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| Antikythera Mechanism; Ancient astronomical device .... | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Dec 1 2006, 06:21 AM (159 Views) | |
| Deleted User | Dec 1 2006, 06:21 AM Post #1 |
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Ancient astronomical device thrills scholars![]() LONDON, England (Reuters) -- An ancient astronomical calculator made at the end of the 2nd century BC was amazingly accurate and more complex than any instrument for the next 1,000 years, scientists said on Wednesday. The Antikythera Mechanism is the earliest known device to contain an intricate set of gear wheels. It was retrieved from a shipwreck off the Greek island of Antikythera in 1901 but until now what it was used for has been a mystery. Although the remains are fragmented in 82 brass pieces, scientists from Britain, Greece and the United States have reconstructed a model of it using high-resolution X-ray tomography. They believe their findings could force a rethink of the technological potential of the ancient Greeks. "It could be described as the first known calculator," said Professor Mike Edmunds, a professor of astrophysics at Cardiff University in Wales. "Our recent work has applied very modern techniques that we believe have now revealed what its actual functions were." The calculator could add, multiply, divide and subtract. It was also able to align the number of lunar months with years and display where the sun and the moon were in the zodiac. Edmunds and his colleagues discovered it had a dial that predicted when there was likely to be a lunar or solar eclipse. It also took into account the elliptical orbit of the moon. "The actual astronomy is perfect for the period," Edmunds told Reuters. "What is extraordinary about the thing is that they were able to make such a sophisticated technological device and to be able to put that into metal," he added. The model of the calculator shows 37 gear wheels housed in a wooden case with inscriptions on the cover that related to the planetary movements. Francois Charette, of the Ludwig-Maximilians University in Munich, Germany, said the findings, reported in the journal Nature, provide a wealth of data for future research. "Newly deciphered inscriptions that relate to the planetary movements make it plausible that the mechanism originally also had gearings to predict the motion of the planets," he said in a commentary. Edmunds described the instrument as unique, saying there is nothing like it in the history of astronomy. Similar complicated mechanisms were not seen until the appearance of medieval cathedral clocks much later. "What was not quite so apparent before was quite how beautifully designed this was," he said. "That beauty of design in this mechanical thing forces you to say 'Well gosh, if they can do that what else could they do?' |
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| Deleted User | Dec 1 2006, 03:26 PM Post #2 |
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known about it for years my dear. first came to my attention by a series called What Have the ?????? Ever Done For Us presented by a ratter batty presenter who's name has flown right out of the window. It was also came up more recently on Terry Jones series the ancients or something. |
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| Deleted User | Dec 1 2006, 03:30 PM Post #3 |
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Wait 'til John hears about this! :lol: |
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| Merry | Dec 1 2006, 03:31 PM Post #4 |
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Just fascinating! It makes me wonder if there really were ancient people who were much more advanced than we ever gave them credit for, and space travel! "Chariots Of The Gods"? http://skepdic.com/vondanik.html http://www.alienresistance.org/erichvondaniken.htm Merry
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| Deleted User | Dec 1 2006, 03:33 PM Post #5 |
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i think he already knows. |
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| Deleted User | Dec 1 2006, 07:24 PM Post #6 |
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I've known about it for years too ... the point of having posted it is that they've finally figured it out, and came out with an official release relating what they're impressed by about it (as well as having completed the "model" from the tomography effort). The ancient Greeks were really quite on the ball, and I thought the story was a cool thing to share. A while back I was doing some research into things for geography and literature purposes and came across information that pertained to the notion that many of their temples and shrines held fossilized 'giant' bones. The archaeologists that found them were searching for artifacts of "value" and therefore tended to discard these things thinking them worthless, but they scribbled notations in the margins of their field books regarding these "worthless" bones they'd have to deal with while getting to those items that they did value. Well ... according to the opinions of modern paleontologists (paleontology is a relatively new field compared to archeology) these would have been dinosaur bones. They've come to this opinion upon analyzing the margins of these archaeological field books that held the scribbled drawings (some of these images were quite detailed and in some instances the comments were too). My point in bringing this up is that many modern paleontologists feel that Greek mythology in some respects is a forerunner to their own field of study, I also think this is quite interesting. I even brought it up to defend the cultures around the Mediterranean that seemed to be getting flack in the Old Testament for their "worship of false gods" when I was doing papers for a 'Literature of the Bible' course. Many of their temples were destroyed during the time of the Apostle Paul because he too felt that these folks were involved in some rather "bad habits" ... too bad really. The ancient Greeks probably had a better grip on the region and in describing the artifacts of the region through their mythology than any other peoples in that area of the world. |
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| theonlyfab4fan | Dec 1 2006, 08:00 PM Post #7 |
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I AM THE BIGGEST JOHN FAN!
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It is a fascinating device and the History Channel did an entire series about it and other ancient wonders several years ago. One theory put forth was that it was highly likely that Archimedes was the inventor of the Antykythera Mechanism. There is a popular theory concerning the reason that Dinosaur bones have been found buried in so many ancient temples and shrines of Greece. The theory suggests that when Greeks stumbled upon dinosaur bones (which are plentiful in that country) that they assumed them to be the bones of the Titans. The Titans were the legendary giant race of Gods that preceeded the Olympians. Believing these massive bones to be the bones of the Gods there were considered sacred relics and reburied in the temple complexes. |
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You say you want to save humanity but it`s people that you just can`t stand John came to me in a dream and this is what he said. "I had a vision of a man on a flaming pie, and he told me that Betsy with a B not Lisa with a L is the biggest fan of mine". John trumps 'the boss' ! I WAS ROBBED BY THAT DEVIL WOMAN | |
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Merry

6:55 PM Jul 11