#ANTIKYTHERA MECHANISM #ANTIKYTHERA ISLAND #ANCIENT GREEK COMPUTER #ZODIZC #ANCIENT CALENDAR #CHRISTIAN #CREATION SCIENCE #HOMESCHOOL #ONE MILLION MOMS #BILLY GRAMHAM #CATHLOC SCIENCE #ANSWERS IN GENESIS #INSTITUTE OF CREATION SCIENCE #CREATION RESEARCH SOCIETY

THE ANTIKYTHERA MECHANISM

Greetings all my fine friends out there! How are you all this week? I am well if you don’t include all the allergies the this old body is struggling with, lol! I am busy doing some re-writes on my novel then back to the editor. Things are moving along but always slower than I like. 

Speaking of moving along, have you ever heard of the Antikythera mechanism? It is a fascinating piece of ancient technology that defies traditional beliefs about early man’s intelligence. “The Antikythera mechanism was discovered in 1900 during the recovery of a shipwreck off of the Greek Island, Antikythera, in waters 60 meters deep.”¹ “From a distance, they look like rocks with patches of mold. Get closer, though, and the sight is stunning. Crammed inside, obscured by corrosion, are traces of technology that appear utterly modern: gears with neat triangular teeth (just like the inside of a clock) and a ring divided into degrees (like the protractor you used in school). Nothing else like this has ever been discovered from antiquity. Nothing as sophisticated, or

even close, appears again for more than a thousand years…X-ray imaging in the 1970s and 1990s revealed that the device must have replicated the motions of the heavens. Holding it in your hands, you could track the paths of the Sun, Moon and planets with impressive accuracy. One investigator dubbed it ‘an ancient Greek computer.’ …The Antikythera mechanism was similar in size to a mantel clock, and bits of wood found on the fragments suggest it was housed in a wooden case. Like a clock, the case would’ve had a large

circular face with rotating hands. There was a knob or handle on the side, for winding the mechanism forward or backward. And as the knob turned, trains of interlocking gearwheels drove at least seven hands at various speeds. Instead of hours and minutes, the hands displayed celestial time: one hand for the Sun, one for the Moon and one for each of the five planets visible to the naked eye—Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. A rotating black and silver ball showed the phase of the Moon. Inscriptions explained which stars rose and set on any

Reconstruction of the upper back dial displays a
four year period and has five concentric inscribed rings.
The lower back dial gives the cycle of a single synodic month,

particular date. There were also two dial systems on the back of the case, each with a pin that followed its own spiral groove, like the needle on a record player. One of these dials was a calendar. The other showed the timing of lunar and solar eclipses.”²

 

“X-rays have shown that

there are at least 30 different types of gears used in the device, and on the mechanism’s door plates are about 2,000 letters that are considered to be something like a usage manual.”³

Reconstruction of the front dial - showing the annual
progress of the sun and moon through the zodiac

“Though the pointers on the front face didn’t survive, Alexander Jones, a historian at the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World in New York, says an inscription reveals that they carried colored balls: fiery red for Mars, gold for the Sun.”⁴ It is believed the mechanism is of Greek origin from around 200 BC, however, “The tradition of making such mechanisms could be much older. Cicero wrote of a bronze device made by Archimedes in the third century B.C. And James Evans, a historian of astronomy at the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Washington, thinks that the eclipse cycle represented is Babylonian in origin and begins in 205 B.C. Maybe it was Hipparchus, an astronomer in Rhodes around that time, who worked out the math behind the device. He is known for having blended the arithmetic-based predictions of Babylonians with geometric theories favored by the Greeks.”⁵

Also, “There are references of such mechanisms in the works of ancient writers. In his writing, Cicero mentions an

instrument which reproduces the motions of the sun and the five planets. The device, he claimed, was built by Archimedes.”⁶

It is my belief that such technology had occurred much, much earlier in history—even back to before the tower of Babel when the one language was split into many. Such devices would have been few and far between, perhaps only one to each kingdom. Invaders over the centuries would have destroyed most, melting down the metal to make weapons. Only this one (to date that has been discovered), nestled in the belly of the Mediterranean Sea, survived man’s destruction. 

Until next time, take care and God bless,

Willow Dressel

PS: I have included in my next book, The Golden Strand of Shinar, a mechanism like this. I love to weave creation science into my novels constructing an entertaining way to read about history.

References: 

^1,3,4,6http://www.ancient-origins.net/ancient-technology/antikythera-mechanism-0079

^2,3,5http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/decoding-antikythera-mechanism-first-computer-

180953979/#h7JsW3IGQzzcyDrh.99

https://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/ciencia/esp_ciencia_antikythera02.htm