The Antikythera mechanism 
Around 65 BC a Roman ship sank with its cargo, near the coast north of the small island of Antikythera, between Crete and the Peloponnese. The wreck was found, shortly before Easter 1900 and, among the marble statues and bronze jewelry and amphora, was also recovered a lump of limestone and inlaid metal. Only after two years Valerios Stais, director of the Archaeological Museum of Athens, where the instrument is still preserved, he realized the extraordinary nature of the object, not a piece of corroded bronze, but a complex mechanism, with gears and dials, with inscriptions in ancient greek. The Antikythera mechanism is, in fact, an astronomical instrument that anticipates that technologies will be discovered only at the end of the Middle Ages, with the construction of the first watches. His movement was composed of thirty gears driven by a single crank. On the front face, a face of bronze marked the movement between the constellations of the zodiac, the sun, moon, and probably other planets known at the time (Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn). The reverse, however, there were two superimposed dials, each engraved with a spiral staircase and a pointer to stretch. The upper trail for the Metonic di 19 anni, che è il periodo dopo il quale le fasi lunari si ripresentano negli stessi giorni dell'anno solare; il secondo, invece, indicava il ciclo di Saros di 18 anni, utile per prevedere le eclissi. Sorprendentemente il meccanismo riproduceva anche le variazioni di velocità della luna e dei pianeti lungo le loro orbite. Alcuni studiosi delle Università di Cardiff e di New York hanno recentemente scoperto che i nomi dei mesi incisi sul meccanismo appartengono a un calendario utilizzato solo nella Grecia occidentale e nella colonia di Siracusa. Il collegamento con Siracusa lancia un'intrigante ipotesi: l'ispiratore del meccanismo di Antikythera potrebbe essere stato Archimede, che costruì strumenti astronomici meccanici; l'ispiratore, ma non the manufacturer, since the mechanism is dated to between 150 and 100 BC, and Archimedes died in 212 BC The same researchers also found on the backside a small subsidiary dial marking the calendar of the Olympics, an event important for the social life of 'era, demonstration of how technology was integrated into the culture of ancient Greece.
Around 65 BC a Roman ship sank with its cargo, near the coast north of the small island of Antikythera, between Crete and the Peloponnese. The wreck was found, shortly before Easter 1900 and, among the marble statues and bronze jewelry and amphora, was also recovered a lump of limestone and inlaid metal. Only after two years Valerios Stais, director of the Archaeological Museum of Athens, where the instrument is still preserved, he realized the extraordinary nature of the object, not a piece of corroded bronze, but a complex mechanism, with gears and dials, with inscriptions in ancient greek. The Antikythera mechanism is, in fact, an astronomical instrument that anticipates that technologies will be discovered only at the end of the Middle Ages, with the construction of the first watches. His movement was composed of thirty gears driven by a single crank. On the front face, a face of bronze marked the movement between the constellations of the zodiac, the sun, moon, and probably other planets known at the time (Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn). The reverse, however, there were two superimposed dials, each engraved with a spiral staircase and a pointer to stretch. The upper trail for the Metonic di 19 anni, che è il periodo dopo il quale le fasi lunari si ripresentano negli stessi giorni dell'anno solare; il secondo, invece, indicava il ciclo di Saros di 18 anni, utile per prevedere le eclissi. Sorprendentemente il meccanismo riproduceva anche le variazioni di velocità della luna e dei pianeti lungo le loro orbite. Alcuni studiosi delle Università di Cardiff e di New York hanno recentemente scoperto che i nomi dei mesi incisi sul meccanismo appartengono a un calendario utilizzato solo nella Grecia occidentale e nella colonia di Siracusa. Il collegamento con Siracusa lancia un'intrigante ipotesi: l'ispiratore del meccanismo di Antikythera potrebbe essere stato Archimede, che costruì strumenti astronomici meccanici; l'ispiratore, ma non the manufacturer, since the mechanism is dated to between 150 and 100 BC, and Archimedes died in 212 BC The same researchers also found on the backside a small subsidiary dial marking the calendar of the Olympics, an event important for the social life of 'era, demonstration of how technology was integrated into the culture of ancient Greece. 
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