Antikythera Mechanism

Attribution:

The Antikythera Mechanism by Tilemahos Efthimiadis

Key Dates

From gear settings and inscriptions on the mechanism's faces, Professor Derek de Solla Price concluded that the mechanism was made about 87 BC and lost only a few years later. Later analysis of the inscriptions on the device led to a dating of the mechanism to around 100 BC.

On 17 May 1902 archaeologist Valerios Stais made the most celebrated find: when diving to search the area of the Antikythera wreck, he noticed that one of the pieces of rock near him had a gear wheel embedded in it. It would soon be identified as the Antikythera mechanism; originally thought to be one of the first forms of a mechanised clock, it is now considered to be the world’s oldest known analog computer.

The Antikythera mechanism is an ancient mechanical calculator designed to calculate astronomical positions. Its complexity and significance were not understood until decades after it's discovery. It is now thought to have been built about 150–100 BC. Consensus among scholars is that the mechanism was made in Greece. All the instructions of the mechanism are written in Greek.

Origin & Collection

Discovered at:

Antikythera Wreck

On display at:

National Archaeological Museum of Athens

Additional information on display location:

Displayed in the Bronze Collection.

Physical properties

Materials:

Bronze

Images

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