Do you think the 2000 year old Greek computer was actually real?

It's very real! Somewhat overlooked until it was realised it contained cogs. Under X-ray, its complexity becomes more clear, my jaw dropped when I first saw this.

The first example of a gear train I’m aware of used for computation, the other example being the south-facing chariot (a differential), also significant and of a similar dating, but very different function. The mechanism is complex, it works to compute (calculate) the position of the celestial bodies! What a thing. Man has been looking up to the skies to keep time for millennia before this, this is a supercomputer in antiquity, with it, you can keep an accurate calendar, increase food production - plant seeds and harvest at the optimal time, predict eclipses using Saros cycles when the celestial bodies return to their original position (for a little wow factor and probably statecraft when the sun turns black as you said it would, an eclipse), know when the games are going to be so the athletes can train and generally be organised with clockwork accuracy. I’ve posted this to give a context of what was known about the astronomical cycles before and are used by the Antikythera mechanism itself.

Now consider the only example I’m aware of that precedes it. It is Minoan, circa 1600BCE, Crete. Granted it is not as sophisticated, it's manual, not even mechanical. However, is also a remarkable device and more for determining the periods that the later mechanism uses. Importantly, it shows an early stepping stone towards the mechanism.

This is a casting stone to make many copies in likely bronze. It performs many of the functions of the later mechanism and more importantly shows that these orbital periods were understood. The Minoans demonstrate a very good understanding of orbital dynamics. Olympiads, Saros cycles seem to be known to them, they seem to be attempting to work out cycles far beyond a human lifetime, a Great Year - Wikipedia by example, that occurs due to precession of the equinox as the Earth wobbles backwards, which we know today to be 25,772 year cycle, it is evident in iconography (artwork, that follows the astronomical ages using the signs of the zodiac). However, the Minoan written language remains undeciphered and their main writing media, papyrus is lost, both the Babylonians and Minoans are marking the astronomical ages in Art. As an aside an interesting Chinese account that relates to a merchant visiting the Great Mother of the West (possibly a Minoan priestess), seems to imply a peach only grew once every three thousand years to bring in a new age (a new zodiac sign) that may imply it was possibly estimated to 36,000 years in very ancient times, all things considered not a bad, which sounds about right with the measurement instrumentation available, we know the Great Year to be 25,772 years.

The device on the right is for lunar periods. Which is associated with Potnia Theron (Artemis/the Mistress of Animals) virgin daughter, the Moon. Middle, Mother Earth, Gaia and her son (left), the Sun, Apollo/the Master of Animals. The solar function being the left device. These are three of their four Minoan deities the other being Venus (consort to the Sun). The relationships describe the orbits, virgin daughter Moon is bound to Mother Earth, consort to the Sun in orbits. Minoans use the deities to express cardinal direction and seasons also (based on an even older but simpler system dating to incredibly, 9000BCE, they likely preserve this tradition as they have a need to navigate the high seas as in times past people moved to follow sources of food with the seasons). Amazingly some of the same symbols are preserved for over five millennia by oral tradition (and some of the first ideas recorded in stone tables - two of the first examples of proto-writing which both record a system of cardinal direction).

Remarkable a count of days in the year was known at this time, humans had a calendar in prehistory and shows that astronomy was being studied with a scientific approach very early, importantly this was recorded in stone (as it was clearly important to), the first sophisticated concept we know about today, a calendar. The Antikythera mechanism is the culmination of this work a reasonable model of the solar system that can be observed.

The above casting stone is to make many copies, for those that can at least afford the metal to produce it (its an expensive device), likely large farms and landowners (which will have passed by the female line it is the ladies that keep records and study astronomy in this civilisation), the priestess probably had something more sophisticated produced by the palace workshops. The middle device Gaia, I’m not entirely sure how she was used, possibly a form of a ruler to measure (excuse the pun: Demeter), this device could potentially be used for trigonometry to express angles, e.g. sine and cosine as fractions, handy for orbital calculations and determine latitude at sea. Thoughts on what the Gaia device maybe or function most welcome, please leave me a comment.

