations and sometimes major planets.

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