1 00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:01,920 Speaker 1: This Day in History Class is a production of I 2 00:00:02,040 --> 00:00:08,960 Speaker 1: Heart Radio. Greetings everyone, Welcome to This Day in History Class, 3 00:00:09,240 --> 00:00:13,240 Speaker 1: where we bring you a new tidbit from history every day. 4 00:00:14,480 --> 00:00:26,160 Speaker 1: Today's May eighteen nineteen. The day was May nineteen o two. 5 00:00:27,880 --> 00:00:32,479 Speaker 1: Minister of Education Spitty Dawn Skies was looking through artifacts 6 00:00:32,520 --> 00:00:35,440 Speaker 1: salvage from a shipwreck off the coast of the Greek 7 00:00:35,479 --> 00:00:40,880 Speaker 1: island Andy Kuithera when he found the Oni Kithra mechanism. 8 00:00:40,920 --> 00:00:44,360 Speaker 1: The mechanism, which is a two thousand year old calculating machine, 9 00:00:44,760 --> 00:00:49,680 Speaker 1: has been considered the world's oldest known analog computer. The 10 00:00:49,760 --> 00:00:52,479 Speaker 1: island of andy Kithera is located in a g n 11 00:00:52,560 --> 00:00:56,680 Speaker 1: C near the island of Crete. In nineteen hundred, sponge 12 00:00:56,720 --> 00:00:59,480 Speaker 1: divers in the area found the wreck of an ancient 13 00:00:59,520 --> 00:01:04,440 Speaker 1: cargo ushold that sank around the first century BC. Over 14 00:01:04,440 --> 00:01:07,960 Speaker 1: the next year, the divers dug up statues, coins, jewelry, 15 00:01:08,040 --> 00:01:11,480 Speaker 1: and other sunken treasures. They sent the artifacts to the 16 00:01:11,600 --> 00:01:15,320 Speaker 1: National Museum of Archaeology and Athens for cataloging and restoration, 17 00:01:15,720 --> 00:01:19,399 Speaker 1: but some of the items were largely ignored. The divers 18 00:01:19,440 --> 00:01:22,880 Speaker 1: had found a bunch of decayed bronze shards which did 19 00:01:22,880 --> 00:01:27,280 Speaker 1: not immediately capture the attention of archaeologists, but on May eighteenth, 20 00:01:27,520 --> 00:01:30,920 Speaker 1: nineteen o two, Stides realized that many of the bronze 21 00:01:30,920 --> 00:01:34,280 Speaker 1: pieces had interlocking gears that had not been observed in 22 00:01:34,400 --> 00:01:39,280 Speaker 1: artifacts from this era before. Those gears and dials made 23 00:01:39,280 --> 00:01:41,920 Speaker 1: it seem like the fragments had to have come from 24 00:01:41,959 --> 00:01:46,440 Speaker 1: a device for navigation or a clock. Archaeologists thought it 25 00:01:46,520 --> 00:01:49,560 Speaker 1: might have been a kind of astralaide. Others thought it 26 00:01:49,640 --> 00:01:53,000 Speaker 1: might have been the sphere of Archimedes. Some of the 27 00:01:53,080 --> 00:01:56,040 Speaker 1: archaeologists even thought the mechanism could not have been from 28 00:01:56,040 --> 00:02:00,960 Speaker 1: the first century BC because it appeared so advanced. The 29 00:02:01,000 --> 00:02:05,000 Speaker 1: mechanism is made of more than thirty bronze gear, wheels, dials, 30 00:02:05,000 --> 00:02:09,320 Speaker 1: and pointers, and it has inscriptions on it. After the 31 00:02:09,320 --> 00:02:12,760 Speaker 1: mechanism was discovered, research into its origins and purpose was 32 00:02:12,840 --> 00:02:16,360 Speaker 1: basically sidelined, but it was later found that the device 33 00:02:16,520 --> 00:02:19,919 Speaker 1: was really old, dated to somewhere around eight b c 34 00:02:20,080 --> 00:02:23,800 Speaker 1: E initially and later positive that it could be decades older. 