How did a 'Antikythera Machine' work?

It was an intricate astronomical computing device used in Greece around 76 BC and consisted of a collection of gears. It was recovered from a Roman merchant vessel that sank in 80 BC off the coast of southern Greece near the island of Antikythera. This ship was loaded with treasure and was salvaged in 1901.

Archeologists then went back to this ship in the 1950's to do a more careful job of searching for artifacts, and it was at that time that a wooden box containing gears was uncovered (see above photo). A scholar offered the theory that it was a calculation device for predicting the motion of the sun and moon based. It was soon involved in a controversy because many archeologists were not willing to believe that the Greeks at that time were capable of inventing such a complicated instrument during a time when Greece was in decline.

For more details, have a look at the very interesting website by Dr. Robert Rice at the University of Pennsylvania. This article, "The Antikythera Machine: Recovery and Significance" was published in the 1993 proceedings of the U.S. Naval History Symposium.

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