Product Description
A hand-crafted representation of the world’s first analog computer, found accidentally in 1900, by a group of Greek sponge divers from the island of Symi. This is a scale adaptation of the largest piece of the Mechanism, recovered from a roman-era shipwreck, discovered 40-60 meters deep, near the Greek island Antikythera, located in the Aegean Sea. The ship carried a huge number of artifacts dating back to as early as the 4th century BC.
The 2000-year-old sophisticated, geared box was a scientific as well as technological breakthrough, invented to predict astronomical positions, eclipses, planetary orbits and perform calendrical calculations. The stunning multi-function device, dating back to as early as 87 BC, is the tangible evidence of the extraordinary mathematical and engineering capabilities of the ancient Greeks. It was designed to function as a portable tablet containing the mechanical movement - a range of interlocking gears made of bronze and a hand crank to give a turning movement to the geared mechanism, plus a display that showed astronomical information.
The discovery of the Mechanism is profoundly important because it provides us the collected astronomical knowledge of the ancient Greeks at the time. Today, is regarded as the first known computer, preceding any other known clockwork mechanisms of similar complexity by more than a millennium. Hand made.