35 00:02:25,040 --> 00:02:28,880 Speaker 1: In the nineteen fifties, science historian Derek J. Dessola Price 36 00:02:29,120 --> 00:02:31,960 Speaker 1: suggested that the mechanism was used to predict the position 37 00:02:32,000 --> 00:02:35,280 Speaker 1: of the planets and stars based on the month. He 38 00:02:35,360 --> 00:02:37,520 Speaker 1: said it was like a modern and a lot computer. 39 00:02:39,080 --> 00:02:42,840 Speaker 1: In nineteen seventy one, Price and a Greek radiographer took 40 00:02:42,880 --> 00:02:46,040 Speaker 1: the first X rays of the mechanism, and three years 41 00:02:46,120 --> 00:02:49,560 Speaker 1: later Price published a monograph based on his research titled 42 00:02:49,680 --> 00:02:53,600 Speaker 1: Gears from the Greeks. Studies have also said the mechanism 43 00:02:53,680 --> 00:02:57,079 Speaker 1: could determine the phases of the moon, adjust the calendar, 44 00:02:57,560 --> 00:03:00,960 Speaker 1: predicts solar and lunar eclipses, and determine the dates of 45 00:03:00,960 --> 00:03:05,640 Speaker 1: the ancient Olympic Games. Some researchers say that the mechanism 46 00:03:05,720 --> 00:03:08,080 Speaker 1: was used to teach astronomy to people who did not 47 00:03:08,200 --> 00:03:11,120 Speaker 1: know much about it, but research into what the Andi 48 00:03:11,200 --> 00:03:15,680 Speaker 1: Kitha mechanism did and how it operated is ongoing. Questions 49 00:03:15,720 --> 00:03:19,200 Speaker 1: that remain are who used it, how exactly it was used, 50 00:03:19,400 --> 00:03:22,359 Speaker 1: who built it, and whether there are other mechanisms out 51 00:03:22,360 --> 00:03:26,680 Speaker 1: there like it today. The Andi Kitha Mechanism is housed 52 00:03:26,720 --> 00:03:31,360 Speaker 1: at the National Archaeological Museum and Athens, where displays detail 53 00:03:31,440 --> 00:03:35,920 Speaker 1: the mechanisms proposed appearance and function. I'm Eve Jeff Coot, 54 00:03:36,040 --> 00:03:38,480 Speaker 1: and hopefully you know a little more about history today 55 00:03:38,760 --> 00:03:42,120 Speaker 1: than you did yesterday. If you'd like to learn more 56 00:03:42,160 --> 00:03:44,800 Speaker 1: about the Andi Kitha mechanism. You can listen to this 57 00:03:44,840 --> 00:03:47,600 Speaker 1: stuff you missed in History class episode about it, titled 58 00:03:47,840 --> 00:03:52,440 Speaker 1: the Andti Keithera Mechanism. An additional note on the dating 59 00:03:52,600 --> 00:03:56,320 Speaker 1: in this episode, May eight teens is the day that 60 00:03:56,360 --> 00:03:59,640 Speaker 1: this happened on the Julian calendar, and it's also been 61 00:03:59,680 --> 00:04:02,200 Speaker 1: said the actual day of the discovery could have been 62 00:04:02,200 --> 00:04:05,840 Speaker 1: made twentie on the Julian calendar, which Greece was still 63 00:04:05,960 --> 00:04:08,080 Speaker 1: using at the time, and that would have been June 64 00:04:08,120 --> 00:04:11,920 Speaker 1: second on the Gregorian calendar. There has also been confusion 65 00:04:12,040 --> 00:04:16,520 Speaker 1: over who actually discovered the mechanism. Based on contemporary sources, 66 00:04:16,600 --> 00:04:19,200 Speaker 1: it seems like spyro Did was the first to notice 67 00:04:19,200 --> 00:04:23,000 Speaker 1: the mechanisms fragments, though he could have collaborated with Valarios, 68 00:04:23,000 --> 00:04:27,000 Speaker 1: who was an archaeologist on the discovery. You can learn 69 00:04:27,040 --> 00:04:30,960 Speaker 1: more about history by following us on Twitter, Facebook, and 70 00:04:31,080 --> 00:04:37,360 Speaker 1: Instagram at t d i HC Podcast. Thanks for showing up. 71 00:04:37,760 --> 00:04:39,320 Speaker 1: We'll meet here again tomorrow.