Ancient Computers are Awesome!

In what seems like the ultimate in fantastic invention is the true story of the Antikythera mechanism, a 2,000 year old Greek astronomical computer capable of computing the position of the sun and moon, and possibly planets, and predicting eclipses.

No earlier geared mechanism of any sort has ever been found. Nothing close to its technological sophistication appears again for well over a millennium, when astronomical clocks appear in medieval Europe. It stands as a strange exception, stripped of context, of ancestry, of descendants. [2]


Clockwise from top left - one part of the ruin as discovered; rendering of assembled mechanism; x-ray of one piece - hot gears!; 3D rendering of gear system.

Discovered in 1902, in the remains of a Roman shipwreck, the mechanism is potentially one of several, as mentioned by Cicero:

"And when Gallus moved the globe, it was actually true that the moon was always as many turns behind the sun on the bronze contrivance as would agree with the number of days it was behind in the sky. Thus the same eclipse of the sun happened on the globe as would actually happen"

Archeoastronomy is so, so, so very cool. Read more in the Nature magazine feature.

In a similar theme, check out The Book of Ingenious Devices: Kitáb al-Hiyal. By The Banú (sons of) Músà bin ShákirKitáb al-Hiyal: The Book of Ingenious Devices, an illustrated book of mechanical devices and automata, published in 850 by three Persian brothers. It contains the first mention of a robot.

Stupidly, I mixed up the book above - published in 850 and selling for around $300, with a similarly titled book published in the 1200's and retailing for around $60. So... if anyone wants to borrow this second book, let me know in 10 - 14 business days.