Jeffery OsvoldANTH1130-01Dr. Mallery4/26/14
The Antikythera Mechanism
Nearly two thousand years ago, a Roman ship sank near the minute island of
Antikythera, which is sandwiched between the Greek islands of Crete and Peloponnese.
There, approximately sixty meters below the surface of the Aegean Sea, the wreck sat,
lost to the people of the first century B.C., along with its precious cargo, the likes of
which would not be discovered until two millennia later (Marchant). As much as it
sounds like a fairytale or myth- passed down from one generation of treasure hunters to
another, until reaching a character (most likely portrayed by the venerable Nicholas
Cage) who sets out on an all-or-nothing excursion to find said treasure- this is exactly
how the discovery of the world’s oldest analog computer (to date) came to find its way
into the hands of ecstatic archaeologists and mechanical engineers alike. Despite having
been found just over one hundred years ago, the Antikythera Mechanism continues to
astound those involved with its study, consistently revealing the lack of credit mankind
gives to its predecessors.
As stated before, the shipwreck that sank near Antikythera at around 82 B.C. was
discovered two thousand years later, in the year 1900. Yet unmentioned, however, is that
the discovery was a complete stroke of luck made by Elias Stadiatis, a Greek sponge
diver who happened upon the wreck while in the middle of a dive (Seabrook). Stadiatis,
after contacting professionals regarding his discovery, began salvaging the wreck along
with archaeologist, Valerios Stais. Due to the lack of proper diving equipment and
breathing apparatuses, the recovery of the wreck’s contents would take over and entire
year to complete, each dive lasting an average of nine minutes. Furthermore, the salvage
mission would leave one man dead and another two crippled for life (“Ancient
Wisdom”). However, some would say that what they discovered was worth the risks.
Among a number of bronze and marble statues and a plethora of coins, the
explorers found what they initially believed to be a heavily corroded rock with a
wheeling protruding from its side. But, one night in 1902, when Stais was reviewing the
contents of the wreck, he noticed something peculiar about the embedded wheel; it had
teeth. With increased vigor, Stais and his team carefully cleaned the corroded piece of
metal, which turned out to be a bronze gear wheel, as well as the rock, which turned out
to be a bronze faceplate with several dials on it. Checking the rest of the contents from
the wreck, Stais and his team discovered that the Antikythera Mechanism consisted of
three main parts, in addition to dozens of smaller pieces (“The Antikythera…”). What’s
more is that they found the mechanism to be two bronze plates, mounted in a frame of
wood, which had heavily decomposed since its removal from the sea. Over the course of
the next several decades, the mechanism would undergo meticulous cleaning in the
confines of the National Archaeological Museum in Athens until 1951, when professor
Derek de Solla Price of Yale University, would take over the investigation and become
the leading expert in its study (“The Antikythera…”).
Price’s study, thorough as it was, did not uncover much understanding of the
mechanism’s purpose. Due to its fragile state, the mechanism wasn’t to be overly handled
and certainly not picked apart. Therefore, Price’s breakthrough in his research wouldn’t
happen until 1971 when he and physics professor, Charalampos Karakalos, used a
combination of gamma rays and x-rays to take radiographic images of the mechanism,
revealing a complex series of cogs, gears, rods, and all other kinds of mechanical
whatchamacallits (The History of…). Totaling thirty gears, twenty seven of them residing
in the largest fragment, Price set about drawing various potential schematics, all of which
used a system of differential and epicyclic/planetary gearing (“The Antikythera…”;
Phillips).
By using differentials and gears of different sizes, Price theorized that the ancient
Greeks were able to use a ratio to calculate the lunar months and synodic months (the
months between consecutive new moons) over a period of four-year cycles (Freeth and
Jones). This was done by turning a crankshaft on one side of the mechanism, activating
the interior clockwork, which would, in turn, rotate a dial on the front panel marked with
the zodiac. This dial showed the progression of the moon and sun and could be used to
predict solar eclipses. In addition to the front dial, two dials at the back would rotate as
well, tracking the four-year period and each individual synodic month (“Ancient
Wisdom”). Eventually, in the 1980’s, Robert Dereski would put Price’s design to the test,
creating the first proper reconstruction (one had been made years earlier by Loannis
Theofanidis) of the Antikythera mechanism, which now resides in the National
Archaeological Museum in Athens (AMRP).
