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.

[SunkenCiv]

• In search of lost time (Antikythera Mechanism) [2006] -- Coins found at the site by Jacques Cousteau in the 1970s have allowed the shipwreck to be dated sometime shortly after 85 BC... Hipparchus, arguably the greatest Greek astronomer, is thought to have worked on the island [Rhodes] from around 140 BC until his death in around 120 BC... Cicero studied on Rhodes and wrote later that Posidonius had made an instrument "which at each revolution reproduces the same motions of the Sun, the Moon and the five planets that take place in the heavens every day and night". The discovery of the Antikythera Mechanism makes it tempting to believe the story is true. And Edmunds now has another reason to think the device was made by Hipparchus or his followers on Rhodes...

[SunkenCiv]

I’ve not been impressed over the years with the level of discussion about the Antikythera mechanism (not that anyone asked me of course), but there’s nothing in the working replica of it to indicate that it’s based on anything but a fairly short period of observations done more or less locally (Aegean), and given that it’s a maritime culture, probably wasn’t built for ceremonial purposes, but as an aid to figure out the tides.

There’s a topic on FR about recent finds on the thing, including Greek place names, and the claim that it was used to figure out when the Olympics were going to take place. I’m pretty sure though that the Greeks knew how to count to four, and wouldn’t need a machine to tell them when to hold the Olympics.

The problem with the thing is that it’s unique; the exact date of its construction has been debated over the years, but the range of years during which its mechanism would have been accurate shows when it was made (probably on the early end of that range).

[macquire]

“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?”

The dumb and unresourceful ones perished or were supported by the smart and resourceful. It obviously isn’t as if the entire tribe of man was smart and resourceful at the time....

Same events are happening today; how many people do you know that are almost incapable of surviving in today’s society unless they have someone around them almost literally holding their hand?

[TYVets]

ping for later reading

[Cronos]

It seems very probable -- the Babylonians were nutz about astronomy -- they also invented the 360 degrees for a circle and that's why we have 360+5 days in a year.

Though, this also pre-dated the Babylonian Empire and may have been Sumerian in origin, when the Sumerians were various city states, not an Empire.

[Upstate NY Guy]

I suspect during the centuries of the last Ice Age the human population level became very low, maybe only 5000 people at the end. I’m not sure the smart and resourceful people would have tolerated supporting too many dumb and unresourceful people. We may never know.

[668 - Neighbor of the Beast]

From http://sites.google.com/site/archaicaudio/archaicaudio/vintage-computers, where there are lots of wonderful mugshots of ancient (20th c) technological devices. :)

[668 - Neighbor of the Beast]

Recommended reading, Krupp’s “Echoes of the Ancient Skies.” Great survey of archaeoastronomy for those not so heavily addicted to the subject.
(For those who are....Hamlet’s Mill, hands down!)
EAS is more general and leans toward archaeological evidence in various cultures.

[668 - Neighbor of the Beast]

I trust that graphic is just a theoretical reconstruction, because it’s got Venus in opposition to the Sun and from a geocentric perspective, dat don’t happen! Just sayin. ;)

[norwaypinesavage]

Since King Solomin was smelting copper a thousand years before the Antikythera mechanism (http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2632982/posts)
it doesn’t seem at all unlikely that someone could make a brass mechanism a thousand years later.

[Oatka]

The craftsmanship of the device is what astounds me. You have a series of gears with hundrede of teeth, all of which have to mesh PERFECTLY in order to work. The least imperfection will bind the mechanism - and all the teeth were cut by hand.

[null and void]

[hoosierham]

Lilely the gears were held in a clamp with indexing mark for filing guidance.

A number of more modern craftmen produced fine results with simple tools and steady hands.