The Computer in the Aegean

The Antikythera Mechanism is ingenious, intricate and highly sophisticated. But what is it?

Mechanism of Antikythera. National Archaeological Museum of Athens. Wiki Commons/Zde.
Mechanism of Antikythera, Fragment C. National Archaeological Museum of Athens. Wiki Commons/Zde.

In April 1900 a startled telegraph operator based in Athens decoded a signal reporting the discovery of a vast treasure trove beneath the Aegean Sea. Government authorities dismissed the message as a drunken hoax – but they were wrong. Some sponge divers stranded by a storm had unexpectedly swum into a wrecked ship packed with valuable relics from the distant past.

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