However, the accuracy and conviction of Price’s work would not be enough to
deter other mechanically minded experts from delving deeper into the mysteries of the
Antikythera Mechanism. Notably, a pair of Australians, Allan Bromley and Frank
Percival- computer scientist and clockmaker, respectively- would attempt to reconstruct
the mechanism, using Price’s schematics, but find themselves unable to achieve the same
results. Believing themselves to be in the right, Bromley and Percival would theorize that
a gap in the mechanism should hold several missing gears. Furthermore, they would
adjust one of the gear trains that Price had altered from its initial number of fifteen and
sixty-three teeth to sixteen and sixty-four, which he believed to be a more workable
number. Thus, a new discovery was made. The mechanism, instead of calculating a four-
year cycle, actually calculated a four cycles of four-and-a-half years, which was equal to
eighteen years, or one cycle of an eclipse (“Ancient Computer”). Excited with their
findings, the two would create their own reconstruction with additional improvements,
which unintentionally re-ignited the scientific community’s interest in the mechanism,
spawning the Antikythera Mechanism Research Project (AMRP).
The AMRP started in 2005 and is still making and publishing new discoveries and
theories today. However, their biggest contribution came from a partnership with X-Tek
Systems Ltd. and Hewlett Packard Inc., who provided technical support for the Cardiff-
based project. Most important of these contributions was the use of X-Tek Systems’
Bladerunner CT scanner, which was previously used to scan aircraft engines for defects
(Ramsey 3). Transporting the eight-ton machine all the way to the original Antikythera
Mechanism fragments in Athens was, itself, a challenge (Seabrook). Yet, everyone
present would adamantly agree that it was worth it. Not only were able to take better x-
rays computed tomography scans of the interior of the mechanism, but they were able to
make polynomial texture mappings (PTM’s) of the exterior, revealing hundreds of
inscriptions made all across the mechanism’s chassis (AMRP).
Amongst the inscriptions on the front were Greek letters, indicating days, months,
and zodiac signs for the five planets known to the people of the first century B.C., which
included Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. Additionally, the ancient Greeks
included a parapegma, which acted like a legend or star chart (Freeth and Jones). But,
instead of showing the stars’ positions, the parapegma gave the reader an idea of which
stars would be visible during various times of the evening/night, indicating their patterns
of rising and setting. On the back, the inscriptions alluded to the five dials present. The
primary upper dial measured the Metonic cycle, which is a nineteen-year cycle that
measures lunar activity. Meanwhile, a secondary upper dial measured the Olympiad,
determining the proper times for Greeks to hold the Olympic games, and a tertiary upper
dial measured Callippic cycle, a seventy-six year period that is equal to four metonic
cycles. The fourth dial, located at the bottom of the back plate, calculated the Saros cycle,
which is an eighteen-year period that measures eclipses. Lastly, a fifth dial, placed into
the larger fourth dial, showed the Exeligmos cycle, a fifty-four year cycle that is a tripling
of the Saros cycle. In addition to the inscriptions surrounding and located on the dials, a
set of inscriptions appeared on the doors of the device, which were used to open it for
calibrations of repairs. These inscriptions prove to be a set of “instructions,” telling the
reader how to use the instrument.
