The Antikythera Mechanism: The Ancient Greek Super Computer
Summary
TLDRThe Antikythera mechanism, discovered in a shipwreck in 1901, is an ancient Greek analog computer dating back to the 1st century BC. Initially dismissed as a fake, it was later revealed to be an intricate device with at least 40 gears, capable of calculating celestial positions, predicting eclipses, and even the timing of Olympic Games. This remarkable piece of technology predates Western European mechanical clocks by over a millennium and challenges our understanding of ancient Greek astronomy and engineering prowess.
Takeaways
- 🌐 The Antikythera mechanism is an ancient Greek analog computer, predating digital computers by over a millennium.
- 🕰️ It was discovered in a shipwreck near Antikythera, Greece, in 1901, challenging the timeline of technological development.
- 🔍 Initially dismissed as a fake, it took until the mid-20th century for researchers to unravel its complex astronomical and calendrical functions.
- 📚 The device is believed to be an educational tool, used to demonstrate the motion of celestial bodies and predict astronomical events.
- 🔧 Constructed of at least 40 gears, it could calculate the positions of known planets, the moon, and predict eclipses and Olympic Games dates.
- 🛠️ The mechanism's precision suggests that it was not a one-off creation but possibly part of a lineage of sophisticated clock-making in ancient Greece.
- 🧩 It includes 'complications' for fine-tuning the observed motion of celestial bodies, which were not fully understood by the Greeks.
- 🌌 The device's design assumes a geocentric model of the universe, using epicycles to represent the motion of celestial objects around Earth.
- 🔬 Modern analysis using X-rays and CT scans has revealed the internal workings and the advanced knowledge of astronomy and mechanics embedded within.
- 🏺 The Antikythera mechanism was likely made of bronze, which may explain the scarcity of similar devices, as they were not meant to last indefinitely.
- 🤔 The existence of such a complex device raises questions about what other advanced technologies the ancient Greeks may have developed and lost to history.
Q & A
What is an analog computer, and how does it differ from a digital computer?
-An analog computer is a computational device that uses mechanical principles to make calculations, rather than using digital mathematics like digital computers which operate in binary code (ones and zeros).
When were the first analog computers believed to have been invented?
-The first analog computers, mostly astronomical clocks, were believed to have been invented around the 14th century.
What significant discovery was made near Antikythera in Greece in 1901?
-In 1901, a significant discovery was made near Antikythera, Greece: an ancient shipwreck containing numerous Greco-Roman artifacts, including a mysterious box that turned out to be an ancient analog computer, now known as the Antikythera mechanism.
What did the mysterious box found in the shipwreck initially appear to be?
-The mysterious box initially appeared to be little more than a corroded lump of bronze and wood.
Who first noted the significance of the gear wheel embedded in the rock, and what did he theorize?
-Valerios Stais, an archaeologist at the Athens Museum, first noted the gear wheel and theorized that the device must have been some sort of ancient astronomical clock.
What were Derek de Solla Price and Charalambos Karakalos' contributions to understanding the mechanism?
-Derek de Solla Price and Charalambos Karakalos used x-ray technology to examine the internal workings of the mechanism, producing detailed images of its 82 fragments and revealing its complex design.
What capabilities did the Antikythera mechanism possess?
-The Antikythera mechanism could calculate the exact position and size of the moon over an 18-year period, predict eclipses, show the positions of planets, and indicate the timing of the ancient Olympic Games, among other functions.
How did the mechanism's construction challenge previous assumptions about ancient Greek technology?
-The mechanism's complex design and precise craftsmanship indicated that the ancient Greeks had a far greater mastery of mechanical miniaturization and astronomical knowledge than previously thought.
What modern technologies are being used to study the Antikythera mechanism today?
-Modern technologies such as microfocus x-ray computer tomography (CT scans) and polynomial texture mapping (PTM) are being used to study the Antikythera mechanism.
Why do some believe the Antikythera mechanism may not have been a unique device?
-The precision and complexity of the Antikythera mechanism suggest that it was not the result of a lone experimenter but rather the product of an experienced maker or specialized workshop, indicating that similar devices might have existed.
What broader implications does the discovery of the Antikythera mechanism have for our understanding of ancient technology?
-The discovery of the Antikythera mechanism suggests that ancient Greeks had advanced technological and astronomical knowledge, challenging previous assumptions about the extent of their scientific and mechanical capabilities.
