If anyone doubts that advanced technology existed two thousand years ago, here is an example of a mechanism that can be called the first analog computer. This sophisticated device calculates the position of the Sun and Moon and other astronomical data of the zodiac signs.
A brief history of mechanism discovery
In the spring of 1900, two ships of Greek sponge catchers, returning from the African coast to their home island of Symi, were forced to dock by the southerly wind to the small Greek island of Antikythera, located between the southern tip of Greece - the Peloponnese peninsula - and the island of Crete.
The divers decided to catch octopuses and other seafood for food. Having plunged about 25 meters from the shore to a depth of about 60 meters, the diver pulled out a bronze hand to the surface. Two others, amazed by his story, also plunged and became convinced of the truth of the message: an ancient ship lay at the bottom, loaded with statues, ceramics and other objects, scattered over a large area. The hunters returned to their island and made no further attempts to explore the place of the find. But a former resident of this island, fortunately, a former teacher of archeology, found out about the hand. For seven whole months, he persuaded the sailors to declare the find to the authorities and show the site of the ancient shipwreck.
In the end, an expedition was organized with the participation of the same sponge catchers as divers (unfortunately, two of them died from decompression sickness). The ship turned out to be a Roman merchant ship. The dimensions of the ship amazed archaeologists: about 150 meters long and about 40 meters wide. The ship was filled with ancient Greek items: sculptures, vases, amphoras, etc. Went from the island of Rhodes, probably to Rome, and was wrecked around 80 BC.
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As you know, after the conquest of Greece, the Romans removed most of the original products from it. But Europe got acquainted with them already in the 15th century AD, when Italian lovers of antiquities began to excavate Roman pitchforks and discovered these statues, frescoes, vessels and other products. It was at this time that interest in classical antiquity arose, and the era called the Renaissance (i.e., the revival of classical civilization) began.
Among other things, two remarkable bronze sculptures from about 340 BC were found on the ship: a young man in full height and the head of a philosopher (either Pythagoras or Epicurus). After restoration, they are exhibited at the National Museum of Greece in Athens and are some of its best exhibits.
But it is interesting for us that, among other items, pieces of some kind of mechanism were found, made of bronze and lying in a wooden box about 33x17x10 cm in size, which soon turned into dust. Three large pieces, one 10-12 cm in size, and others 5-7 cm in size, revealed a complex gear mechanism.
But under the influence of sea water, the bronze corroded and soldered so much that it was impossible to look inside the mechanism without destroying it. The rest of the pieces were much smaller, from a few centimeters to one or two millimeters across. Greek letters were visible on the surface of the plates.
Initially, no assumptions arose about the purpose of this mechanism. It was believed that the ancient Greeks were "aristocrats of the spirit" who did not engage in applied problems. True, the inventions of Archimedes (a planetarium, a mechanical celestial sphere, etc.), Heron (a steam engine, automatic machines for dispensing water, etc.) and some other scientists were known, but almost nothing has come down to our time. Therefore, it was believed that either information about these mechanisms was exaggerated by the ancient Greeks and Romans, or all these mechanisms were intended, so to speak, for the entertainment of theorists and had no practical purpose. For a long time the mechanism remained in the museum's storerooms and no one dared to approach it.
The Antikythera mechanism looks like a huge clock measuring 15 centimeters. It consists of two bronze plates, on which and between which there are different sizes of bronze rings, gears, levers, hands, scales, etc … Unlike watches, the mechanism is two-sided: arrows, scales and other indicators are on each board.
Several scientists, both Greek and foreign, have studied the mechanism. Each time, more and more advanced research tools were used. But since it was very difficult to look inside the pieces of stuck together metal, all the assumptions and models were mostly speculative.
The last study of the device was decided to be performed as a trial test of two modern inventions:
1) PTM Dome digital display device developed by Hewlett-Packard Company.
2) X-Tek X-ray tomograph, called Blade Runner (and the owner of the company was so enthusiastic that he provided the tomograph free of charge).
