Discovery[edit]

The Antikythera mechanism was discovered in 45 metres (148 ft) of water in the Antikythera shipwreck off
Point Glyphadia on the Greek island of Antikythera. The wreck was found in April 1900 by a group of
Greek sponge divers who retrieved numerous large artefacts, including bronze and marble statues, pottery,
unique glassware, jewellery, coins, and the mechanism. All were transferred to the National Museum of
Archaeology in Athens for storage and analysis. The mechanism was merely a lump of corroded bronze and
wood at the time and went unnoticed for two years, while museum staff worked on piecing together more
obvious statues.[23]

On 17 May 1902, archaeologist Valerios Stais found that one of the pieces of rock had a gear wheel
embedded in it. He initially believed that it was an astronomical clock, but most scholars considered the
device to be prochronistic, too complex to have been constructed during the same period as the other pieces
that had been discovered. Investigations into the object were dropped until British science historian and
Yale University professor Derek J. de Solla Price became interested in it in 1951.[25] In 1971, Price and
Greek nuclear physicist Charalampos Karakalos made X-ray and gamma-ray images of the 82 fragments.
Price published an extensive 70-page paper on their findings in 1974.[23]

It is not known how the mechanism came to be on the cargo ship, but it has been suggested that it was
being taken from Rhodes to Rome, together with other looted treasure, to support a triumphal parade being
staged by Julius Caesar.[26]