Outlines
🤖 The Dawn of Analog Computing: Antikythera Mechanism
This paragraph introduces the concept of analog computing, contrasting it with the more familiar digital computing. It delves into the history of analog computers, mentioning devices like wind-up clocks and the astronomical clocks from the 14th century. The narrative then shifts to a pivotal discovery in 1901 off the coast of Antikythera, Greece, which challenged the timeline of computing history. The Antikythera mechanism, initially dismissed by historians, was later recognized as an ancient Greek analog computer dating back to the 1st century BC. The story of Captain Dimitrios Kondos and the sponge divers who discovered the mechanism sets the stage for the subsequent exploration of this remarkable artifact.
🔍 Unveiling the Antikythera Mechanism: A Complex Ancient Analog Computer
The second paragraph elaborates on the Antikythera mechanism's intricacies and its implications for our understanding of ancient technology. It describes the device as a sophisticated analog computer capable of astronomical calculations, predicting celestial positions, eclipses, and even the timing of the Olympic Games. The mechanism, believed to have been constructed with at least 40 gears, reveals advanced knowledge of astrophysical concepts that were not rediscovered in Europe until the 16th century. The narrative also touches on the device's potential educational use and its significance in challenging the prevailing view of Greek and Roman technological capabilities.
🛠️ The Mastery of Ancient Greek Technology: The Antikythera Mechanism's Mysteries
This paragraph delves deeper into the technical aspects of the Antikythera mechanism, discussing its complex gear system and its ability to reconcile solar and lunar calendars. It highlights the mechanism's advanced features, such as compound shafts and rod-and-pin gearing, which were not known to exist in ancient Greece. The text also speculates on the potential origins of the mechanism, suggesting that it may have been a common enough technology to have been mass-produced, indicating a level of craftsmanship and tool-making that was highly advanced for the time. The paragraph concludes by pondering the lost knowledge and technological prowess of the ancient Greeks, which the Antikythera mechanism has begun to reveal.
🌌 The Legacy and Lost Secrets of the Antikythera Mechanism
The final paragraph contemplates the broader implications of the Antikythera mechanism's discovery, raising questions about the longevity and preservation of such technological marvels. It suggests that the Greeks may have invented planned obsolescence, leading to the lack of surviving examples of their advanced horology. The narrative invites us to consider what other secrets may lie hidden, awaiting discovery in the Mediterranean or elsewhere. The paragraph also reflects on the ongoing research into the Antikythera mechanism, using modern techniques to uncover its secrets and the potential it holds for rewriting our understanding of ancient technological capabilities.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Analog Computer
💡Antikythera Mechanism
💡14th Century
💡Captain Demetrius Kontos
💡Greek Royal Navy
💡Bronze and Marble Statues
💡Derek J. de Solla Price
💡X-ray Imaging
💡Astrophysical Concepts
💡Horology
Highlights
Ancient Greeks possessed complex analog computers predating Western European mechanical clocks by over a thousand years.
The Antikythera mechanism, discovered in a shipwreck, is an extremely complex analog computer with at least 40 gears.
The mechanism could calculate the exact position and size of the moon, the positions of known planets, and predict eclipses and full moons.
It was initially dismissed as a fake due to the belief that Greeks and Romans did not possess such advanced technology.
Derek de Solla Price's research revealed the mechanism's impressive secrets and its connection to ancient Greek astronomy.
X-ray imaging and other modern scanning techniques have been used to understand the mechanism's internal workings.
The device includes a compound shaft with rod and pin gearing, technology not thought to exist in ancient Greece.
It demonstrates the Greeks' mastery of complex miniaturization and mechanical devices.
The mechanism's calculations are based on the geocentric model, assuming the planets and Sun orbit the Earth.
It contains novel complications for fine corrections of observed planetary motion, not accounted for in Greek astronomy.
The Antikythera mechanism could also predict the timing of the ancient Olympic Games based on inscriptions.
It was likely a teaching device used to explain the apparent motion of celestial bodies.
The mechanism's precision and design suggest it was not a one-off but rather the product of generations of clock making.
Modern reconstructions and studies indicate the Greeks may have been able to produce assembly line products.
The Antikythera mechanism challenges the assumption that Greek astronomy was learned from Babylonian observations.
The mechanism's discovery raises questions about what other secrets of ancient technology may be hidden in history.
Ongoing research applies new methods like microfocus X-ray and polynomial texture mapping to further understand the mechanism.
