Calendars with Olympiad display and eclipse prediction on the Antikythera Mechanism

Tony Freeth (), Alexander Jones, John M. Steele and Yanis Bitsakis
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Tony Freeth: Antikythera Mechanism Research Project, 3 Tyrwhitt Crescent, Roath Park, Cardiff CF23 5QP, UK
Alexander Jones: Institute for the Study of the Ancient World, 15 East 84th Street, New York, New York 10028, USA
John M. Steele: University of Durham, Rochester Building, South Road, Durham DH1 3LE, UK
Yanis Bitsakis: Antikythera Mechanism Research Project, 3 Tyrwhitt Crescent, Roath Park, Cardiff CF23 5QP, UK

Nature, 2008, vol. 454, issue 7204, 614-617

Abstract: Antikythera mechanism: 'oldest computer' an Olympic calendar The Antikythera Mechanism, a 2,000-year-old jumble of bronze gears and sea accretions, was recovered from a shipwreck discovered off the coast of the Greek island, Antikythera in 1900. Sometimes dubbed the world's oldest 'computer', it provides a glimpse of the engineering prowess of the Hellenic world. New interpretations of the mechanism reveal how it could predict eclipses, that it was probably made in a colony of Corinth, possibly even Syracuse — home of Archimedes — and that it had a dial recording the times of the ancient Olympiads.

Date: 2008
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DOI: 10.1038/nature07130

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