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The Greeks Had
Computers?
Arpad Lallement, Historian
Hey JCLers! I know that you( yes you) probably own some sort of device, be it a computer or tablet or phone. Most schools depend heavily on computers because that’ s how they function. Well, let me tell you about the first computer that we know of. Careful though: it’ s not HD, it’ s not digital, and it comes from ancient Greece. It’ s called the Antikythera Mechanism, an ancient hand-powered analog computer that tracked astronomical bodies and calendars. It was discovered by Greek sponge divers in 1901, when one diver was in the ocean and frantically came to the shore panicking about nude, dead bodies in the water. When the site was further investigated, they didn’ t find nude, dead bodies. They found ancient marble statues from a shipwreck. Among the ship’ s contents, a gear was noticed in the corroded bronze. This completely reformed our view of Ancient Greece, though. Here’ s why …
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The Antikythera Mechanism used a set of at least 39 gears. It was used to calculate the motions of the Sun, Moon, planets, and stars with astonishing accuracy. It predicted solar and lunar eclipses as well as calculated the dates of the Olympic Games. One research paper( https:// www. mdpi. com / 2571-9408 / 4 / 4 / 211) uses virtual reality to compare the results of the computer’ s forecasts to NASA forecasts and the results“ support the view that the Antikythera Mechanism was a scientific instrument for accurate astronomical predictions”. Some researchers also used math and their advanced knowledge of astronomy like the“ phenomenon of the precession of the equinoxes” to calculate where the Zodiac constellations should be based on how much time has passed and how much the Earth has rotated, redesigning the scales to reflect this. People call the Antikythera Mechanism“ shockingly advanced” and“ technologically sophisticated”. Something with a type of technology that wasn’ t seen again until about one thousand and five hundred years later. I mean, between aliens and time travelers, this computer sure is conspiracy fuel.