Transcripts
everyone today is familiar with the
digital computer a machine that deals in
ones and zeros a few million at a time
but have you ever heard about analog
computers or perhaps not as much as you
probably should have an analog computer
is a computational device that uses
mechanical principles rather than
digital maths to make calculations you
may have seen one or two in your time
like a wind-up clock for example quite
how long these devices have been around
is debatable but most agree that the
first analog computers mostly
astronomical Clocks Were first invented
in and around the 14th century there was
until one Discovery in 1901 near
antichythera in Greece which changed our
understanding of the history of
computers forever it was a discovery so
shocking that for nearly 70 years
mainstream historians of Technology
dismissed it as either a fluke or a fake
that is until a small group of dedicated
researchers unraveled its Mysteries and
proved that the ancient Greeks did
indeed possess astonishingly complex
analog computers of their own and nearly
a millennium and a half earlier than we
thought
[Music]
thank you
[Music]
One Day in the year 1900 Captain
Demetrius contos was in command of a
crew of sponge divers from the island of
Siamese as they plumbed The Depths off
of points glyphalia off the island of
anti-carethera always going well when
one of his crew surfaced in a panic
babbling about having seen a group of
ghost women or mummies at the bottom of
the sea divers often report strange
sightings but contos nevertheless
documented the incident and informed the
Greek government within a year the
Hellenic Royal Navy was back at the same
spot to investigate and what they found
would shocked the whole world there on
the sea floor the Greek navy discovered
an ancient shipwreck in a depth of about
45 meters and brought up a treasure
Trove of bronze and marble statues the
women the diver had seen as well as
Pottery glassware Jewels coins and a
mysterious box this was a cargo ship
full of many of the finest Greco-Roman
artifacts ever discovered we now believe
that it may have been destined for the
court of Julius Caesar himself a gift
from the island of Rhodes the items are
cataloged by by the national museum of
archeology in Athens where the box which
appeared to be little more than a
corroded lump of bronze and wood when
largely unnoticed as the curators of the
museum fast over the far more arresting
Vines like the coins and the statues and
yet of all the treasures this mysterious
Ghost Ship had given the world none were
greater than that little lump of bronze
and wood
[Music]
by May of 1902 Valeria stays at staff
archaeologist at the Athens Museum had
noted barely in passing what appeared to
be a gear wheel embedded in a piece of
rock he theorized that the device must
have been some sort of ancient
astronomical clock unbelievably Museum
officials dismissed the find reasoning
that the Greeks and Romans never
possessed that kind of Technology
meaning that the object must have been
coincidentally dropped off by a passing
ship perhaps a thousand years after the
initial shipwreck had occurred perhaps
Scholars lack of interest in the object
was a blessing in disguise there it's at
in the museum for nearly half a century
a curiosity neglected as human beings
went from the Industrial Revolution to
the computer Revolution its relative
anonymity meant that it remained
undisturbed and never disassembled until
1951 when Yale University's Derek Jade a
solar price took an interest in the
device a physicist and Clark fictionado
price would become the grandfather of a
modern understanding of the mechanism
pouring out the device's impressive
Secrets over the decades to come he
first recognized markings of the
calendar month Libra on one of the
visible gears as corresponding to the
ancient Greek dialect of the period and
place in which the Shipwreck occurred
beginning with the assumption that the
device was some kind of calendar clock
he set about reconstructing its possible
original design in order to convince the
curators of the Greek Museum price
needed to offer compelling evidence of
what the mechanism might be it took a
long time until 1971 for price and the
Greek nuclear physicist Shara lampos
caracolos to be given permission to
examine the mechanism together they
devised a method of scanning the device
using x-rays which enabled them to image
the mechanism they are by layer
revealing its internal workings without
ever destroying the machines a whole the
series of x-ray images the pair produced
of the 82 fragments of the mechanism
were revealed to the world in a 70-page
paper published in 1974. the result was
shocking a device so complex in its
design as well as in the knowledge that
it implied about the workings of the
solar system that many mainstream
scientists at first derived at it as a
fake
[Music]
throughout a subsequent half century of
study scientists are painstakingly
cataloged and examined every millimeter
of the mechanism today its origin is
without question in the academic
immunity the device is an extremely
complex analog computer once consisting
of at least 40 gears which would have
been capable of calculating anything
from the exact position and size of the
moon in the sky at any point during an
18-year period to the positions of every
then-known planet in their orbits it
could have predicted eclipses full moons
and even the speed of the Moon across
the sky and it would have told its owner
