The Antikythera mechanism, an ancient analog computer
- Date
- c. 100 BCE
- Category
- Science, technology & invention
- Region
- Greece (Aegean)
- Era
- Classical Antiquity
- Significance
The Antikythera mechanism is a geared bronze device, dated to roughly 100 BCE (give or take a few decades), recovered in 1901 from a Roman-era shipwreck off the Greek island of Antikythera.
Comprising at least 30 surviving interlocking bronze gears, it was a hand-cranked astronomical calculator that modelled the motions of the Sun and Moon, displayed the phases of the Moon, tracked the cycles of Greek calendars and athletic games, and predicted eclipses using the Saros cycle. Its sophistication - including a differential-style gearing to show the Moon's variable speed - was without known parallel and was not matched in Europe until the geared astronomical clocks of the medieval period, more than a thousand years later. The mechanism is the strongest physical evidence that Hellenistic Greek science had translated its mathematical astronomy into precision mechanical engineering.
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Empires active in c. 100 BCE
- Roman Republic509 BCE – 27 BCE
- Han Dynasty202 BCE – 220 CE
- Shunga Empire185 BCE – 73 BCE
- Kingdom of Numidia202 BCE – 25 BCE
- Ptolemaic Kingdom305 BCE – 30 BCE
- Indo-Greek Kingdom180 BCE – 10 CE
Related science, technology & invention events
- Euclid compiles the Elements at Alexandriac. 300 BCE
- Aristotle founds the Lyceum and systematises the sciencesc. 335 BCE
- Earliest securely dated Maya/Mesoamerican Long Count inscription36 BCE (Long Count 7.16.3.2.13)
- Eratosthenes measures the circumference of the Earthc. 240 BCE
- Cai Lun standardises papermaking105 CE
- Archimedes formulates the principle of buoyancyc. 250 BCE
Further reading
The wider story
A Little History of Science
Warm, jargon-free tour of discovery from Babylonian stargazers to the genome.
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