Ancient Greek Gear Mechanism Mystery

Precisely Predicting the Past

The Antikythera Mechanism might as well be the poster child for ancient high-tech — built with dozens of interlocking gears and made more than 2,000 years ago. It was discovered after divers pulled a corroded lump of bronze from a shipwreck near a Greek island. This ancient device was capable of predicting celestial events with remarkable precision. More fascinating than its technological sophistication, however, is its abrupt disappearance and reappearance. Even more puzzling is it remains unclear exactly who built it. The mechanism's story amounts to an archaeological and scientific two-step. In brief: After pulling something unexpected from the sea, the machine’s purpose remained a mystery, it seemed so odd. Not until researchers applied X-ray scans a significantly later time did anyone determine its role as an astronomical predictor. The mechanism predicted lunar eclipses. Tracking irregular movements of the planets in the solar system was its prowess. Such specific celestial cartography would not appear again in the historical record for 1,000 years. Confronted with this level of precision and mystery, it is almost disappointing that no further objects of such sophistication had been found.

Hisotry's Other Dark Ages

Now, consider the gap between the Antikythera Mechanism’s time and the renaissance of such understanding in Europe. X-ray scans later revealed its role as a predictor of eclipses and other celestial events. This technology might have given the user such accurate predictions of the moon's irregular path that it would not appear again in civilization until 1,000 years later. Understanding the scope of the achievement raises further troubling questions. In the absence of other comparable devices, the discovery of the Antikythera Mechanism suggests that other similar inventions might have disappeared — or worse, were destroyed — along with the technology’s knowledge. This means that no written records remain to explain what is unexplained by current historical convention. After a period of a thousand years, the technology had not only disappeared, but its knowledge had vanished. Most remarkably, it remains clear that even the knowledge of what the Antikythera Mechanism exactly did seemed to disappear.

The Mystery of the Builders

Exactly who built it is still debated. One popular theory suggests that it was an invention of ancient Greece, while another argues that the Romans constructed it. Debates still rage over its provenance. The hypothesis that the mechanical ancestors of the gears might have been the Greek astronomers makes some sense. This dates it to a period contemporary with Archimedes’ work. Over the years there have been many theories as to who might have built the mechanism. Despite these claims, the explanation that it was built by Archimedes, a Greek astronomer who lived in the 3rd century B.C. still stands. What is known with certainty, however, is that whoever created the Antikythera Mechanism had access to a highly advanced form technology. This is further supported by the claim that it was a tool for navigation, which would require a thorough understanding of celestial motions and mathematics. Likewise, its construction would require a mastery of engineering that would have been rare during the era it was built.