Landscapes, Circles and Antikythera: The Birth of the Mechanical Universe

Abstract

The joint Greek/UK/US Antikythera Mechanism Research Project is currently producing a definitive set of experimental optical and X-ray imaging data of the Mechanism. The interpretation will require a good knowledge of the context in which it was made. Following from the "sacred landscapes"of northern Europe it is difficult to escape the symbolism of the "circle"in prehistoric casmologies, and the pre-eminence of the circle in Greek astronomical thought is obvious. Is the "circular"ikon of the main wheel in the Antikythera Mechanism simply another gear wheel, or might ideas of cosmology have influenced its design? How important would devices like the Antikythera Mechanism have been in providing a physical model of the Universe, pushing mathematical abstraction into reality? The relevance of the Mechanism in understanding the development of ideas and philosophy, particularly determinism, is emphasised.