Martin Antonenko
A Fixture
- Joined
- Jul 11, 2008
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An Antique Computer!
In 1900, sponge divers discovered the wreck of a ship built between 70 and 60 BC on the seabed off the Greek island of Antikythera sunken Greek ship ...:
Several artifacts from the period of late Hellenism can be found in the relatively shallow water, including coins from Pergamon, minted between 86 and 67 BC. C.E., coins from Ephesus (between 70 and 62 B.C.E.) - and an indefinable heavy lump of corroded bronze that initially received little attention.
Only on May 17, 1902 does the Greek archaeologist Valerios Stais ...
... takes a closer look at the lump and carefully begins to reveal its inside - and what it finds is a sensation!
The lump turns out to be a complex gear train, which from now on will be called the "Antikythera Mechanism"!
The extensive reconstruction of the mechanism, which is still going on today, showed that it served as a model for the movements of the sun and moon observable from Earth with the help of displays on round scales.
The displays, which are mostly scaled as calendars, were changed synchronously with an adjustment aid. There are three large and three small displays, of which the following four are the most important ..:
1.
A solar calendar with day and month (Egyptian month names) and Babylonian
Signs of the zodiac (the moon hand, which is probable in addition to the sun hand, can be an indication that this display originally had five planet hands and was therefore both a calendar and a planetarium).
2.
A bound lunar calendar with a monthly scale (Corinthian month names),
3.
An eclipse calendar with a monthly scale to display past and future solar and Lunar eclipses and
4.
A small Olympiad calendar with an annual scale in the four-year period mentioned in the Olympiad (labeled with the locations of the Panhellenic Games that are periodically held at them).
Larger periods of time in the lunar or eclipse calendar were displayed on two other small scales ...:
A more complex mechanical construct from that time was never found again, either before or after!
And the thing is not as big as a closet, but was built surprisingly compact ...:
The Antikythera Mechanism is unfortunately incomplete and therefore no longer functional.
The 82 fragments preserved ...
... are now in the National Archaeological Museum in Athens; the three largest parts are on public display in the bronze objects department ...:
In 1900, sponge divers discovered the wreck of a ship built between 70 and 60 BC on the seabed off the Greek island of Antikythera sunken Greek ship ...:
Several artifacts from the period of late Hellenism can be found in the relatively shallow water, including coins from Pergamon, minted between 86 and 67 BC. C.E., coins from Ephesus (between 70 and 62 B.C.E.) - and an indefinable heavy lump of corroded bronze that initially received little attention.
Only on May 17, 1902 does the Greek archaeologist Valerios Stais ...
... takes a closer look at the lump and carefully begins to reveal its inside - and what it finds is a sensation!
The lump turns out to be a complex gear train, which from now on will be called the "Antikythera Mechanism"!
The extensive reconstruction of the mechanism, which is still going on today, showed that it served as a model for the movements of the sun and moon observable from Earth with the help of displays on round scales.
The displays, which are mostly scaled as calendars, were changed synchronously with an adjustment aid. There are three large and three small displays, of which the following four are the most important ..:
1.
A solar calendar with day and month (Egyptian month names) and Babylonian
Signs of the zodiac (the moon hand, which is probable in addition to the sun hand, can be an indication that this display originally had five planet hands and was therefore both a calendar and a planetarium).
2.
A bound lunar calendar with a monthly scale (Corinthian month names),
3.
An eclipse calendar with a monthly scale to display past and future solar and Lunar eclipses and
4.
A small Olympiad calendar with an annual scale in the four-year period mentioned in the Olympiad (labeled with the locations of the Panhellenic Games that are periodically held at them).
Larger periods of time in the lunar or eclipse calendar were displayed on two other small scales ...:
A more complex mechanical construct from that time was never found again, either before or after!
And the thing is not as big as a closet, but was built surprisingly compact ...:
The Antikythera Mechanism is unfortunately incomplete and therefore no longer functional.
The 82 fragments preserved ...
... are now in the National Archaeological Museum in Athens; the three largest parts are on public display in the bronze objects department ...:
