Posted on 09/09/2023 3:02:37 PM PDT by nickcarraway
A bronze artifact salvaged from an ancient Greek shipwreck, recognized as the world’s oldest computer, may hold the secrets of the universe.
When we talk of the history of computers, most of us will refer to the evolution of the modern digital desktop PC, charting the decades-long developments by the likes of Apple and Microsoft. What many don’t consider, however, is that computers have been around much longer. In fact, they date back millennia to a time when they were analog creations.
Today, the world’s oldest known “computer” is the Antikythera mechanism, a corroded bronze artifact which was found at the beginning of the 20th century in the remains of a shipwreck near the Greek island of Antikythera. It wasn’t until the 1970s that the true importance of the Antikythera mechanism was discovered, however, when radiography revealed that the device is in fact a complex mechanism with at least thirty gear wheels.
antikythera mechanism marble base. Antikythera mechanism marble base. Credit: Greek Ministry of Culture The mechanism has since been established as the first known astronomical calendar, a complex system which can track and predict the cycles of the solar system. Technically, it is a sophisticated mechanical “calculator” rather than a true “computer” since it cannot be reprogrammed. Nonetheless, it is an impressive artifact.
Grecian Delight supports Greece Since 2004, an international collaboration has applied modern imaging methods to probe the mechanism’s structure and function. These techniques have now revealed many of the texts on its surfaces and even much of the inscription which was buried inside the remaining fragments as a result of damage during and after the shipwreck.
So what do we know about the mechanism? And what has the deciphering of the texts added?
Inside history When first created, the mechanism was about the size of a shoe box with dials on both its front and back faces. A handle or knob on the side of the box enabled the user to turn the trains of gears inside. Originally, there were considerably more gears than the thirty which remain intact. On the front, pointers showed where the sun and moon were in the sky, and there was a display of the phase of the moon. On the rear, dials displayed a nineteen-year cycle of lunar months, the 18.2 year “Saros cycle” of lunar and solar eclipses and even a four-year cycle of athletic competitions including the Olympic games.
The inscriptions are thought to have been a description for the user of what it was they were viewing as they operated the mechanism. However, the newly published texts add more to what we know of the mechanism. They establish that the positions of the five planets known in antiquity were also shown, namely Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn.
The planets were displayed on the machine in a way that took account of their rather irregular “wanderings” about the sky. Such a display had been suspected, and the confirmation reinforces that this was a very sophisticated and quite complicated device. The actual gear trains needed for the display of the planets are missing—presumably lost in the shipwreck—but we know from the very ingenious way that the sun and moon drives are designed and constructed that the makers of the mechanism certainly had the skills necessary to make the planetary drive.
The newly uncovered inscriptions include passages about what stars were just becoming visible or about to be lost in the glare of the sun at different times of year. The style of these passages is very close to that of a well-known astronomical text by Greek astronomer and mathematician Geminos from the first century BC. Not only does this tie in perfectly with the presumed date of the shipwreck (around 60 BC), but also the latitude, which is implied by stellar data to be mid-Mediterranean. This fits nicely with the mechanism originating on the island of Rhodes, from where there is a contemporary historic record from the writer Cicero of such devices.
Uncovering the truth of the world’s first computer Some mysteries still remain, however. It is still not exactly clear what the purpose of such a mechanism actually was. Was it some kind of teaching device? Would it have had any religious significance? Was it a prestigious toy? The latter interpretation is seeming less and less likely. This was a serious bit of kit with a very detailed astronomical description.
The mechanism is basically an astronomical device, which bears witness both to the Greeks’ astronomical knowledge and their extraordinary, and rather unrecognized mechanical design skills. One other small detail may hint at its integration into our ancestors’ view of the wider world, too. Some of the texts seem to be discussing the possible colors of eclipses, which might be interpreted in the context of whether the eclipse was a good or bad omen. It must be emphasized that this is the only astrological reference found on the mechanism though despite careful searching.
To understand the Antikythera Mechanism, what is really needed is more artifacts or texts on mechanical devices from the classical era. Unfortunately, the recycling of valuable metal, both in ancient and medieval times, has resulted in nearly all mechanisms being destroyed. There is always the possibility that another device or text might turn up at an extensive archeological site like Pompeii or Herculaneum, but probably the best bet for hardware remains classical-era shipwrecks.
Divers have returned to the Antikythera wreck this year, so perhaps the missing parts of the planetary display will turn up. An enticing possibility is that the Antikythera mechanism was on the ship because it was being delivered to a customer.
The mechanism was not, as sometimes claimed, a navigational device, and navigation was not the reason for its presence. If one device was being delivered, might there be more—if not on this ship, then perhaps on others from Rhodes?
New devices might help indicate how widely geared technology developed before almost completely disappearing from view in the rather obscure period that lasted from 500 AD until the sudden re-blossoming of gearwork in the era of the medieval cathedral clocks from about 1180 AD, well over a millennium after the Antikythera mechanism.
Mike Edmunds is an Emeritus professor of astrophysics at Cardiff University. This article was published in The Conversation and is republished under a Creative Commons License.
ctl-alt-del
A precise 3D computer model of the Antikythera mechanism was produced using high precision CAT scanner, probably a Zeiss machine. From that a working model was built about 15 years ago. Article missed all that.
I’d like to see the tools they used to make it.
