Ancient astronomy: Mechanical inspiration

Nature ^ | 24 Nov 2010 | Jo Marchant

[Palter]

The ancient Greeks' vision of a geometrical Universe seemed to come out of nowhere. Could their ideas have come from the internal gearing of an ancient mechanism?

Two thousand years ago, a Greek mechanic set out to build a machine that would model the workings of the known Universe. The result was a complex clockwork mechanism that displayed the motions of the Sun, Moon and planets on precisely marked dials. By turning a handle, the creator could watch his tiny celestial bodies trace their undulating paths through the sky.

The mechanic's name is now lost. But his machine, dubbed the Antikythera mechanism, is by far the most technologically sophisticated artefact that survives from antiquity. Since a reconstruction of the device hit the headlines in 2006, it has revolutionized ideas about the technology of the ancient world, and has captured the public imagination as the apparent pinnacle of Greek scientific achievement.

Now, however, scientists delving into the astronomical theories encoded in this quintessentially Greek device have concluded that they are not Greek at all, but Babylonian — an empire predating this era by centuries. This finding is forcing historians to rethink a crucial period in the development of astronomy. It may well be that geared devices such as the Antikythera mechanism did not model the Greeks' geometric view of the cosmos after all. They inspired it.

The remains of the Antikythera mechanism were salvaged from a shipwreck in 1901 (see 'Celestial mirror from the deep') and are now held in the National Archaeological Museum in Athens.

[Palter]

[Palter]

Antikythera mechanism, etc.

[Batrachian]

It’s not so far-fetched. After all, the Greeks learned writing from the Phoenicians, so why couldn’t they have picked up an astronomical calender from the Babylonians? I’m referring to the time line, not the device itself. Few cultures exist in isolation, and the Greeks certainly did not.

[BigCinBigD]

Also on the back it reads “Made in Sparta!”

[Darth Dan]

This is SPARTA!!!

[SES1066]

I am purely guessing but by using the original Greek names for the Gods=Planets makes me think that Hermes = Mercury is at the bottom and working our way clockwise are Aphrodite/Venus, Ares/Mars, Zeus/Jupiter and Kronos/Saturn. I await any correction.

I wonder what Von Daniken alien actually constructed this [/sarc].

Our collective ancestors were SMART and we should be THANKFUL (Thanksgiving Day) for their very real achievements. As Sir Isaac Newton famously wrote “If I have seen further it is only by standing on the shoulders of giants.”

[Upstate NY Guy]

Very cool article. Thanks for posting.

It makes sense that people who were good at mechanics, and who also studied astronomy, would try to mechanically replicate the motions on the planets, sun, and moon. The Greeks and Babylonians probably tried out all kinds of gearing. The more accurate the results the more likely the device would be reproduced and put into use. The internal workings of an accurate device would be pleasing to those involved in either field. And it seems likely that astronomical theories would be influenced by any really good mechanical device.

Astronomy, mechanics, and calendars are all tied in together - an area of fascination to me.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

Ptolemy absolutely and unequivocally refers to Babylonian observations in Almagest, citing Hipparchus as his source. He also teachs and advocates the Babylonian base 60 number system in the same volume for making calculations, the alternate number systems in use in those days (similar to Roman numbers) were too cumbersome for calculations. The Babylonians kept records of planetary and eclipse observations going back for a couple of millenia by Ptolemy’s time. We are closer in time to Ptolemy than he was to his sources.

The Babylonians never figured out the precession of the equinoxes, something that Hipparchus understood and may have actually discovered. They did know about the variable speed of the sun, basing it on observations of lunar eclipses over many centuries, and correctly deducing that the position of the sun during a lunar eclipse must be opposite the moon, as viewed from the earth.

[Vince Ferrer]

Antikythera mechanism

[RegulatorCountry]

Well, looking at history as put forth Biblically, this knowledge came out of Babylon with Abrahm, an astrologer/astronomer, who taught this art to the Egyptians. On that basis I’d say the Greeks acquired it via Egypt, much as they acquired written language via Phoenicians.

[Upstate NY Guy]

Our collective ancestors were SMART and we should be THANKFUL (Thanksgiving Day) for their very real achievements

Amen to that brother. I often think about how smart and resourceful our ancestors must have been. These people figured out how to survive the Ice Age with only stone tools. I wonder how many people living today could figure out how do that?

[norwaypinesavage]

"The ancient Greeks' vision of a geometrical Universe seemed to come out of nowhere."

Nowhere? I pretty much stopped reading there. The author is obviously misinformed.

Maybe it came out of a few simple observations, and a little out "of the box" thinking? The observations: The sun is round, the moon is round, the stars are round, the planets are round. The moon revolves around the earth, the sun (seems to) revolve around the earth, the planets (seem to) revolve around the earth, the stars (seem to) revolve around the earth. The out "of the box" thinking: maybe the earth is round, too? Maybe the celestial bodies are a long way away, and revolve around something else?