Based off these precise scans and inscriptions, Michael Wright, a curator of
mechanical engineering at the Science Museum in London, created, what is believed to
be, the most accurate reconstruction of the mechanism to date. Wright’s reconstruction
not only rejects Price’s previous theory of differential gearing, but also includes the
previously unknown function of the mechanism as an orrery, used to predict the motion
and location of the five planets listed above. Furthermore, his reconstruction included a
silver ball, half of which was blackened, that, when connected to a previously missing
gear, rotated according to the phases of the moon. Another radical improvement upon
previous models was his use of a pin and slot mechanism that allowed the instrument to
account for the anomalies in the moon’s angular velocity, which Freeth believes to be
“the most brilliant observation in the history of the mechanism” due to the shear precision
needed for it to function properly (“Ancient Computer”).
Amazing as the Antikythera Mechanism is, it is nothing compared to the theories
that run alongside it and the implications that they hold. Simple things that humans take
advantage of today, like watches, a fairly modern invention, considering that the first one
appeared in the 16th century, can now be viewed in a completely different light. Since the
surfacing of the Antikythera Mechanism, preliminary technology for basic clockwork can
be pre-dated back to approximately 82 B.C., meaning that there is most likely an entire
collection of similar artifacts connecting the two points in time, which have yet to be
found. Lining up with Price’s theory of an ancient Greek tradition of complex mechanical
technology, one must consider the timeline in the opposite direction, reasoning that the
Antikythera Mechanism is a fairly advanced instrument and therefore not the first
occurrence of this kind of technology. Furthermore, the Antikythera Mechanism is small,
measuring only 17cm x 9cm x 33cm (“The Antikythera…”). It’s unlikely that this degree
of engineering was done for the first time in such a small scale. So, one can insinuate that
larger examples of mechanical engineering were present.
The size of the mechanism also points to portability. Considering the fact that it
was found on a ship in the Dodecanese, one can assume that it was meant to be
transported fairly often. Further evidence of this theory is the set of inscriptions on the
panels of the mechanism, which have been translated out to be a type of “instruction
manual.” Were the mechanism designed by a single person for their own personal use, it
is unlikely that they would include a set of instructions for themself. Even if they had,
why would they inscribe it on the mechanism itself and tarnish its surface? More likely,
they would have written a set of instructions on a piece of parchment. As such, one would
assume that the mechanism was inscribed with directions so that the recipient of the
mechanism was able to use it with ease.
Another theory surrounding the device is its origins. Although there is no way of
knowing who made the device, unless a record was kept and survived this long,
archaeologists can only speculate. Currently, the most popular theory is that Posidonius,
an ancient Greek polymath living at the time, created the mechanism. The evidence for
this lies in the writings of the ancient Roman philosopher, Cicero, who mentions an
instrument “recently constructed by our friend Posidonius, which at each revolution
reproduces the same motions of the sun, the moon, and the five planet” (qtd in Marchant).
However, keeping in mind the other theory that multiple devices existed, Cicero may be
writing about a different device that Posidinius created, which could have been similar to
the Antikythera Mechanism or even an exact copy of it, but not the one that was
discovered near Antikythera.
In addition to the mechanisms origins, it’s important to note that Posidinius was a
known scholar who studied at the Greek island Rhodes, which was a hub for astronomy
and mechanical engineering, meaning that Rhodes could be the mechanism’s origin place
of creation. What’s more is that Rhodes was looted by the Romans during one of Julius
Caesar’s campaigns and the mechanism was found on a Roman shipwreck. Therefore, the
mechanism could have been constructed on Rhodes by Posidonius and a number of other
scholars, and then taken by the Romans. But, this is all speculation.
Its no surprise that more technology exists today than was ever thought possible
by those living several hundred years ago. However, it is surprise to discover how much
more technology existed nearly two thousand years ago than mankind thought was
possible today. The Antikythera Mechanism is an example of this peculiarity and,
unfortunately, the only one of its kind that has been discovered. Nevertheless, its
existence has shaken the mold that modern day thinkers use when imagining their
predecessors’ intelligence. With its intricate gearing and almost exact calculation of the
astronomical ratio, its no wonder why scientists look to it in awe and imagine where
mankind would be today, had it not been hampered by centuries of war, oppression, and
Nicholas cage movies.
Top Related