the future date to Olympic Games and
much much more the mechanism which some
believed to have been even larger and
more complex than what is now visible to
us reveals that the ancient Greeks and
Romans understood astrophysical Concepts
which were only rediscovered in Europe
in the 16th century or later including
lunar standstill or lunestus which
occurs when the moon reduces its
furthest North or South Point in a lunar
month and its apparent motion cease
what's more beta-vised ways of building
a machine to precisely mimic this
Behavior it also reveals a far greater
Mastery of complex miniaturization of
mechanical devices than anyone had dared
think existed in ancient Greece and Rome
around the first century BC it has
sparked the imaginations of thousands of
anthropologists and historians as to the
many secrets that may yet remain in
European history the mechanism is
constructed mostly of bronze in an
ingenious array of interlocking gears
which use complex mathematical
procedures to rectify the solar year the
amount of time it takes for Earth to
rotate around the sun with the lunar
month the amount of time it takes for
the moon to Transit between nodes in the
northern and southern hemisphere in a
19-year cycle that was only rediscovered
in the west during the Enlightenment
this means that the Greeks had a deeper
understanding of astronomy than had once
been thought and knowledge which rivaled
16th century science there are yet more
secrets hidden within the mechanism
contains a compound sent shaft a series
of shafts within shafts with Rod and pin
gearing again a piece of technology that
was not thought to exist in ancient
Greece which helps it to display the
position of both the Sun and Moon as
well as Venus Mars Mercury Jupiter and
Saturn and to predict their future
movement through mathematical
calculations carried out by compound
gears inside the mechanism the
mechanism's calculations occur when the
gears with different numbers of teeth
work together to recreate the
appropriate relative motion of different
celestial objects the side handle meant
to be operated by a person turns a main
gear which represents the solar year the
power from this gear is variously
reduced or enlarged by subsequent
connected gears to produce the motion of
different objects including the Sun the
moon the planets and the constellations
in order to achieve this a dazzling
display of mechanical workmanship was
required each gear must be utterly
precise and fitted ever so perfectly in
place for the device to have worked it
is in this way that the mechanism
calculates the future
bodies for example in order to calculate
the 19-year cycle in which the solar and
lunar years overlap and to accurately
show where the moon will be in the sky
at any given point during that cycle
gears that indicate the solar day and
the lunar day are connected by a series
of smaller gears which translate the
motion of the solar day into the
corresponding motion of the lunar day
the mechanism also appears to contain a
number of Novel complications a name
given by horologists for a device within
a device which subtly changes its
operation these complications seem to be
inserted into the mechanism in order to
make very fine Corrections of The
observed motion of the planet that are
not accounted for in the Greek's
understanding of astronomy and yet do
actually exist because of the Cycle's
implanetary motion which the Greeks saw
but did not understand this included the
way in which the elliptical orbit of the
Earth around the Sun or the movement of
the sun itself around its own center of
gravity where thus errors in their
observations which needed to be
corrected for mechanically in order for
the mechanism to demonstrate the
apparently irregular motion of the Moon
around the earth how the moon appears to
speed up and slow down in its orbit from
our perspective the mechanism uses an
ingenious series of compound canted
gears offset from each other and
spinning at different speeds which are
driven by the Central Drive Shaft but
which come into contact with the moon's
controlling gear only when the moon is
meant to be in motion and not when the
moon is meant to stop in the model what
is perhaps even more incredible about
this model is that despite the fact that
it can predict the positions of all of
the planets and the Moon and the Sun in
the sky it actually does this using the
assumption that the planets and Sun
orbit the earth thus a complex series of
canted Gears must be used to represent
the epicycles of each celestial object
circular movement around a fixed Center
of mass which was the way in which Greek
mathematicians explained the apparent
motion of the Sun and planets around the
earth it is not far-fetched to imagine
that if such devices had become really
widespread in the Greek and Roman World
some astronomers like Copernicus or
Galileo might eventually have been
inspired to solve the problem that kept
such models from functioning in periods
longer than a few decades indeed it was
the invention of precise time keeping
and exact observations of the heavens
that did later Inspire astronomers to
move past the model of the Earth as the
center of the universe
not all of the anti-cauthora mechanisms
abilities are known and it is now
believed that there were probably
additional gears and dials which did not
survive the device's underwater burial
however modern reconstruction shows that
the mechanism would have been capable of
reconciling the solar and lunar
