Editing Antikythera mechanism (section)

==History==
{{see also|Antikythera wreck}}

===Discovery===
[[File:DerekdeSollaPrice.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|[[Derek J. de Solla Price]] (1922–1983) with a model of the Antikythera mechanism]]
Captain Dimitrios Kontos ({{lang|el|Δημήτριος Κοντός}}) and a crew of [[Sponge diving|sponge divers]] from [[Symi]] island discovered the Antikythera wreck in early 1900, and recovered arte<!-- 'e' - this article uses British spelling -->facts during the first expedition with the [[Hellenic Navy|Hellenic Royal Navy]], in 1900–01.<ref name="Auto82-15"/> This wreck of a Roman cargo ship was found at a depth of {{convert|45|m}} off Point Glyphadia on the Greek island of [[Antikythera]]. The team retrieved numerous large objects, including bronze and marble statues, pottery, unique glassware, jewellery, coins, and the mechanism. The mechanism was retrieved from the wreckage in 1901, probably July.<ref name="Auto82-16"/> It is unknown how the mechanism came to be on the cargo ship.

All of the items retrieved from the wreckage were transferred to the [[National Archaeological Museum, Athens|National Museum of Archaeology]] in [[Athens]] for storage and analysis. The mechanism appeared to be a lump of corroded bronze and wood. The bronze had turned into [[atacamite]] which cracked and shrank when it was brought up from the shipwreck, changing the dimensions of the pieces.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Alex Wilkins |title=Ancient computer's gears may not have been able to turn |journal=New Scientist |date=Apr 17, 2025 |url=https://www.newscientist.com/article/2476675-ancient-computers-gears-may-not-have-been-able-to-turn/}}</ref> It went unnoticed for two years, while museum staff worked on piecing together more obvious treasures, such as the statues.<ref name=marchant-06/> Upon removal from seawater, the mechanism was not treated, resulting in deformational changes.<ref name="Auto82-17"/>

On 17 May 1902, [[archaeology|archaeologist]] Valerios Stais found one of the pieces of rock had a gear wheel embedded in it. He initially believed that it was an astronomical clock, but most scholars considered the device to be [[Anachronism#Prochronism|prochronistic]], too complex to have been constructed during the same period as the other pieces that had been discovered.

The German philologist [[Albert Rehm]] became interested in the device and was the first to propose that it was an astronomical calculator.<ref name="Auto82-18"/><ref name="TFreeth2013"/>

Investigations into the object lapsed until British science historian and Yale University professor [[Derek J. de Solla Price]] became interested in 1951.<ref name=haughton2006/><ref name="Auto82-19"/> In 1971, Price and Greek nuclear physicist Charalampos Karakalos made X-ray and [[Gamma camera|gamma-ray images]] of the 82 fragments. Price published a paper on their findings in 1974.<ref name="price-74" />

Two other searches for items at the Antikythera wreck site in 2012 and 2015 yielded art objects and a second ship which may, or may not, be connected with the treasure ship on which the mechanism was found.<ref name="Auto82-20"/> Also found was a bronze disc, embellished with the image of a bull. The disc has four "ears" which have holes in them, and it was thought it may have been part of the Antikythera mechanism, as a "[[gear|cog wheel]]". There appears to be little evidence that it was part of the mechanism; it is more likely the disc was a bronze decoration on a piece of furniture.<ref name="Auto82-21"/>

===Origin===
The Antikythera mechanism is generally referred to as the first known analogue computer.<ref name=angelakis2006/> The quality and complexity of the mechanism's manufacture suggests it must have had undiscovered predecessors during the [[Hellenistic period]].<ref name=allen-07/> Its construction relied on theories of astronomy and mathematics developed by Greek astronomers during the second century BC, and it is estimated to have been built in the late second century BC<ref name=freeth-06/> or the early first century BC.<ref name="Auto82-22"/><ref name="freeth-12" />