[SunkenCiv]

[SunkenCiv]

Antikythera Mechanism keyword, sorted newest to oldest, excluding this current topic, but including the duplicate topic I posted a few years back [blush]:

• Shining a light on the past
• Coast-2-Coast AM Saturday Sept 26th -Mysterious Artifact (Antikythera mechanism)
• Shocking Discovery: a PC in B.C.? (Antikythera Mechanism)
• Archimedes and the 2000-year-old computer
• Secrets of Antikythera Mechanism, world's oldest calculating machine, revealed
• Discovering How Greeks Computed in 100 B.C.
• Medieval Calculator Up For Grabs
• Enigma of ancient world's computer is cracked at last
• In search of lost time (Antikythera Mechanism)
• Scientists Unravel Mystery of Ancient Greek Machine
• An Ancient Computer Surprises Scientists (2200yo Roman computer!)
• Ancient calculator was 1,000 yrs ahead of its time
• Were Greeks 1,400 years ahead of their time?
• The Antikythera Mechanism (Computer - 56BC)
• Kurzweil featured on new syndicated radio show "Science Fantastic" hosted by Michio Kaku
• Unearthing the Treasures of the Mediterranean
• The Antikythera Mechanism: Physical and Intellectual Salvage from the 1st Century B.C.
• Strange stories, weird facts
• Did The Ancient Greeks Make A Computer?
• OOPARTS (Out of Place Artifacts)

[SunkenCiv]

· GGG managers are SunkenCiv, StayAt HomeMother, and Ernest_at_the_Beach · · join list or digest · view topics · view or post blog · bookmark · post a topic · subscribe ·
	Antiquity Journal  & archive  Archaeologica  Archaeology  Archaeology Channel  BAR  Bronze Age Forum  Discover  Dogpile  Eurekalert  Google  LiveScience  Mirabilis.ca  Nat Geographic  PhysOrg  Science Daily  Science News  Texas AM  Yahoo  Excerpt, or Link only?	Thanks Palter. There have been a surprising number of FR topics about the Antikythera mechanism, but I believe it has been a while since the last one, so, pingin' it. To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list.
· History topic · history keyword · archaeology keyword · paleontology keyword · · Science topic · science keyword · Books/Literature topic · pages keyword ·

[SunkenCiv]

World's oldest telescope?
by Dr David Whitehouse
Thursday, July 1, 1999

According to Professor Giovanni Pettinato of the University of Rome, a rock crystal lens, currently on show in the British museum, could rewrite the history of science. He believes that it could explain why the ancient Assyrians knew so much about astronomy. It is a theory many scientists might be prepared to accept, but the idea that the rock crystal was part of a telescope is something else. To get from a lens to a telescope, they say, is an enormous leap. Professor Pettinato counters by asking for an explanation of how the ancient Assyrians regarded the planet Saturn as a god surrounded by a ring of serpents?

[bert]

.....If I have seen further it is only by standing on the shoulders of giants.”.....

My precise thought. The machine, unbuildable by the Babylonians, was made by a Greek to express dynamically that which was well known but presented statically.

[beebuster2000]

bump

[SunkenCiv]

whoops, missed one:

• Astronomy Picture of the day

[SunkenCiv]

• An Ancient Computer Surprises Scientists (2200yo Roman computer!) [2006] -- The Antikythera Mechanism, sometimes called the world's first computer, has now been examined with the latest in high-resolution imaging systems and three-dimensional X-ray tomography. A team of British, Greek and American researchers was able to decipher many inscriptions and reconstruct the gear functions, revealing, they said, "an unexpected degree of technical sophistication for the period." The researchers, led by Tony Freeth and Mike G. Edmunds... said their findings showed that the inscriptions related to lunar-solar motions and the gears were a mechanical representation of the irregularities of the Moon's orbital course across the sky, as theorized by the astronomer Hipparchos. They established the date of the mechanism at 150-100 B.C.

  ---

• Scientists Unravel Mystery of Ancient Greek Machine [2006] -- ...The researchers used three-dimensional X-ray scanners to reconstruct the workings of the device's gears and high-resolution surface imaging to enhance faded inscriptions on its surface... The new analysis reveals that the device's front dials had pointers for the sun and Moon -- called the "golden little sphere" and "little sphere," respectively -- and markings which coincided with the zodiac and solar calendars. The back dials, meanwhile, appear to have been used for predicting solar and lunar eclipses. The researchers also show that the device could mechanically replicate the irregular motions of the Moon, caused by its elliptical orbit around the Earth, using a clever design involving two superimposed gear-wheels, one slightly off-center, that are connected by a pin-and-slot device... The team's reconstruction also involves 37 gear wheels, seven of which are hypothetical... Newly revealed inscriptions also appear to confirm previous speculations that the device could also calculate the positions of Mars, Jupiter and Saturn -- the other planets known at the time.

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• Discovering How Greeks Computed in 100 B.C. [2008] -- ...applying high-resolution imaging systems and three-dimensional X-ray tomography, have experts been able to decipher inscriptions and reconstruct functions of the bronze gears on the mechanism. The latest research has revealed details of dials on the instrument's back side, including the names of all 12 months of an ancient calendar... No month names on what is called the Metonic calendar were previously known, the researchers noted. Such a calendar, as well as other knowledge displayed on the mechanism, illustrated the influence of Babylonian astronomy on the Greeks. The calendar was used by Babylonians from at least the early fifth century B.C.

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