Tech Shout!

A team of British and Greek researchers exploring the secrets of the Antikythera Mechanism has succeeded to decode ancient Greek inscriptions unseen for over 2,000 years, members of the project say.

“Part of the text on the machine, over 1,000 characters, had already been deciphered, but we have succeeded in doubling this total,” said physician Yiannis Bitsakis, part of a multi-disciplinary team of researchers from universities in Athens, Salonika and Cardiff, the Athens National Archaeological Museum and the Hewlett-Packard company. “We have now deciphered 95 percent of the text,” he told AFP.

(In the picture above, the image on the left is the Antikythera Mechanism, a mysterious bronze device recovered from a Roman-era shipwreck located in 1990. The image on the right is Antikythera Mechanism’s x-ray, created by a British-Greek team of researchers at the Athens national Archeological Museum)

Probably operated by crank, it survives in three main pieces and some smaller fragments.

“(The device) could calculate the position of certain stars, at least the Sun and Moon, and perhaps predict astronomical phenomena,” said astrophysicist Xenophon Moussas of Athens University.

“It was probably rare, if not unique,” he added.

The rarity of the Antikythera Mechanism barred its removal from the museum, so an eight-tonne ‘body scanner’ had to be assembled on-site for the privately-funded project, which used three-dimensional tomography to expose the unseen inscriptions.

The first appraisal of the Mechanism’s purpose was put forward in the 1960s by British science historian Derek Price, but the scientists’ latest discovery raises more questions.

“It is a puzzle concerning astronomical and mathematical knowledge in antiquity,” said Moussas. “The Mechanism could actually rewrite certain chapters in this area.”

“The challenge is to place this device into a scientific context, as it comes almost out of nowhere… and flies in the face of established theory that considers the ancient Greeks were lacking in applied technical knowledge,” adds Bitsakis, also of Athens University.

The researchers are also looking at the broader remains of the Roman ship — believed to have sunk around 80 BC — for clues to the Mechanism’s origin.

One theory under scrutiny is that the device was created in an academy founded by the ancient Stoic philosopher Poseidonios on the Greek island of Rhodes.

The writings of 1st-century AD Roman orator and philosopher Cicero — himself a former student of Poseidonios — cite a device with similarities to the Mechanism.

“Like Alexandria, Rhodes was a great centre of astronomy at the time,” said Moussas. “The boat where the device was discovered could have been part of a convoy to Rome, bearing treasure looted from the island for the purpose of a triumph parade staged by Julius Caesar.”

The new findings are to be discussed at an international congress (www.antikythera-mechanism.gr) scheduled to be held in Athens in November.