Negotiations have been going on since 2000. It took about a year to get permission from the museum and to work out the conditions. Then there was a long preparatory period for testing the experiment and adapting the computer program to this case. (As you know, the X-ray tomograph itself is a fairly simple device: a radiation source and a detector-detector, which are able to view the object of study at any angle and remove a network of radiation intensity points. The most important here is a computer program that allows for all this set of points to display from high precision on the screen all the internal details of the studied subject, and in different angles, any sections, etc.). This tomograph, unlike those intended for medical purposes, has a harder radiation,able to pass through metals and other solid structures. Its natural purpose is associated with the study of highly stressed parts, such as turbine blades, etc. details.
Under the contract, the tomograph (a machine weighing 8 tons) was brought from England to Greece and installed in a special room of the museum. Finally, about a year and a half ago, the actual research began. Videos were shown at the conference and on television showing how as the depth of the tomographic slice changes, images of new layers of gears and levers appear. The reliability of the conclusions, according to the researchers, averages over 90 percent. It was found that the system contained 32 gears of different sizes and types. Their connections were established. One of the scientists built an operating circuit of the device on a computer, by which it is possible to study the movement of all its elements and arrows.
But the most remarkable thing was the discovery of new pieces of inscriptions. By our time, about 900 characters have been identified. For a new study of the inscriptions, digital stereoscopic photographing of the surface with the PTM Dome instrument and tomographic scanning of the subsurface layer with the Blade Runner in layers about 0.1 mm thick were used. The fact is that these inscriptions were applied by the shock method. Therefore, traces of letters remained inside the metal, which cannot be read on the surface, but which can be restored on a computer screen.
It turned out quite unexpectedly that the inscriptions were real instructions for using the device, i.e. a description of the measurement and reading procedure. With the help of new instruments, it was possible to read coherent pieces of text. In total, more than 2000 letters of the Greek script and astronomical signs were read. Some phrases are quite understandable; in others, only individual words are understandable, but they also made it possible to judge the capabilities of the device. In particular, the texts feature the Sun (Helios), Venus (Aphrodite), Mercury (Hermes). The word "Spain" (the very first use of this name for the Iberian peninsula) and "Pharos" was the name of the island on which one of the seven wonders of the world stood - the Lighthouse of Alexandria (this lighthouse in ancient Greece was one of the points of reference for the routes of ships;since then the lighthouse is called "Faros" in Greek). All this testifies to the fact that the ancient Greeks built devices intended for use.
A lot of new data has been received. From the manner in which the letters were drawn, it was established that the device was made between 140 and 120 BC. e., i.e. long before the Romans took him as a trophy. This made it possible to more specifically associate the device with the names of famous astronomers. (But this in itself is a large topic of reflection in the Antikythera mechanism of the development of ancient theoretical and observational astronomy. The mechanism, in this sense, is, as it were, an additional chapter to the books of ancient astronomers, and this topic requires a separate discussion).
The main result was to clarify the purpose of the device.
The device was designed for 76 years of operation from the moment of its manufacture (i.e. further its accuracy was not guaranteed) and was spatially designed to serve the Mediterranean zone, i.e. from Asia Minor to Spain. In these periods of time and space, the accuracy of calculations and readings was very high. The device showed and predicted (i.e. calculated) the motion of the Sun, Moon and six planets with all their features, which we practically observe from the Earth (risings, sets, loops, stops, etc.). The device showed and predicted all the phases of the moon and even displayed them graphically with the help of a silver circle.
Revealed two practical purposes of the device.
1) First: clarification of calendars, i.e. binding of the beginning of the months to certain observed positions of celestial bodies (at that time, each state in Greece had its own calendars, so the problem was even more pressing than in such centralized states as Ancient Egypt or Sumer).
2) Second: serve as a guide in sea travel (the importance of this appointment can be judged by how much effort and money the Europeans spent on the invention and manufacture of appropriate devices at the time of their exploration of the sea).