calendars representing the precise
positions of each planet and the Sun and
Moon over a 19-year period the mechanism
would have been capable of predicting
solar and lunar eclipses and appears to
have been able to show the timing of the
ancient Olympic Games based on
inscriptions found on the back of the
mechanism five dials on the back of the
mechanism demonstrate the 235 synodic
months showing that the Greeks
understood 235 lunar months to be
extremely close to 19 solar years this
allows the user to set the current solar
day on the front of the dial and have
the Day translated to the lunar Day
within the 235 month cycle on the back
of the mechanism it's believed that
these calculations could have been
important for planning important events
such as military camp pains as well as
religious ceremonies particularly when
the ancient Greeks needed to know the
length of a day in the future and the
brightness of the moon on that day as
well as its position using this
mechanism a Greek or Roman general could
predict that the moon would be full and
located in one particular place in the
sky and that the day would end at a
specific time possibly conferring an
advantage in a nighttime attack
fragments of texts that were inscribed
on the front back and inside cover of
the mechanism showed that this was also
a teaching device that would have been
used to explain the apparent motion of
the stars and the planets possibly to a
young pupil or even a group of students
while of course all these calculations
very well could have been and probably
were done by hand the ability of a Roman
or Greek leader or teacher to visualize
the precise conditions on a day in the
future would no doubt be incredibly
useful there's no doubt that among the
many Treasures on this particular
shipwreck the Antica through a mechanism
was likely a central attraction probably
representing many thousands of hours of
skilled work many questions remain about
device's Origins and the maker leading
some to theorize that it came from the
hand of Archimedes himself while there's
no proof of this it's absolutely clear
that the maker had a very clear
understanding of all that the Greeks
once understood about the heavens and it
is extremely unlikely that this device
was just a one-off its workings are too
clever its craftsmanship too precise to
be the result of a lone experimenter it
was manufactured by someone and was
probably of great monetary value
[Music]
study of the antichythera mechanism is
ongoing as scientists continue to apply
new methods such as microfocus x-ray
computer tomography CT scans and
polynomial texture mapping PTM to try
and understand both the mechanism's
purpose and the means by which it was
initially constructed one of the most
important findings of This research is
the Revelation that whoever made it knew
exactly what they were doing and almost
certainly had made more than one such
device master clockmakers who have
studied the mechanism and some have even
recreated it using ancient methods notes
how the workmanship reveals no obvious
Corrections or the addition of materials
to a gear after it has been cut
indicating that the maker was extremely
masterful or that the workshop that
created it was specialized in gear
making to an extremely high degree this
may in fact be new evidence that the
Greeks at one time were able to produce
assembly line products and may have
owned very complex tool making machines
of which modern historians now know
extremely little however the mechanism
was made the maker had most certainly
done this kind work before when fully
constructed the anticothera mechanism
may very well have been the most
powerful analog computer ever
constructed at the time and yet the
Precision and confidence of its design
and execution strongly indicate that it
is the product of many years perhaps
even generations of complex clock making
that predates Western European
mechanical Clocks by over a thousand
years the Precision of the mechanism
also strongly indicates that the Greeks
were beyond the Babylonians in astronomy
and time keeping it had previously been
assumed that most of the Greek
understanding of astronomy had been
learned from the observations of
Babylonian astronomers centuries
previously but the anticothera mechanism
which includes complications in the
orbits of Venus and Saturn which were
unknown to the Babylonians also proved
the Greeks had surpassed their inherited
knowledge of the heavens these findings
present a great mystery what happened to
all the other evidence of these profound
Technical and intellectual gifts
possessed by the ancient Greeks one
answer maybe as simple as it is
frustrating it may be that devices like
the Antica through a mechanism
constructed of relatively soft bronze
and subject to inevitable tarnishing and
mechanical fouling were probably never
intended to last for centuries to begin
with the Greeks may have invented
horology the making of clocks but they
may also have invented planned
obsolescence the thing that keeps other
examples like the mechanism from
reaching us through the Mists of time
and it may be the same reason it's hard
to find an original iPod they just
weren't valuable enough to be preserved
if they stopped working it may just been
cheaper to build another this all leads
us to ask what other Secrets remain
buried in the Seas of the Mediterranean
or indeed all over the world just
waiting to be unlocked
[Music]
[Music]
thank you
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