We can see seven days on the lunar device to the right (twin indenture, 7 markers), a lunar phase (reinforced by other Minoan artefacts), the big thing is it shows the very first use of a week which we still use today. The mechanism likely flip-flops in the solar device on the left before advancing one position. The purpose of this is probably to allow a day to be added alternative months for a 29 and one half-day month (superbly accurate for the time, 29.53059 days by modern standard). On this Minoan earring dated to around 1700BCE, Crete, we can see 7 days (sun) and nights (owls), four moon phases express by an animal, 28 days, plus one red lozenge bead which implies to add a day and when things are shown at the periphery to divide by this number, 1/2 day and a 29.5days in total within the full moon device itself.

Many consider that the later Greek astronomical knowledge came from Babylon, I think Minoa is a more likely the original source or at least there is technology transfer which may have been through Babylonian astronomers or from those on the islands to the mainland, but this is less easy to establish, the Minoan written papyrus are lost to time and the few records on clay remain undeciphered, any connection will have to be established by examining the artefacts such as these. It is also worth noting that these astronomical periods are often recorded in fresco borders and jewellery as above (its worth counting everything in Minoan art as it often relates to astronomy or Nature - an early form of physics which is surprising good).

This is confirmed by other Minoan artefacts. The significance of the cast stone device on the left is as a calendar to calculate an Olympiad, just like the Antikythera mechanism! Update: Time to add a leap month by jumping the bull. Minos (leader) being last to leave the arena, perhaps this is where the four-year team in the office is derived, possibly a very old convention.

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Notes: 49 lunar phases shown on the horizontal borders: an Olympiad. We could assume that there are 3 years of 12, and each fourth year a 13th month is added, this may be what the so-called Snake goddess represents, Ophiuchus - Wikipedia.
With this, the lunar and solar calendar, and can keep a 365.25 day year as we do today. All civilisations gravitate towards this as it can be repeatably observed, but these artefacts are some of the earliest to show it was articulated.
I’ve recently realised what the 14 verticle devices may be. When added to the four-year Olympiad, it could represent an 18 year Saros cycles. Although not shown here an Octaeteris is another important period, 99 lunar months, or 8 years plus one or two days. This is 9-year using inclusive counting, Minos literally means ‘nine’ (years in office?), also bird-man below, could this convention span this huge length of time, it appears they did have a mechanism to record the most important information.

These very old systems have a purpose, to keep order and a calendar using natural cycles. Working against mother nature is a bad idea. It is also worth noting that the very earliest accounts suggest a memory of older games which were introduced to the mainland by Harkales (thumb) and his brothers around 1,250 BCE (the Idaean Dactyl (mythology) - Wikipedia from Crete. the ‘fingers’ and founders of the Minoan civilisation according to mythology). According to these accounts, the games were brought to the islands from Hyperborea - Wikipedia, modern material analysis shows the Cornish tin being alloyed with local copper (Cyprus), one can postulate how it was getting there, by sea through exchange through adjacent ports and islands being a possible method. This is inferred by mythology, hyperboreans were invited to attend the celebrations at Delos to Apollo, one young girl with her 9-foot brothers (giants, possible had gold pointy hats) came but as they didn’t return, gifts were sent thereafter relayed through adjacent ports. The reason I explain this, is those that need to navigate at sea study astronomy.

I’ve been trying to track down the first use of cogs and gear trains (the above is the only thing that bears some resemblance to a gear before the mechanism itself, so if you are aware of any early reference please do drop me a comment). The mechanism is very sophisticated which suggests there may be something more simple before this, I like that in the Minoan casting stone you can see a gem of an idea for two devices intermeshing but it is not in itself a gear. From what I have read about the mechanism, most consider this to be a built over many iterations, so hopeful the archaeologists will find other examples. There are accounts of such mechanisms but it would be useful to know when the transition from more simple pulleys arrangements (actuated by weight) that may have preceded it, too much more capable gears occurred, it is somewhere between these two devices, but exactly when is not clear, I have found a single Minoan seal that may show a single gear.

