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ATHENS - An astronomical instrument built by the ancient Greeks in the second century BC has turned out to be a complex computer for calculating the relative position of the sun, the moon and the planets.
Scientists studying the internal workings of the machine using a sophisticated medical scanner have concluded that it was at least a thousand years ahead of its time.
The Antikythera Mechanism was recovered from a Roman shipwreck at the turn of the last century but its precise function was little understood because it was broken into 82 incomplete fragments.
Made of bronze and wood, the device was evidently an instrument of some sort because it used a complicated set of gears to move a series of concentric wheels and pointers which appeared to predict the movements of astronomical objects.
However, the scientists were surprised to find that the machine was in fact a sophisticated analogue computer that acted as a long-term calendar for predicting lunar and solar eclipses as well as the movements of the planets.
A large international team of scientists drawn from many different disciplines took part in the study. Their picture of how the device worked and what it was intended to do has astonished classical scholars.
"This device is just extraordinary, the only thing of its kind. The design is beautiful, the astronomy is exactly right. The way the mechanics are designed just makes your jaw drop. Whoever has done this had done it extremely well," said Professor Mike Edmunds of Cardiff University, a leading member of the research team.
"It does raise the question of what else were they making at the time. In terms of historic and scarcity value, I have to regard this mechanism as being more valuable than the Mona Lisa," Professor Edmunds said.
The scientists, who included researchers from the National Archaeological Museum of Athens, found that the complex gearing mechanism of the device acted as a long-term calendar, enabling its operators to track the Moon and the Sun through the Zodiac, predict eclipses and even calculate the irregular orbit of the Moon.
Greek sponge-divers discovered the Roman shipwreck off the island of Antikythera in 1900. A year later, archaeologists recovered the device which had been submerged 42m under water for about 2000 years.
The shipwreck was dated to about 65BC but the instrument is thought to have been made between 100BC and 150BC, possibly by the Greek astronomer Hipparchos, who lived on the nearby island of Rhodes.
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