This machine has the oldest known complex gear mechanism and is sometimes called the first known analog computer,[10] although the quality of its manufacture suggests that it may have had a number of undiscovered predecessors[11] during the Hellenistic Period. It appears to be constructed upon theories of astronomy and mathematics developed by Greek astronomers and is estimated to have been made around 100 BC. In 1974, British science historian and Yale University Professor Derek de Solla Price concluded from gear settings and inscriptions on the mechanism's faces that the mechanism was made about 87 BC and was lost only a few years later.[12]
It is believed to be made of a low-tin bronze alloy (95% copper, 5% tin), but the device's advanced state of corrosion has made it impossible to perform an accurate compositional analysis.[13]
All of the mechanism's instructions are written in Koine Greek,[7] and the consensus among scholars is that the mechanism was made in the Greek-speaking world. One hypothesis is that the device was constructed at an academy founded by the Stoic philosopher Posidonius on the Greek island of Rhodes, which at the time was known as a center of astronomy and mechanical engineering; this hypothesis further suggests that the mechanism may have been designed by the astronomer Hipparchus, since it contains a lunar mechanism which uses Hipparchus's theory for the motion of the Moon. However, recent findings of The Antikythera Mechanism Research Project suggest that the concept for the mechanism originated in the colonies of Corinth, which might imply a connection with Archimedes.[14]
It was discovered in a shipwreck off Point Glyphadia on the Greek island of Antikythera. The wreck had been found in October 1900 by a group of Greek sponge divers. They retrieved numerous artifacts, including bronze and marble statues, pottery, glassware, jewelry, coins, and the mechanism itself, which were transferred to the National Museum of Archaeology in Athens for storage and analysis. The mechanism itself went unnoticed for 2 years: it was a lump of corroded bronze and wood and the museum staff had many other pieces with which to busy themselves.[15] On 17 May 1902, archaeologist Valerios Stais was examining the finds and noticed that one of the pieces of rock had a gear wheel embedded in it. Stais initially believed it was an astronomical clock, but most scholars considered the device to be prochronistic, too complex to have been constructed during the same period as the other pieces that had been discovered. Investigations into the object were soon dropped until Derek J. de Solla Price became interested in it in 1951.[16] In 1971, both Price and a Greek nuclear physicist named Charalampos Karakalos made X-ray and gamma-ray images of the 82 fragments. Price published an extensive 70-page paper on their findings in 1974.[15]
Coins that were found at the site by Jacques Cousteau in the 1970s date the shipwreck to shortly after 85 BC. Inscriptions on the device itself indicate that it was in use for 15 to 20 years before that. The ship carrying the device also contained vases that were in the Rhodian style. Rhodes was a trading port at that time, where the great Greek astronomer Hipparchus was thought to have worked from about 140 BC to 120 BC. After his death, an astronomy school was set up to continue his tradition and there is some speculation that this is where the mechanism originated.[15]
It is not known how it came to be on the cargo ship, but it has been suggested that it was being taken to Rome, together with other treasure looted from the island, to support a triumphal parade being staged by Julius Caesar.[17]
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What do you get, when you mix gear driven clocks, computers and stars with ancient history. The answer is-something that interests me!!! Who would have believed that something so complex could have existed so long ago? Hard to believe, isn't it? Which reminds me of this passage from the book of Matthew...
Matthew, Chapter 13
53 When Jesus had finished these parables, he departed from there. 54 Coming into his own country, he taught them in their synagogue, so that they were astonished, and said, “Where did this man get this wisdom, and these mighty works? 55 Isn’t this the carpenter’s son? Isn’t his mother called Mary, and his brothers, James, Joses, Simon, and Judas? 56 Aren’t all of his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all of these things?” 57 They were offended by him.
But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor, except in his own country, and in his own house.” 58 He didn’t do many mighty works there because of their unbelief.
But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor, except in his own country, and in his own house.” 58 He didn’t do many mighty works there because of their unbelief.
The people who knew Jesus while he was growing up had difficulty accepting him as a prophet and in a way, that is understandable. What is commonplace to us is held in no exalted position. Yet, what if among our everyday existence, something very precious was present without our being aware of it? The world still seemed the same when the Antikythera mechanism was discovered. It took some time to discover its true value and appreciate it for what it represented. The same was true of Jesus in his day and that truth has not changed. People go about their daily lives, doing what they must, but Jesus is there.... waiting for them to discover him. Unlike this Greek artifact, Jesus is explained- all you have to do is to retrieve that Bible you have been meaning to read for so long and just do it. You won't find star charts or astrolabs, but if you take what the scriptures teach to heart, you will find your way to heaven. Really; what could be better than that?