Optical lenses are known on Crete from at least 1450BCE (revised dating), they are precision ground from rock crystal and could have been used for optical magnification to study the stars and celestial bodies, their first use may have been to observe coast approaches (which is exactly the same development steps that the telescope went through later in history). They are of superior optical quality to a single Babylonian example found much later and are found in quantity. They were found stored in a cave near to a peak sanctuary, peak sanctuaries are known from 2,000BCE where likely these observations were made and written down. There is also evidence of instruments to make angular measurements (labrys, maybe an angular measurement tool, by example, to measure the angle between the horizon to navigational stars such as Orion's belt to determine latitude). The shaft has regular markings and the double axe head slides along the shaft, one can also trace the technology transfer of the double axe to Phoenicia, that were also good at high sea navigation and reestablished the trade networks after bronze age collapse. The priest of the double axe at Delphi also being a potential route whereby this earlier astronomical knowledge could have been transferred. I note that many Greeks philosophers that are interested in mathematics, astronomy or engineering hail from or visit the Greek islands. The point being they have angular measurement tools to track the passage of stars and celestial bodies.

There is a general sense (in Minoan times) that the population were fascinated by early machines and the artefacts suggest instrumentation for astronomy, navigation and timekeeping. I would place there understanding of physics (dynamics and optics) to that of around the time of Newton, and no I’m not kidding! The crescent wedge shape lens will recreate a natural rainbow and there is also rock-crystal prisms found at an Ida mountain workshop! It appears that the prism was invented in Crete and not by/in Newton’s time, which is extraordinary, its as if the priestess observe something in nature and want to understand how it works and task the workshops with producing devices in this case to reproduce it. There is a lot of evidence of models in the Minoan archaeological archive. They seem to do things at a small scale to confirm there initial thinking. This may have applied to model the celestial bodies, nothing too fancy a candle (the sun), the Earth, the Moon and see what happens in the shadows and confirm the observation, they seem to have a really good grasp of the moon phases, saros cycles which must have come from either study and or modelling. The device shown above is 95% accurate in predicting eclipses for example.

The palaces have light and dark rooms it would appear to study the properties of light. They are curious about the natural world and how it is organised (the underlying rules). Their engineering precision is good, by example, there is a seal that shows that divider callipers are being used and from this you can do a lot (a standard measure), the milling bit is 30 micrometers (microns) and tool placement is around 5–10 micrometres for the finest pieces. Their tooling and instrumentation is well ahead of its time.

Note the use of extendable poles at peak sanctuaries, in this way, they can line up targets using points, take measurements and record the positions of celestial bodies and stars. Venus was studied as it crossed the sun in the reflection of water bowls (shown). There is a lot of evidence when taken collectively to show that astronomical periods are being measured, recorded and articulated when you look at Minoan archaeology holistically. We can even tell when this artefact was made just from the iconography (artwork), the age of Ares the Ram, 2000–1BCE, they mark the astronomical age they are in and do seem to acknowledge these very long periods well beyond their own lifetime.

The islands study what we would call earth science today, magnetic declination to true North (established by astronomy) is recorded in Minoan building orientation to magnetic North. There is a single land-based example of a compass dated to 1700BCE that specifically shows the off-set angle to true North (Minoans use fractions to express angles 1/total) that they could readily employ in calculations, the Ida Dactyl (mythology) - Wikipedia (fingers) according to mythology discovered the lodestone, magnetite is available from Skyros when stuck by (Zeus’) lightening becomes magnetic, a lodestone (probably the most valuable commodity in the entire world at the time). They have at least a method of establishing latitude and bearing (at sea), birds which are associated with West and East (see peak sanctuary) likely used to estimate longitude as they gaze towards their home port from a cage on a ship’s deck.

