It implies that Greek technology was centuries ahead of where we think it was. You don't build a computer like this by accident; you need generations of prototypes.
I used NotebookLM to cross-reference the astronomical calculations it performs vs. the known tools of 100 B.C. The math fits, but the manufacturing is an anomaly.
by Ok_Strawberry_790
12 Comments
We don’t. The Antikythera Mechanism is generally not considered a “one-off” in terms of its technological concept, but rather a “one-off” in terms of its survival.
The whole point of “traditional” history is to NOT draw attention to these things, and anything beyond saying it’s a one off, would necessarily invite too many questions. We also fairly have no other evidence
It’s not known to history as a one-off, Cicero for example references two other orreries from around the same period as Antikythera.
Where specifically are you seeing them accepting that?
There are period accounts referencing similar devices.
> I had often heard this celestial globe or sphere mentioned on account of the great fame of Archimedes…There is another, more elegant in form, and more generally known, moulded by the same Archimedes, and deposited by the same Marcellus, in the Temple of Virtue at Rome….the figure of the sphere, which displayed the motions of the Sun and Moon, and the five planets, or wandering stars, could not be represented by the primitive solid globe. And that in this, the invention of Archimedes was admirable, because he had calculated how a single revolution should maintain unequal and diversified progressions in dissimilar motions. When Gallus moved this globe it showed the relationship of the Moon with the Sun, and there were exactly the same number of turns on the bronze device as the number of days in the real globe of the sky.
> Suppose a traveller to carry into Scythia or Britain the orrery recently constructed by our friend Posidonius, which at each revolution reproduces the same motions of the sun, the moon and the five planets^1
The Wikipedia page has a whole section on “Similar devices in ancient literature” that states
> The level of refinement of the mechanism indicates that the device was not unique, and possibly required expertise built over several generations^2
That doesn’t give me the impression that people are arguing the Antikythera mechanism is unique.
The YouTube channel Clickspring is working on a replica built using period methods.
> https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZioPDnFPNsHnyxfygxA0to4RXv4_jDU2
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1. From Cicero in *De re publica* and *De Natura Deorum*.
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antikythera_mechanism#Similar_devices_in_ancient_literature
I have never heard of it described as a one off.
What makes it unique is it survived at all. But there are plenty of stories of all kinds of mechanism from the time including automatic doors. the big difference between now and then is industrialisation and a consumer market.
Back then they were doing things like making tech to bring in money to their temples. It wasn’t a business supplying a product, it was someone with knowledge and experience making a specific device for a specific reason. You probably couldn’t go to a shop and buy a Antikythera Mechanism, you had to have one commissioned. It was even the same with books, you couldn’t go into a shop and buy a book. You had to know someone with the book and then pay someone else to make a copy of it for you.
People really do just make things up in their heads don’t they? What serious academic with a profession in Ancient Greece has ever actually said that artifact was a “one-off?”
Whenever you hear something described as “one-off” or “unique”, or even “out of place”, it’s either historians/archaeologists referring to the fact that this object happened to survive against all odds, *or* ancient aliens types that use these words to suggest something to you that is not real.
To stay with Antikythera, the mechanism has been the subject of a constant flow of academic works since its discovery 100 years ago, there have been exhibitions about it, and there have been multiple, academic and amateur, projects analyzing and rebuilding it.
The reason these artefacts seem to be “suppressed” is that alternative media talks about them *constantly* with a framing of mystery and uniqueness, while scholars are happy it exists, have been satisfied that someone reconstructed its inner workings and most likely purpose, and have moved on. They have entire mountains of ancient remains to dig through – 99% mundane, but interesting trash, and if they find another unique artefact, it’s a bonus.
So they chose to make this over centuries of prototypes with an extensive industrial base, then just abandoned it because they didn’t think to sell it to Romans or any other people en mass? Sure.
The existence of this was a mindfuck for me, dissolving my ‘understanding’ of the past as reported to me during my lifetime. So Cool
Have you joined the crowded ranks of people making historical videos making provocative claims about things that aren’t actually true? If so, that’s unfortunate.
In truth, human civilization has collapsed a few times and thrown us into Dark Ages afterwards. We don’t give the ancients the credit they deserve. The very likely had precise manufacturing capabilities and extensive knowledge, but as we’ve seen (at least across North America) when those facilities aren’t maintained, they fall into ruin and the remains often illegally salvaged.