By: Aidan LeBlanc ’23 and Allison Hochstetler ’23
The large-scale reproduction of the Antikythera Mechanism in the DPU Classics suite demonstrates how this ancient artifact, found in a shipwreck deep in the sea, was designed to track and display multiple calendars from the ancient Mediterranean world. It is the most complex piece of machinery ever discovered from antiquity. It was also featured as the ‘magical time-traveling’ device in the 2023 film: Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny.
Map of the location where the shipwreck with the Antikythera was found.
THE DISCOVERY
In 1901, sponge divers off the coast of the Greek island of Antikythera discovered more than just sponges. The divers quickly realized that there was more on the sea’s floor than they were expecting. They had found a shipwreck with dozens of examples of ancient statues, pottery, and amphorae. They did not only find these items, but also an unsuspecting hunk of bronze, welded together with corrosion from sitting at the bottom of the sea for 2000 years. Upon further exploration, the archaeologists that were studying the finds in the shipwreck found that the bronze clump of corrosion had gears. These gears were about 1 millimeter in length as well as finely and precisely cut. With this discovery came a century of research devoted to the conceptualization of the usage of this mysterious piece of machinery. It was not until our own technology had advanced in the aspect of 3D imaging that scholars were able to understand and reassemble the mechanism that would be called the Antikythera Mechanism into its prior form.
THE MECHANISM
The 3D imaging of the Antikythera Mechanism showed researchers the hidden truth about the mechanism that had been hiding for almost 100 years since its founding in the shipwreck off the coast of Antikythera. X-ray scanning of the mechanism started in the 1970s, but it was not until the early 2000s that the technology was able to be coupled with the computer software to render any usable information. With the preliminary X-Ray scans of the Antikythera Mechanism in 2005, researchers were able to visually confirm over 30 different gears that were connected together in order for the mechanism to work. Along with the gears, researchers also saw that there were multiple inscriptions in Ancient Greek that worked both as the labels of the mechanism as well as an integrated user manual for those who were attempting to utilize the capabilities of the machine. On the front side of the mechanism are dials and labels for the Egyptian solar calendar, lunar age, zodiac calendar, and star positions depending on the season that the user was trying to calculate in. On the reverse side of the Antikythera Mechanism the top dials display the Metonic calendar, Lunar calendar, Callippic cycle, and Olympic cycle, and on the bottom displays the Saronic cycle, Exeligmos cycle, and solar and lunar eclipse dates. The combination of the gearing in conjunction with the detailed calendar systems shown on the mechanism allow for the understanding that the Antikythera Mechanism was a highly complex, analogue computer that could be used to predict past, present, and future astronomical and calendar events.
For more information on the mechanism itself, please visit: http://www.eternalgadgetry.com/working_principles_1.html or watch the video posted below
THE THEORIES
Why would scholars in Ancient Greece even attempt to build such a sophisticated and complex system of calendar and astronomical events into a bronze and wood machine? Modern scholars do not have any definitive answers to that question, but there is no shortage of theories as to why this mechanism exists. In the early days of its excavation, archaeologists believed the Antikythera Mechanism to be a sophisticated version of an astrolabe, a device used to navigate the seas through the utilization of astronomical markers. This theory has since then been disproved, as the mechanism would have little practical usage as a navigational instrument. As archaeological research has advanced in tandem with the technology used to assess the Antikythera Mechanism, it has been generally accepted that the mechanism was used as a calendar calculator. Why the Ancient Greeks would need such a calculator, though, is still highly debated. Some scholars believe that this was a singular piece of technology that was commissioned by a single individual to have as a luxury item. Other scholars argue that this could not have been the only example of a mechanism of this complexity due to the knowledge that it would have taken to construct it and that modern evidence for other examples have yet to be found in shipwrecks similar to the one found off the coast of Antikythera. No matter the theory, the primary hurdle that scholars have when developing arguments is the lack of primary sources specifically stating the existence of the Antikythera Mechanism. While it was not uncommon for ancient authors to write about the conceptualization of time through astronomical and calendar systems, there is currently no examples of ancient authors that were contemporaneous with the Antikythera shipwreck writing about a mechanism of such ingenious design. With all this considered, it will take another chance encounter for archaeologists to find any more examples or evidence of something as unique and astonishing as was found in the Antikythera shipwreck.
Download the app: https://play.google.com/store/apps/de…
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/antikyt…
References:
David, Nicholas. “The Antikythera Mechanism: Its Dating and Place in the History of Technology.” Journal of Mediterranean Archaeology 30.1 (2017): 85-105. https://doi.org/10.1558/jmea.32915
Constable, Harriet. “The ancient ‘computer’ that simply shouldn’t exist.” YouTube, uploaded by BBC Reel, 28 July 2021, https://youtu.be/qqlJ50zDgeA.
Efstathiou, Kyriakos, Efstathiou, Marianna, Basiakoulis, Alexandros, Kokkinos, Neofytos. “The Antikythera Mechanism: The Prove of the Accuracy of the Astronomical Calculations Based on It.” Heritage 4 (2021): 3848-3878. https://doi.org/10.3390/heritage4040211
Freeth, Tony, Higgon, David, Dacanalis, Aris, MacDonald, Lindsay, Georgakopoulou, Myrto, Wojcik, Adam. “A Model of the Cosmos in the ancient Greek Antikythera Mechanism.” Scientific Reports (2021). https://doi/10.1038/s41598-021-84310-w
Interpretation Department for the Treasures of Ancient Greece. “Script for Antikythera Mechanism.” Indianapolis: Indiana, June 15, 2019.
Pakzad, Ashkan, Iacoviello, Francesco., Ramsey, Andrew, Speller, Robert, Griffiths, Jennifer, Freeth, Tony, Gibson, Adam. “Improved X-ray computed tomography reconstruction of the largest fragment of the Antikythera Mechanism, an ancient Greek astronomical calculator.” PLoS ONE (2018). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0207430
Skoulatos, Markos. “Working Principles of Electronic Gadgets.” Eternal Gadgetry, http://www.eternalgadgetry.com/working_principles_1.html.
DePauw University Classics World 