Antikythera Mechanism

Computers are the building blocks of the modern world. Nothing really symbolizes the current era of human existence like them.

What if I told you the first computer was over 2000 years old?

You’d either tell me that you’ve already heard of the Antikythera mechanism, or you might have a reaction like this:

This ancient Greek device was used to predict astronomical positions and eclipses, and it was incredibly sophisticated and intricate—and not only for its time. The mechanism, dating back to between 150 and 100 BCE, gives us our first glimpse into mankind's ability to solve complex problems in the laziest way imaginable.

It’s also probably the most complex piece of engineering we’ve ever seen from the ancient world, and I don’t think I’m being overly dramatic here.

Let’s back up just a little. The Antikythera mechanism was discovered in 1900 by Greek sponge-divers, who discovered a sunken ship full of treasures. The mechanism just looked like a lump of corroded bronze, with little archaeological value and certainly little monetary value (compared to the other goodies they could easily sell).

by Mark Cartwright

Two years later, Valerios Stais, a Greek archaeologist, discovered a gear embedded in this corroded lump when he was sorting through these artifacts. How intriguing!

Stais cleaned around the gear and discovered that there were other gears, hinting at the presence of a more complex mechanism within the artifact. Could this be a very early clock of some sort? The most intricate devices anywhere at the turn of the 20th century were watches, so it made sense that that’s where everyone’s heads went at first.

Early 20th century X-rays weren’t much help, so the mystery of the mechanism remained for the better part of the next hundred years, when scientists could finally virtually dissect the device with high resolution imaging that included CT (Computed Tomography) scanning.

Being able to reconstruct the device in 3D revealed some big surprises.

The Antikythera mechanism is a hand-powered model of the Solar System. It used a complex system of gears to calculate planetary motions and predict the positions of the Sun, Moon, and planets, as well as lunar and solar eclipses. It also had the first known set of scientific dials, so the user could be very accurate with inputs.

In a time when celestial events were often interpreted through the lens of gods and omens, here was a device that mechanized the cosmos, turning the unpredictable dance of the planets into a predictable, mechanical process.

This sophisticated system of gears comprised the world’s first analog computer.

When was the second analog computer? Probably 1900 years later, when Charles Babbage designed his Difference Engine in the 1830s, but Babbage never even finished his device.

When we think of technology that’s unusually ahead of its time, we normally mean a few decades, or maybe even a century or two. We don’t normally mean almost two millennia, but here it is.

In contrast to all of the devices invented before the mid-19th century, the mechanism wasn’t just for one task. It could be updated with new inputs (those dials I mentioned earlier), and the machine would update its calculations with the sophisticated interplay between gears.

Those gears were exceptionally well crafted. In fact, it would be another 1700 years or so before timekeeping devices pushed the boundaries of production far enough to match what the Greeks did during the time of the Roman Republic. Not only was the device ingenious; its components were unlike anything else seen in the world for many centuries.

The next time you think about when the age of computers dawned, don’t forget to consider the Antikythera mechanism.

Does this discovery change your perception of the world in any way? If so, how? Let me know in the comments today!