That is amazing! Pretty cool ashtray you got there!
Have they tried plugging it in?
this is a well known artifact.
civilization and knowledge has been around for much longer than most of us think.
The first thing conquerors do is destroy history and knowledge.
from the libraries of Alexandria and Atlantis to the wealth of knowledge and texts of the Aztek. and those are just the A’s
Someone once said “There is nothing new under the Sun”
another said “Human nature never changes”
A lot of the time I wonder if this is really true.
Is this the one you're talking about? This device is amazing. To think it was made that long ago is incredible.
Blue screen of death ........
Alien inspired technology.....
So what do we know about the mechanism?
The recent Indiana Jones movie referred to it as the "Dial of Destiny"
And what has the deciphering of the texts added?
The Hebrew title is a direct translation.
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny:
אינדיאנה ג'ונס וחוגת הגורל
The representative image on the link for the dial is 0-9 (ten), and contains 25 letters:
1. Compare "dial" (chuga) to chag (holiday n. circle v.). (They go around and around.)
2. "Of destiny" (hagoral, הגורל) is the lot (See above destiny link. It's all in there.)
Esther 9
24 Because Haman the son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, the enemy of all the Jews, had devised against the Jews to destroy them, and had cast Pur, that is, the lot [הגורל], to consume them, and to destroy them;
25 But when Esther came before the king, he commanded by letters that his wicked device, which he devised against the Jews, should return upon his own head, and that he and his sons should be hanged on the gallows.
26 Wherefore they called these days Purim after the name of Pur. Therefore for all the words of this letter, and of that which they had seen concerning this matter, and which had come unto them,
27 The Jews ordained, and took upon them, and upon their seed, and upon all such as joined themselves unto them, so as it should not fail, that they would keep these two days according to their writing, and according to their appointed time every year;
28 And that these days should be remembered and kept throughout every generation, every family, every province, and every city; and that these days of Purim should not fail from among the Jews, nor the memorial of them perish from their seed.
Ergo, the World’s Oldest Computer, "Chugat haGoral", the Dial of Destiny:
gallows = etz [עץ], "tree":
What is a phone tree?
A phone tree is a system of delivering the same message to a group of people. Traditionally this has been done by networking people in such a way that allows message recipients to become message deliverers. For example, the person initiating the message would call two people, and then those two people would each call two people with every message recipient repeating the process until the entire group is reached. Common problems inherent in this type of system are message recipients who do not answer their phone, thus breaking the chain, and message recipients who do not pass on the message correctly. A far simpler, faster, and more reliable solution is to use an automated phone tree.
I really think George McFly summed it up accurately:
"I'm your density."
Divers have returned to the Antikythera wreck this year, so perhaps the missing parts of the planetary display will turn up. An enticing possibility is that the Antikythera mechanism was on the ship because it was being delivered to a customer.
Join the Navi, see the world.
"Hey kid, whad'ya do, jump ship?"
"What's with the life preserver?"
While this played in the background:
Raised in the woods, so he knew ev'ry tree
Kilt him a bar when he was only three
Davy, Davy Crockett, king of the wild frontier..
🛟 Lifebuoy, life preserver [*גלגל *הצלה]
🦺 Life vest, personal flotation device [*חגורת *הצלה]
Esther 4:14 For if thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time, then shall there enlargement and deliverance [הצלה] arise to the Jews from another place; but thou and thy father's house shall be destroyed: and who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?
The concepts, visuals, and sounds add up over time, and then:
The eureka effect (also known as the Aha! moment or eureka moment) refers to the common human experience of suddenly understanding a previously incomprehensible problem or concept.
Sound-wise, from old times expressed as "האסימון נפל", the asimon (telephone token) fell.
Yeah but who might be in actual possession of such a relic? He/She/It could be important. 🛟
Almost makes you want to believe in prehistoric aliens.
The Magi had a Pocket version 2.0
Even more amazing - all the calculations for the design of the mechanism were done with slide rules!
We didn't have computers when I was in high school. We used slide rules. I used to know how to use one. No doubt not that well though. :O)
Leave it to those guys to be cutting edge. ;O)
I remember seeing my second computer in the computer lab at high school. It had a plated wire memory. My first one was a large computer about the size of a small shed with 32K of physical memory. I did learn to use a slide rule and used it in college physics. Still have them and occasionally show them to students I tutor in high school math. I tell them it is a computer.
We had a Fortran programming class in HS, with no computers. The teacher was affiliated with the local university that had one that filled an entire room. Or so he said. He'd take our work there and have them convert it to punch cards. A classmate copied mine because he was so confused. Our two were the only ones that worked. Busted. That would've been around 1973-74.:O)
The first one I ever saw and worked on was at work. The company had one, that's "1". Don't remember the make but it had 2 floppy drives. No GUIs, all line coding. Only a hand full of us got any use out of it. We used it for budgeting projects then eventually at sites to speed up settlements of the project. Rock concerts, actually. We thought it was the best thing since sliced bread. That would've been around the mid '80s or so, I think. ;O)
Slide rules were a computer of sorts. I've seen them described as a mechanical calculator.
Well, of course they are a mechanical calculator, but very limited in scope compared even to the earliest electronic calculators.
If I recall correctly, we weren't allowed to use electronic calculators until senior year in HS. Even then they were relatively expensive and few people had them. At least in my circle. That would have been 1974.
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