Antikythera Mechanism

The Antikythera Mechanism (TM 971447 ) is a very sophisticated bronze model of the (heliocentric) solar system, used to predict the relative positions and eclipses of the planets and moons, and even the timing of the Olympic and other Games. This inscribed orrery, as is the technical term for the device, was found in the remains of a wooden box in a shipwreck close to the Greek island Antikythera. The ship is dated to 70-60 BC, but the astronomical contraption could be up to over a century older. Some have even speculated that it was being brought from Rhodes to Rome for a triumphal parade by Caesar, but as the inscribed months seem to belong to the Epirote calendar, Epirus seems a better candidate for its provenance. The orrery is the most complex of its type in Europe until the later middle ages. It is now preserved in the National Archaeological Museum in Athens.