Do you know what is the Antikythera mechanism? and why google doodle is celebrating 115th Anniversary of the Antikythera Mechanism‘s Discovery , what is the special about Antikythera mechanism , here you will find all the information about it.
The wreck is dated aproximately in 60-50 BC, though its cargo from the 4th to the 1st century BC. The study of the cargo will deal with the circulation and trade in the East Mediterranean from the point of view of the aesthetic taste of the rising Roman elite in the end of the Hellenistic Era and the Rome’s democratic period.
Τhe recovery of the Mechanism among the other objects from the cargo of the ship that sank off Antikythera makes this shipwreck unique and of major importance.
The Antikythera Mechanism is the earliest preserved portable astronomical calculator. It displayed the positions of the Sun, the Moon and most probably the five planets known in antiquity, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. It was used to predict solar and lunar eclipses, it kept an accurate calendar of many years, and displayed the date of Pan-Hellenic games that took place at Nemea, at Isthmia, at Delphi, at Dodona and at Olympia.
It contained at least 30 gearwheels as well as dials, scales, axles and pointers. The greek, astronomical inscriptions on the surface of the Mechanism refer to astronomical and calendar calculations, while the inscriptions on its metal protective plates contain instructions for its use. The Mechanism was protected by a wooden case, which had a bronze plaque on the front and the back side.