Ancient Computing - The Antikythera Mechanism Quiz

Answer: 1900-1901

During the month of October 1900, whilst sheltering from a storm on the island of Antikythera, a group of sponge divers discovered a wreck and retrieved a number of artefacts during a dive near Point Glyphadia. During 1902, whilst some of these artefacts were being examined, a toothed gear wheel bearing fragments of an inscription was revealed.

This major find has now become known as the Antikythera Mechanism. It is believed to be the world's oldest and possibly the first analogue computing machine, although it has also been suggested that this device was one of a line, any previous examples of which still remain undiscovered.

The wreck itself has been dated to the first half of the 1st century BCE and has produced a number of statues, some of which date back to the 4th century BCE.

Answer: Aegean Sea

This small island lies between the island of Crete and the Peloponnesus in the Aegean Sea. It has an area of approximately 21 square kilometres and is an important stop off point for migratory birds. In the past the island has provided a home, in the short term at least, for both seasonal hunters and for pirates.

Answer: Italy

Current thinking is that the ship in which the mechanism was lost was making its way to Italy after the sacking of Athens by Roman General Sulla in 86 BCE. Contemporary statements by Lucian, a Greek writer, seem to confirm the sinking of one of General Sulla's vessels at around this date. Additionally, a number of household utensils were also recovered during the original 1900 dives which are similar to other examples of confirmed age and which lend support to this theory.

Answer: Celestial navigation

Recent research has proved, almost conclusively, that the mechanism, built in around 87 BCE, was primarily designed to predict solar eclipses. Further to this, inscriptions discovered on other fragments of the device show that the mechanism was also used to fix the dates for the Olympic Games.

Answer: It cannot be determined with absolute accuracy

There is some conjecture as to who is responsible for the design and construction of the device. It has been hypothesised that it may have come from an academy on the island of Rhodes, a centre of engineering excellence at around this time which had been founded by the philosopher, Posidonius.

There are also those scholars of the opinion that, as the mechanism makes use of the theory of lunar motion by the astronomer Hipparchus that he is, indeed, the designer. A far more recent theory links its design and construction with the Greek city of Corinth and, by association with that city, the great Archimedes.

Answer: 82

Further expeditions to the site have been made in recent decades, notably by the oceanographer Jacques Cousteau, with the aim of recovering further fragments of the device. With the exception of a coin retrieved by Jacques Cousteau during the 1970s which was dated to around 70 BCE, these have all proved to be fruitless, however.

In 2012 the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution were granted permission by the Greek government to carry out further dives at the site to search the wreck's extensive debris field in the hope of finding further fragments of the mechanism.

It is believed that any further finds are highly unlikely.

Answer: False

The Antikythera Mechanism was purely mechanical. The operator turned a small handle on the outside of the casing and the sequence of gears within moved pointers to positions on dials fixed to the outside of the casing. On these dials was displayed astronomical data such as the position of the sun and moon on any given date along with phases of the moon and, in theory, the location of the then known planetary bodies.

The actual gearing itself was incredibly complex for its time, in fact so complex that this alone could form the basis of a quiz in itself and will not be gone into any further detail here.

Answer: 14th

This device was many centuries ahead of its time and instruments of similar complexity and beauty, mainly astronomical clocks, did not start to appear in northern Europe until around the 14th century. It is amazing to think that the Hellenic civilisations managed to condense such a machine into a space so small compared to the enormous astronomical clocks found in some European cathedrals.

The astronomical clock in Strasbourg Cathedral, France being a particularly large, and fine, example.

Answer: Yes

Research has revealed sections of text in Koine Greek that appear to be a form of operator's instructions. Koine, also known as the Alexandrian dialect, was the most common form of the Greek language at around the time of the mechanism's construction. Koine Greek spread throughout the known world due to the conquests by Alexander the Great and was the basis for Medieval Greek and, of course, for the Modern Greek language as it is known today.

Answer: The National Archaeological Museum of Athens

Fragments of the original are on display, with a working reproduction researched and built by the British historian Derek de Solla Price, at the National Archaeological Museum of Athens, Greece. There are a number of reproductions of the mechanism on display in other collections around the world and, of these; two are located in the United States, one in Germany and a further single example in France.