More than a hundred years ago an extraordinary mechanism was found by sponge divers at the bottom of the sea near the island of Antikythera. It astonished the whole international community of experts on the ancient world. Was it an astrolabe? Was it an orrery or an astronomical clock? Or something else?
Research over the last half century has begun to reveal its secrets. The machine dates from around the end of the 2nd century B.C. and is the most sophisticated mechanism known from the ancient world. Nothing as complex is known for the next thousand years. The Antikythera Mechanism is now understood to be dedicated to astronomical phenomena and operates as a complex mechanical computer which tracks the cycles of the Solar System.
Renewed interest in the ‘Antikythera Mechanism’ aka the worlds ‘first computer’ has been abound in the world’s media due to the recent return of archaeologists to the Antikythera dive site where it was originally found.
We are very lucky here at Goldsmiths to have Prof Xenophon Moussas from the University of Athens give a talk and demonstration about the workings of the ‘Mechanism’ right here at Goldsmiths on Tuesday.
EVENT INFO:
‘The Secrets of the Antikythera Mechanism’, Prof Xenophon Moussas, University of Athens
Tuesday, October 21st 2014
Ben Pimlott Lecture Theatre Goldsmiths, University of London
Talk: 5:30 – 6:30pm
Exhibition open: 5:00 – 7:00pm
Drinks and exhibition viewing: 6:00 – 7:00pm