Antikythera Mechanism
Tuesday, April 29th, 2014
The Antikythera Mechanism is a very interesting device that was found on sunken ship near the island of Antikythera. No one is quite sure when the Antikythera Mechanism was made, nor can they be sure who’s ship it was that sunk. The device was found in 1900 by a diver who told his captain he had found a “mound of corpses and horses”, the Antikythera Mechanism has puzzled scientists ever since. The mechanism is very similar to a mechanical clock and was made from more than thirty extremely well crafted gears.
Scientists have determined that the mechanism was built to calculate astronomical positions and that it was built around 100 BC and they have also found instructions (though incomplete) on how to use the mechanism written in Greek on the mechanism itself.
The television show Ancient Aliens has raised the possibility that the Antikythera mechanism may have been built by aliens and delivered to humans a long time ago, and claim the intricate gearing mechanisms in the device were far ahead of their time. According to Ancient Aliens the world would not see such a device again for almost 1500 years when watches and other similar devices using gears became popular and widely used.
The main problem with the device being of an alien origin is that that Antikytheria Device calculated the position of the sun, moon, and the planets using the Greek geocentric model – the Greeks believed that the Earth was at the center of the universe. I doubt that any visitors from another planet would believe that Earth is at the center of the universe, nor do I believe that an alien visitor knowing the truth would not correct us about the location of Earth and instead build us a very advanced calculator designed to let us keep believing a lie.
So who built it?
In believe that I will have to side with scientists on this one. It was most likely built about 100 BC by the Greek genius Archimedes who had built and invented many amazing things including the Archimedes Screw and was the “Da Vinci” or “Einstein” of his time and place. I believe the Romans took the device when they conquered the Greeks and killed Archimedes in the Siege of Syracuse. On the way back to Rome the ship that carried the treasures either sunk on its own, or was sunk by a ship waiting at Antikythera.
I give this a 1 on the mystery scale. Let me know what you think.
- 1 = no mystery
- 2 = possible mystery
- 3 = total mystery
Thank you for reading The Malaker Blog!
[whohit]Antikythera Mechanism[/whohit]
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