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The Antikythera mechanism ( AN-tik-ih-THEER-ə, US also AN-ty-kih-) is an ancient Greek hand-powered orrery (model of the Solar System) built in the 2nd century BC and discovered in 1901.

It could also be used to track the four-year cycle of athletic games similar to an olympiad, the cycle of the ancient Olympic Games. The artefact was among wreckage retrieved from a shipwreck off the coast of the Greek island Antikythera in 1901. In 1902, during a visit to the National Archaeological Museum in Athens, it was noticed by Greek politician Spyridon Stais as containing a gear, prompting the first study of the fragment by his cousin, Valerios Stais, the museum director. Four of these fragments contain gears, while inscriptions are found on many others. All these fragments of the mechanism are kept at the National Archaeological Museum, along with reconstructions and replicas, to demonstrate how it may have looked and worked. In 2005, a team from Cardiff University led by Mike Edmunds used computer X-ray tomography and high resolution scanning to image inside fragments of the crust-encased mechanism and read faint inscriptions that once covered the outer casing. These scans suggest that the mechanism had 35 meshing bronze gears, 30 of which are still visible, enabling it to follow the movements of the Moon and the Sun through the zodiac, to predict eclipses and to model the irregular orbit of the Moon, where the Moon's velocity is higher in its perigee than in its apogee. There is speculation that a portion of the mechanism is missing and it calculated the positions of the five classical planets.

This wreck of a Roman cargo ship was found at a depth of 45 metres (148 ft) off Point Glyphadia on the Greek island of Antikythera. Two other searches for items at the Antikythera wreck site in 2012 and 2015 yielded art objects and a second ship which may be connected with the treasure ship on which the mechanism was found. The disc has four "ears" which have holes in them, and it was thought it may have been part of the Antikythera mechanism, as a cog wheel.

In 2008, research by the Antikythera Mechanism Research Project suggested the concept for the mechanism may have originated in the colonies of Corinth, since they identified the calendar on the Metonic Spiral as coming from Corinth, or one of its colonies in northwest Greece or Sicily. Syracuse was a colony of Corinth and the home of Archimedes, and the Antikythera Mechanism Research Project argued in 2008 that it might imply a connection with the school of Archimedes.

In 2018, based on the CT scans, the Antikythera Mechanism Research Project proposed changes in gearing and produced mechanical parts based on this. In March 2021, the Antikythera Research Team at University College London, led by Freeth, published a new proposed reconstruction of the entire Antikythera Mechanism.

It is unlikely that any one of these machines was the particular Antikythera mechanism found in the shipwreck since both the devices fabricated by Archimedes and mentioned by Cicero were located in Rome at least 30 years later than the estimated date of the shipwreck, and the third device was almost certainly in the hands of Posidonius by that date.

This evidence that the Antikythera mechanism was not unique adds support to the idea that there was an ancient Greek tradition of complex mechanical technology that was later, at least in part, transmitted to the Byzantine and Islamic worlds, where mechanical devices which were complex, albeit simpler than the Antikythera mechanism, were built during the Middle Ages.

As of 2012, the Antikythera mechanism was displayed as part of a temporary exhibition about the Antikythera shipwreck, accompanied by reconstructions made by Ioannis Theofanidis, Derek de Solla Price, Michael Wright, the Thessaloniki University and Dionysios Kriaris. It documents the discovery and 2005 investigation of the mechanism by the Antikythera Mechanism Research Project.

Quick Facts

• It documents the discovery and 2005 investigation of the mechanism by the Antikythera Mechanism Research Project.
• In March 2021, the Antikythera Research Team at University College London, led by Freeth, published a new proposed reconstruction of the entire Antikythera Mechanism.
• All these fragments of the mechanism are kept at the National Archaeological Museum, along with reconstructions and replicas, to demonstrate how it may have looked and worked.
• As of 2012, the Antikythera mechanism was displayed as part of a temporary exhibition about the Antikythera shipwreck, accompanied by reconstructions made by Ioannis Theofanidis, Derek de Solla Price, Michael Wright, the Thessaloniki University and Dionysios Kriaris.
• There is speculation that a portion of the mechanism is missing and it calculated the positions of the five classical planets.

Source material: Wikipedia - "Antikythera mechanism". Adapted and summarized for DiscoverScroll. Original contributors are credited through the linked Wikipedia article. Read original on Wikipedia. CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes were made from the original.