A mysterious device called the Antikythera Mechanism, discovered in an ancient shipwreck off the coast of a Greek island in 1901, has been announced by scientists as the world's oldest "computer.".
Apparently, the ancient Greeks used the wonderfully advanced device to map the movement of the sun, moon, and planets.
At first, scientists thought it was an astronomical tool. But using cutting-edge technology, they have now been able to decipher thousands of characters engraved on the mysterious device, and now researchers believe the device could have been used for a specific purpose, predicting the future in a less scientific way. Researchers say the device was a kind of philosophical guide to the galaxy and is likely the world's first computer.
“Now we have texts that are in ancient Greek,” said Alexander Jones, a professor of the history of ancient science at New York University. “It’s a lot of detail for us, coming from a period when we know very little about Greek astronomy and virtually nothing about technology, except what we’re gathering from here. So these very small texts are a very big thing for us.”
The ancient computer is considered one of the most fascinating archaeological discoveries ever made, dating back to the mid-1st century BC. This clock-like device with its bronze gears and displays was used to predict lunar and solar eclipses, along with the positions of the sun, moon and planets. In fact, it looks like an astronomical tool, but the ancient Greeks also used it to predict the future. Researchers suspect this because some of the inscriptions on the device refer to the color of an upcoming eclipse.
“We’re not quite sure how it’s interpreted, but we could speculate that the color of an eclipse was some kind of omen or sign,” said Mike Edmunds, professor of astrophysics at Cardiff University. “Some colors may be better predictors of events than others. If that’s the case, and the interpretation is correct, this is the first example we have of the mechanism with real reference to astrology rather than astronomy. It wasn’t a research tool, something that an astronomer would use to make calculations, or even an astrologer to make predictions, but something that would be used to teach about the universe and our place in the universe,” Jones said. “It’s like an astronomy textbook that connected the movements of the sky and the planets to the lives of the ancient Greeks and their environment.”
Scientists are puzzled by the thousands of characters engraved on the inside covers and front and back panels, although the physical workings of the gears and other parts of the mechanism are well understood. They hypothesized that the text might contain some kind of operating instructions or user guide for the device, but with some of the letters measuring just 1.2 millimeters (or 1/20 of an inch) the text was impossible to decipher.
The letters engraved on the pieces of the device were partially visible and impossible to interpret with old technology. An international team of researchers about 12 years ago began using X-ray scanning and advanced imaging technology to understand the ancient text. With the help of the latest technology, the researchers were able to read about 3,500 characters, which is a quarter of the total text found. The device is estimated to be 2,100 years old. The computer was likely created in Greece between 200 and 70 BC.
It appears that the device was made on the island of Rhodes and is likely not the only one made, other findings by the researchers suggest. A slight variation in the inscriptions suggests that at least two people were involved in its construction. It is also possible that others were hired to make the tools.
