Lego and Ancient Technology

Antikythera Fragment

Sometimes a video catches your attention so dramatically that you feel you just have to share it.

This one is about the famous Antikythera Mechanism, which was recovered from a 1st Century BC shipwreck near the Greek island of Antikythera. The ship bearing the device probably sank in a storm en route from Rhodes to Rome and carried a number of other artifacts, such as bronze statues and ornamental vases. The mechanism was a device used to calculate eclipses by using gears; an analog computer. It functioned with as high a degree of accuracy as was permitted by astronomical theories of the day and the machinery available to the Greek technicians who created this masterpiece.

Naturally some brave souls have decided to recreate the Antikythera Mechanism using Lego in a pleasant mixture of history and educational whimsy. Their video is posted below.