Over 120 years ago, sponge divers off the coast of the Greek island Antikyth Shakes one of the most enigmatic technological artefacts in human history. Hidden among the statues, the coins, the glassware and the jewelry of a shipwreck of the Roman era was a corroded group of bronze speeds.
Initially confused with debris, this fragmented object would later be identified as the Antikyth—A device the size of a shoe box that has amazed archaeologists, engineers and physicists for decades. Now housed at National Archaeological Museum In Athens, the mechanism is often described as the world First analog computer.
It formerly displayed a model of the precise and complex cosmos that some compared it to the work of modern watchmaking. For scientists and historians, the apparatus represents a living example of the way in which Ancient Greek astronomy And engineering was really.
An accidental dive in old innovation
The discovery of the antikythian mechanism in 1900 was completely involuntary. A team of sponge divers, altering a storm near Antikythère, started Explore the seabed. A diver, Elias Stadiatis, surfaced to panic, describing a scene filled with “Rotten bodies of women and horses»- What turned out to be Bronze and marble statues.
Among the first discoveries, there was a bronze arm, and finally, a corroded mechanical object would prove something much more important. Recovered from a shipwreck dating back to the return to first century BCEThe true nature of the device was not understood before 1902When the politician Spyridon Stais noticed equipment teeth in a fragment.
His cousin, Valerios Stais, director of the museum, brought him to learned attention. German classicist Albert Rehm was the first to recognize its function as an astronomical calculator, identifying epicyclic gears and inscriptions as “pamiton” – the ninth month in the Egyptian calendar – on its surface.
The cosmos in a box
Sophistication of the device was unknown for its time. Manufactured with tools such as Arc drums And vertical towersHe presented 30 speed wheels This could reproduce celestial cycles with millimeter precision. Its front dial, exploited by a crank, followed the positions of sun, moonand the five planets known to the Greeks –Mercury, Venus, Mars, JupiterAnd Saturn.
The rear included two spiral dials: one modeled Metonic cyclea 19 years old Lunar calendar, and the other represented the Sarrian cycleUsed to predict eclipses. A smaller dial even marked Olympic Games and other panhelllenic festivals.
But perhaps the most impressive was the inclusion of a pin mechanism This simulated the variable speed of the moon – something observable only when the note is noted in which its speed changes to Périge and the apogee. This functionality was based on Epicyclic gearA technique where the gears revolve around other gears, mounted on eccentric axles.
From Archimedes to modern scans
The origin of the antikythian mechanism remains debated. Some researchers argue that it has been inspired by previous conceptions ArchimedesThe famous mathematician Syracusan whose astronomical spheres imitate the celestial movement. Roman statesman Cicero describes such a device brought back by Marcus Marcellus After the conquest of Syracuse in 212 BCE
While the antikyth mechanism probably dates from between the third and first centuries before our eraIt can reflect a long line of Hellenistic instruments – none of which survived. The modern research era began in the 1950s when the physicist Derek de Solla Price studied the mechanism stored in cigar boxes.
With the help of the Greek physicist Charalambos KarakalosHe used X -rays to examine the internal structure. In his 1974 book Greek speedsPrice described the mechanism as “a calculation machine” more than a decorative object. He compared his discovery to “open a pyramid and find an atomic bomb”.
Price’s work has attracted scientists like Tony FreethA mathematician and documentary filmmaker who led a new phase of analysis in the 2000s. With astrophysicist Mike EdmundsFreeth launched a digitization project using High resolution X -ray tomography.
In 2005, they transported an eight -ton imaging device, nicknamed the “Blade Runner”, to the Musée d’Athenes. With Reflectance transformation imagery (RTI) developed with Hewlett-PackardThese scans have revealed thousands of hidden characters and speed positions invisible to the naked eye.
The current puzzle and the new controversy
Despite the breakthroughs, the antikyth mechanism is still incomplete. Only A third of the original deviceDivided into 82 fragments, was recovered. Freeeth and his colleagues have since revealed his use of Exeligmos cycles To adjust the predictions of the eclipse and proposed a complete model which includes monitoring of the planetary movement via Epicyclic gear described in surviving inscriptions.
But the story has taken a controversial turn 2024When the physicist Graham Woan of the University of Glasgow has published a statistical analysis in The horrible newspaper. Using Bayesian inferenceHim and colleague Joseph Bayley studied a fragmented calendar ring behind the main dial of the mechanism. Based on the spacing of 80 visible holes, they calculated that the ring 354 holessuggesting that he followed a lunar calendar.
This directly challenged the dominant belief that the calendar was solar, with 365 holes. Woan’s analysis showed that it was “299 times more likely“That the original count was 354. The observation aroused the counterpou of Freeth, which rejected it as”just badly“Having a”raw lunar calendar»Posts the sophistication of other components of the device.
Nevertheless, Woan holds the result, admitting the hypotheses may require refine but defend the approach: “If the observations are strong and are limited enough … Observations will lead you to the truth – even if that leads you to kicks and cries there.”
As it stands, the antikyth mechanism continues to captivate. It does not only represent the mechanical engineering of Ancient GreeceBut also the sustainable power of scientific curiosity, debate and rediscovery. After more than a century of studies, there remains one of the The biggest technological puzzles always put to the earth.