From childhood, we know about the sea voyages of the mythical heroes of Hellas - Odysseus, the Argonauts and many others. Historical science has long established the opinion that Greek sailors have perfectly mastered the waters of the Mediterranean and Black Seas.
The shipbuilders built beautiful and quite perfect sea vessels of various types, navigators were perfectly guided by the starry sky. However, historians believe that the main method of navigation was coastal, that is, sailing along the coast.
And only on separate, well-known routes, the ancient Greeks could cross the seas. Very little is known about the technical equipment required by ancient navigators. By default, it is generally accepted that it was quite primitive, and the main factor in successful voyages was the personal experience of ancient sailors. But was it really so?
THE MYSTERY OF GEARS
In 1901, the remains of an antique ship were discovered near the Greek island of Antikythera. Among the many artifacts, several bronze gears were raised from the bottom, which, thanks to the remains of a wooden case, turned into a monolith. This artifact remained unexplored until 1951, when the English historian Derek de Solla Price became interested in it and for the first time determined that the remains of a strange mechanism were once a unique computing device.
Price X-rayed the mechanism and reconstructed it a few years later, making a life-size model. In 1959, the scientist published a detailed description of the device in Scientific American. Research continued. The remains of the mechanism were examined under X-rays. The complete diagram of the device was presented only in 1971. Upon further study, it turned out that there were as many as 37 gears, although only 30 survived.
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After 20 years of research, Price concluded that the artifact was a mechanical astronomical instrument used to simulate the motion of the sun, moon, and, presumably, three more planets - Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. According to the tireless researcher, the mechanism was based on the principle of differential transmission, which, as it was previously believed, was invented not earlier than the 16th century.
Nearly forty years later, another researcher, Michael Wright, a mechanical engineer at the London Science Museum, made another attempt at studying the ancient Greek navigator. He confirmed the main conclusions made by Price about the purpose of the device. But at the same time, Wright convincingly showed that the differential transmission, which was so admired by lovers of antiquities, is in fact missing.
In addition, he suggested that the mechanism could simulate the movements of not only the aforementioned planets, but also Mercury and Venus. Further study revealed more and more new properties of antique gears. It turned out that the device can add, subtract and divide, and also take into account the ellipticity of the moon's orbit.
TWO SIDES OF THE APPLIANCE
The device itself had a double-sided design: the front side contained one dial, the back - two. Both dials on the back had additional small dials on the central circles. All concentric rings that surrounded the dials were movable. They were driven by a swivel wheel on the right side wall of the mechanism.
The front dial was split according to the Egyptian calendar system for 12 months out of 365 days. It was equipped with a movable ring with zodiacal symbols, which allowed the user to adjust the device during leap years. This dial, according to the researchers, had three hands. One indicated the date, the other two indicated the location of the Sun and Moon. That is, the dial was a kind of star calendar (in Greek - parapet), which indicated the rising and setting of certain stars. The researchers believe that images of many stars were engraved all over the surface of this device.
The dials on the back are located one above the other. The upper one is made in the form of a spiral, each turn of which is divided into 47 parts. In total, it has 235 divisions, which reflect the months of the so-called 19-year Metonian cycle, which served to coordinate the duration of the lunar month and the solar year in the lunisolar calendar. This cycle was proposed in 433 BC. e. Athenian astronomer Methanus and formed the basis of the ancient Greek calendar.
The lower disk, which had 223 divisions, displayed the Saros eclipse cycle, or the draconian period, consisting of 223 synodic months, after which the eclipses of the Moon and the Sun are approximately repeated in the same order. The small disk on the upper dial served for the calculation of the 76-year period according to the Calippus cycle. The small disc on the lower dial showed a 54-year exceligmos cycle - a period equal to approximately 19,756 days, or three saros, after which the eclipses of the Moon and the Sun are repeated under approximately the same conditions.
TECHNOLOGY ON THE EDGE OF FANTASTIC
Thus, the Antikythera mechanism was the most complex astronomical device, a kind of mechanical computer of antiquity, which made it possible not only to carry out accurate astronomical calculations, but also to predict certain celestial events. The researchers concluded that the technology embodied in the mechanism of this device is comparable to that of a mechanical watch from the 14th century. And, according to the specified data, the approximate time for the manufacture of the Antikythera mechanism was dated 150-100 BC. e.
Reconstruction
Moreover, after numerous examinations, the remains of inscriptions (about 2,000 Greek symbols) were found on the mechanism. As one of the Greek researchers told the author, fragments of the technical instructions for operating the device have been preserved among them. That is, we can confidently assume that such mechanisms were mass-produced and were calculated on the fact that an experienced captain or skipper possesses a sufficient set of navigational and astronomical knowledge in order to, having received the device and having read the instructions, put it into operation.
This unique mechanism testifies to the high level of the navigational art of ancient sailors and their high technical support. The fact that the navigation device of the ancients has survived to this day in a single copy does not mean that it was the only such device. Rather, it should be assumed that the level of knowledge of the ancient Greeks, both in the field of astronomy and navigation, and in the field of fine mechanics, was much more extensive and profound than modern scientists imagine.
Andrey ZHUKOV, candidate of historical sciences