In 2008, research by the ''Antikythera Mechanism Research Project''<ref name="isaw/antikythera">{{cite web |title=The Antikythera Mechanism |url=https://isaw.nyu.edu/research/antikythera-mechanism |website=Institute for the Study of the Ancient World |publisher=[[New York University]] |access-date=16 May 2025 |language=en |date=25 February 2011}}</ref><ref name="a-m.gr">{{cite web |title=Antikythera Mechanism Research Project |url=http://www.antikythera-mechanism.gr/ |website=www.antikythera-mechanism.gr}}</ref> suggested the concept for the mechanism may have originated in the colonies of [[Ancient Corinth|Corinth]], since they identified the calendar on the [[Metonic cycle|Metonic]] Spiral as coming from Corinth, or one of its colonies in northwest Greece or Sicily.<ref name="freeth-08" /> [[Syracuse, Sicily|Syracuse]] was a colony of Corinth and the home of [[Archimedes]], and the Antikythera Mechanism Research Project argued in 2008 that it might imply a connection with the school of Archimedes.<ref name=freeth-08/> It was demonstrated in 2017 that the calendar on the Metonic Spiral is of the Corinthian type, but cannot be that of Syracuse.<ref name="Auto82-23"/> Another theory suggests that coins found by [[Jacques Cousteau]] at the wreck site in the 1970s date to the time of the device's construction, and posits that its origin may have been from the ancient Greek city of [[Pergamon]],<ref name="Freeth_SA" /> home of the [[Library of Pergamum]]. With its many scrolls of art and science, it was second in importance only to the [[Library of Alexandria]] during the Hellenistic period.<ref name="Auto82-24"/>

The ship carrying the device contained vases in the [[Rhodes|Rhodian]] style, leading to a hypothesis that it was constructed at an academy founded by [[Stoicism|Stoic]] philosopher [[Posidonius]] on that Greek island.<ref name="Auto82-25"/> Rhodes was a busy trading port and centre of astronomy and mechanical engineering, home to astronomer Hipparchus, who was active from about 140–120 BC. The mechanism uses Hipparchus' theory for the motion of the Moon, which suggests he may have designed or at least worked on it.<ref name=marchant-06/> It has been argued the astronomical events on the [[Parapegma]] of the mechanism work best for latitudes in the range of 33.3–37.0 degrees north;<ref name="Auto82-26"/> the island of Rhodes is located between the latitudes of 35.85 and 36.50 degrees north.

In 2014, a study argued for a new dating of approximately 200 BC, based on identifying the start-up date on the [[Saros (astronomy)|Saros]] Dial, as the astronomical lunar month that began shortly after the new moon of 28 April 205 BC.<ref name="Carman Evans" /><ref name="NYT-20141124-JM"/> According to this theory the Babylonian arithmetic style of prediction fits much better with the device's predictive models than the traditional Greek trigonometric style.<ref name="Carman Evans" /> A study by Iversen in 2017 reasons that the prototype for the device was from Rhodes, but that this particular model was modified for a client from Epirus in northwestern Greece; Iversen argues it was probably constructed no earlier than a generation before the shipwreck, a date supported by Jones in 2017.<ref name="Auto82-27"/>

Further dives were undertaken in 2014 and 2015, in the hope of discovering more of the mechanism.<ref name=NYT-20141124-JM /> A five-year programme of investigations began in 2014 and ended in October 2019, with a new five-year session starting in May 2020.<ref name="Auto82-28"/><ref name="Auto82-29"/>

In 2022, researchers proposed the mechanism's initial calibration date, not construction date, could have been 23 December 178 BC. Other experts propose 204 BC as a more likely calibration date.<ref name="AT-20220412"/><ref name="ARX-20220328"/> Machines with similar complexity did not appear again until the fourteenth century, with early examples being [[astronomical clock]]s of [[Richard of Wallingford]] and [[Giovanni Dondi dell'Orologio|Giovanni de' Dondi]].<ref name=marchant-06 />