The ancient Greeks, as it turns out, possessed a unique modern technology of manufacturing movements, the accuracy of which is similar to that of a Swiss watch movement. We remind you that it was a slave system, the most primitive agriculture, people who had just replaced stone axes with bronze ones…. And a Swiss watch ?????
This mysterious mechanism, however, was much more complicated than the mechanism of modern (even Swiss) watches, was raised from the sea a century ago, and served the ancient Greeks not only to predict the movement of the luminaries. With his help, an unknown creator made astrological predictions.
A ten-year project designed to unveil one of the most famous scientific mysteries of the last century has produced extraordinary results. Many lovers of unsolved mysteries of antiquity have probably heard about the Antikythera Mechanism - an unusual contraption raised from the bottom of the sea in 1901.
The mechanical device was found near the Greek island of Antikythera, after which it got its name.
The find was a mechanism of at least 30 bronze gears placed in a wooden case.
The mechanism was raised to the surface completely, but then divided into three fragments, which are currently divided into 82 parts, which are kept in the National Archaeological Museum in Athens. Four fragments of the device include gears, the largest of which is 140 mm in diameter and 223 teeth. Some of the parts of the mechanism have inscriptions, which are difficult to read due to the thick layer of oxides. For decades, scientists have been unable to comprehend the purpose of the mysterious device, and only in the last half century have new methods of analysis made it possible to learn more about it.
It was found that it was collected in the II century BC and it is the most complex mechanism of the ancient world that has survived to this day. Nothing comparable in complexity has been manufactured by mankind for at least another thousand years.
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The Antikythera mechanism is usually called the first computer, since this analog device could simulate complex astronomical cycles.
Until 2005, the mechanism was studied using X-ray analysis, but in 2005, a large-scale international project Antikythera Mechanism Research Project was launched to study and reconstruct a mysterious device. It was then that scientists from different countries began to apply more advanced physical methods. Until recently, scientists have focused on the purpose of the individual gears of the mechanism. The latest study, the results of which were published in the journal Almagest and were made public the day before at a special meeting in Athens, was dedicated to deciphering the inscriptions present on each remaining entire surface. "It's like discovering a completely new manuscript," says Mike Edmunds, an astrophysics professor at Cardiff University.
It is known that the ancient Greek device had a handle that could be rotated in both directions - to the "future" and "past". Instead of hours and minutes, the hands on the front dial indicated the position of the sun, moon and planets in the sky. This dial had two concentric scales showing the month and the signs of the zodiac, so that the sun hand indicated the date and its position in the sky at the same time. And the other two spiral dials on the back of the device worked like a calendar and predicted eclipses. The surface between these dials contained 3400-character text, which the scientists were busy decoding. By the way, according to the author of the study, Alexander Jones from the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World in New York, there were up to 20 thousand symbols on the mechanism.
The letters on the device are small (each - no more than a millimeter) and are often hidden under a thick layer of corrosion, so it is hardly possible to read the almost lost text thanks to computed tomography methods. The text on the platforms adjacent to the dials describes the appearance and setting of constellations on different dates throughout the year, which led scientists to conclude that they have a complex stellar calendar, or parapegma, that predicts the onset of such astronomical events as the solstice and equinox.
And the description of these events helped scientists solve the main mystery of the device - its place of origin. They found that the astronomer who created it lived at a latitude of 35 degrees. This excludes Egypt and northern Greece and gives the only possible solution - the island of Rhodes, from where the device was most likely sent by ship to the north of the country.
In addition, the signatures turned out to be made by two different people - this was given by handwriting analysis, so the device could not be made by a single master. Having deciphered the inscriptions on the back wall, scientists realized that they were describing the upcoming eclipses. Scientists were surprised that they talked about the color and size of the Sun or Moon during an eclipse, and even about the wind during each of them. Today it is known that it is impossible to predict the color character of these phenomena in advance, and this does not make any scientific sense.
However, in Ancient Greece, such signs were taken seriously, they predicted the weather and even the fate of individuals and states. The Greeks inherited these beliefs from the Babylonians, whose astronomer priests peered up into the skies for ill omens. The texts engraved on the Antikythera Mechanism went further - instead of predicting fate based on signs such as the color of the eclipse and the direction of the wind, they themselves predicted them before they were observed.
