Page 18 - BBC History The Story of Science & Technology - 2017 UK

Ideas & Inventions / Greece

A modern recreation of the 2,100-year-old Antikythera mechanism, the clockwork
‘computer’ recovered from the Mediterranean as a single encrusted piece (right) in
1901. Featuring around 35 gear wheels, it is thought to have been a highly sophisti-
cated device to predict celestial movements, such as solar and lunar eclipses the goddess Nysa that could rise and sit

It was the
I an instrument of automatically, as well as pour libations of
n 1901, a large lump of corroded
bronze was recovered from a
ultimate gadget:
milk. When studying ancient technology, it is
shipwreck off the coast of the Greek
important to consider these gadgets, as they
island of Antikythera. The ship had
show the crucial role wealthy patrons played
sunk in the first century BC and had
been carrying a varied cargo which
included precious jewellery, glassware
enjoyed showing off to their guests with their
and statues. The metal lump, perhaps extreme precision in technological innovation. These patrons
entertaining devices, but showed relatively
but of limited
unsurprisingly, did not spark interest at first. little interest in developing what we would
However, it came to light that it contained practical utility consider to be more useful machines.
gear wheels and deserved further research.
Over a century after its discovery, what is Technology for the many
now known as the Antikythera mechanism Mediterranean had the skill and knowledge Of course, many important technologies were
is considered the finest example of ancient to devise such a wonderful machine. developed in the ancient Graeco-Roman
Greek technology. This proto-computer The Antikythera mechanism could be world. Kings, tyrants and emperors invested
contains over 35 gear wheels; it predicted compared to a very expensive modern clock into warfare technologies, leading to the
eclipses, tracked various ancient calendars, or watch, with its numerous dials that the development of powerful and precise catapults,
traced the positions of celestial bodies on the owner may rarely use. It was the ultimate such as the carroballistas depicted on Trajan’s
ecliptic, and much more beside. gadget: an instrument of extreme precision Column in Rome. Archimedes is credited
Who could have created such a device? but of limited practical utility. Ancient Greek with the invention of the eponymous screw, a
Recently, scholars have suggested that texts describe several such gadgets. The device that carries a substance from a lower to
Archimedes, one of the most famous mathematician and engineer Hero of higher point. The Romans are renowned for
scientists of antiquity, might have been Alexandria (first century AD) describes a their extensive water transporting systems,
responsible. Indeed, the mathematician had miniature temple with automated doors, with their majestic aqueducts. These systems,
created celestial globes, one of which had been activated by steam, as well as a self-trimming described in detail by the author Frontinus
deposited by the Roman general Marcellus at oil lamp. On a grander scale, automated (first century AD), alimented fountains and
the Temple of Virtue. While it is tempting to statues were created in the Hellenistic period baths, the latter also benefitting from
associate the Antikythera mechanism with a (323 BC–31 BC). An account of the Ptolemaia, underfloor heating systems (hypocausts). The
prominent scientist, it is probably wisest to a lavish festival in honour of King Ptolemy II Romans also harnessed the power of water in GETTY
suggest that several people in the ancient and his wife Arsinoe II, mentions a statue of mining. At Dolaucothi gold mines in west

18 The Story of Science & Technology