Antikythera mechanism
Mecanismo de Anticitera (calculadora astronómica de engranajes)
- Date
- c. 100 BCE · confidence medium
- Place
- Rhodes (or Syracuse/Corinth), Greece; found in the Antikythera wreck
- Credited to
- The school of Hipparchus at Rhodes (hypothesis); the Archimedes tradition
- Field
- Knowledge & symbols
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
A device of more than 30 bronze gears that models the positions of the Sun, the Moon, the planets, lunar phases, eclipses and the Olympic cycles. The first known analogue computer, without equal until the astronomical clocks of the 14th century.
Its place of manufacture and date are debated: the calendar's eclipses point to 205 BCE, while the epigraphy suggests 150-100 BCE.
What it led to
- Proof that astronomical theory could be embodied in machines
- A tradition of mechanical spheres and planetaria (Posidonius, Archimedes) leading to Islamic and medieval astronomical clocks
- Epicyclic and differential gearing as a mechanical technique
Built on
- Toothed gearc. 270 BCE
- Armillary spherec. 255 BCE
- Babylonian astronomy (Saros and Metonic cycles)
- Hipparchus's lunar theory