To encode the mechanism all of the celestial periods need to be known and it appears were being studied. The point is that before someone can consider building a mechanical mechanism there is a much longer and involved process to at least define the periods the mechanism uses, the Metonic cycle - Wikipedia by example is 19 years, this will not have been determining in a single person lifetime, rather is something that will have more likely taken centuries to potentially identify this pattern. Meton articulated this in 432 BC (a few centuries before the mechanism was built) but it seems to be known before this in Babylon and it is likely discovered in Minoa. Astronomy does seem to have been studied on the islands and for me is a better fit than this astronomical knowledge coming to Greece from Babylon, possible via the teaching of the Delphic Oracle with priests of the double axe.

I do think it likely that the Minoan priestess would have commissioned the palace workshops to create devices to assist them with keeping an accurate calendar, that will be more sophisticated to that evident above. They are a little obsessive with not only these natural cycles but statistics, they set quota for farms and other production units and monitor variance, everything is sealed with a mark of the producer and checksums are used to confirm the total manifest, for example. The calendar may be part of their planning tools to optimise and increase yields, one of the functions of peak sanctuaries may be to survey the land (farms) to set quota.

There are accounts of very early machines such as automaton (statues that moved all by themselves and entertained audiences, even one that could apparently walk down the street) and Talos a machine that threw rocks which sounds like a catapult, even a Palace door which opened by fire (steam) which is thought to be built by Minoan architects, but NO actual examples of these have been found, just accounts, but I think these are likely based on pulley type systems. Perhaps either a water computer (actually used by the Bank of England to model the economy) or system of pulleys may have been used to simulate these astronomical cycles once they had been established and possibly informed later designs which in the fullness of time eventually led to the much more sophisticated Antikythera mechanism, which in no way reduces its significance, it is a mechanical engineering wonder, but my own view is it is a refined device that would have taken many iterations and could be the culmination of hundreds if not millennia of study and refinement. Those that have reproductions of the mechanism itself all comment on this.

A closing thought, this is the bird-man from Gobekli Tepe dated to ca 8,500 BCE, who would become the Master of Animal (Apollo), the Sun flying across the sky giving south at midday! Consider the crosshatched background, it looks simple early art, however, it provides a count of the number of days in the YEAR! These people can’t write but they are numerate and are studying astronomy and measure the periods from key datums at a basic level (humans have done this for some time), also to solstice (sun highest or lowest in the sky) and equinox (of equal day and night); collectively giving seasons. In time later cultures and civilisation would refine these periods and would eventually become teeth on a gear wheel within the Antikythera mechanism which express the relationship with the other celestial as a gearing ratio in a mechanical computer. However, before this can be done, these relationships need to understood and in my opinion, it is the collective work of generations of astronomers working over millennia to better understand and refine these periods. Ancient accounts refer to a golden age (e.g. before copper) with one common language perhaps this is referring to an unambiguous language of numeracy and mathematics (to count in its early form) and astronomy (to assist with navigating our world), and it is with this that came timekeeping.

Every astronomer of any age from prehistory or in the future would look at the Antikythera mechanism in wonder, that’s how everything is organised, the first model and defined in a machine that can confirm the assumptions made! Humankind has a model of time and our solar system, where everything was, where it is and can be confirmed by observation, and it will be can be predicted. It is an extraordinary device.

John Wester and Jeremy Toms kindly flagged up Clickspring which is a how-to guide to reproduce the Antikythera mechanism, the video series are excellent. I draw your attention to the lunar mechanisms which has an off-centre cog and complex slot mechanism to correctly simulate elliptical lunar motion (which is non-linear), the gear chain itself is a mechanical engineering wonder. The point being that it is non-linear, the result is the interplay between two separate mechanisms. It is well worth watching the videos, it is quite an extraordinary device both mechanically and for the astronomical algorithms, it encapsulates. Chris (the producer and maker) explores all the tooling they used to make the mechanism, its fascinating. He starts off using modern equipment but as he gains insight develops hand tools to accomplish the tasks.