This was in the spirit of the general ancient Greek trend to “replace astronomy with computation and prediction,” Jones explains.
The astrological nature of the texts surprised scientists a lot, since the rest of the mechanism's functions are purely astronomical, with the exception of the calendar, which uses colloquial names of months and shows the onset of sporting events, including the Olympic Games. "The Antikythera mechanism reproduces the Hellenistic cosmology, in which astronomy, meteorology and divination by the stars were intertwined together," the scientists say.
At the last conference, the statement was again voiced that the century-old discovery can rightfully be considered the oldest known computer.
“What we are doing with modern computers was done by the Antikythera Mechanism 2 thousand years ago,” said the meeting participant, physicist Iannis Bitsakis. And space technician Professor Xenophon Mousas added: "Modern computers and mobile phones are rooted in the gears of this mechanism."
Probably, a genius lived in Ancient Greece, whose thoughts were ahead of the era. It is amazing that in the future the craftsmen of that time tried to recreate the Antikythera mechanism, but they could not achieve such accuracy in a thousand years. Experts who have studied it from century to century have come to the conclusion that the authorship may belong to Posidonius, an astronomer and philosopher from the island of Rhodes, the teacher of the famous Cicero. Cicero himself talked about a similar device created by Archimedes (you can read about this in his treatise "On the State"). Other scientists suggest that the astronomer Hipparchus had a hand in the creation of the "calculator".
The first relatively successful attempt to reconstruct the Antikythera Mechanism was made in 1959 by Derek Price. With the help of the talented watchmaker John Gleave, he was able to build a replica of a differential transmission device.
Only in the middle of the 20th century, Greek scientists, together with British and American colleagues, were able to most fully reproduce the external appearance of the ancient find and finally establish its purpose. X-ray tomography came to their aid. In 2005, a research team led by Professor Mike Edmunds within the Antikythera Mechanism Research Project deciphered virtually all of the inscriptions on the ancient find.
What did the ancient Greeks do at the "computer"
It turned out that there was a mechanism for determining the start date of the Olympic Games. Archaeologists believe that it was present in all large settlements where athletes lived. Of course, he did not choose the day by chance: the device had to count the four-year cycle with high accuracy. For this, in turn, it was necessary to determine the movement of celestial bodies.
The Antikythera mechanism not only calculated the positions of the Sun and the Moon, calculated the time of the onset of the eclipse (both solar and lunar), but also covered all the planets known at that time (and the ancient Greeks managed to "get acquainted" with Mars, Mercury, Saturn, Venus and Jupiter). Presumably with his help, it was found that the lunar orbit has an elliptical shape. And with this functionality, the use of the Antikythera Mechanism has spread to other games. With its help, the cycles of the Delphic competitions and games in Corinth were counted. A modern man could take this device for an antique calendar, although not everyone could use it competently.
An antique lesson in computer science: how a 2000-year-old computer works
Several dozen miniature gears fit together with extraordinary precision. Movement of the handle - and the mechanism is started! On the front dials one could see the days of the year and the signs of the zodiac. The control was carried out using the same handle, with which the researchers set the desired date. As a result, the Antikythera Mechanism produced a lot of interesting astronomical information.
The front and back walls showed how the celestial bodies are located, and the black and white ball will tell in what phase the moon is. You can also find out where the planets are in relation to the stars.
On one of the dials, one could see when solar and lunar eclipses would begin. The mechanism showed a cycle of 223 lunar months, called saros, and during this cycle the eclipses are repeated at regular intervals. Another dial will help you become familiar with the Metonic lunar cycle.
How much information the ancient Greeks drew from a device that was able to overtake the development of technology for a thousand years ahead! If you think about it, the Antikythera mechanism really resembles a computer in terms of the possibilities of obtaining useful data with its help.
So, what kind of civilization was that of the Ancient Greeks that gave the world the greatest scientists - the founders of literally ALL directions of science, the founders of philosophy, art, architecture, education, government and even the first computer from there …. And all this is in the most primitive slave system, just yesterday was in the Stone Age and climbed trees and hid in caves from wild animals ?????
Well, well, let's say there was a factory in Rhodes (comparable to modern Swiss watchmaking) that produced such movements - as historians assure us.
But where did it all go ?????? And disappeared without a trace !!!! ???
Alexander Mikhailov