Antikythera Mechanism
Located within the Mediterranean Sea, where the Aegean Sea meets the Ionian, an isolated Island with a population of ~20 exists. That island is a Greek Island named Antikythera. Where the normal day consists of blue skies mirroring the water on the coast of the island, visitors/residents exploring the island with smiles, and possibly an incoming boat delivering necessities such as bread and oil to the residents, the thought of an ancient computational device being discovered there seems impossible.
However, it was not only just any ancient computational device that was discovered there, but a device that historians are claiming to be the first computer ever.
In 1900, the inflection point of the century, Greek sponge divers discovered remains of a shipwreck that seemed to have originated from the island of Rhodes around first century BCE. Rhodes was known to be the center of astronomical thought, intelligence seafarers, and robust military and naval technology used to fend off the Romans for many years before inevitable domination.
Within the shipwreck there were many cargo items, such as astrolabes and coins, but one item stood out. The discovered item containing tiny Greek letters was about the size of a shoebox with a wooden case containing ~30 interlocking, functional bronze gears.
The possible computational origins of the device are plausible knowing that the island of Rhodes was home to many notable mathematicians such as the father of trigonometry/astronomer Hipparchus, philosopher/astronomer Poseidonius, and mathematician/astronomer Geminus.
The anatomy of the device is very interesting. Using a hand crank, one can turn the internal gears to rotate a series of dials and rings in order to calculate positions in time using the relative position of the sun and the moon. It is said that positions of planets, such as Jupiter and Saturn, were used as well. On the front, there’s a display of planets that are intended to simulate their movements .On the back side of the device, there are carved Greek scriptures of a 4-year dial showing the year for important events such as the Olympiad, the Pythian, the Nemean and the Isthmian.
Besides calculating positions in time, the device could predict phases of the moon, eclipses, and calendar cycles. Such cycles included when games, such as the Olympiad, would be held and those cycles are thought to possibly been used to teach those in school how their world operated relative to time and the current environment humans exist in.
During the time of its invention/usage, it was very difficult to keep track of time with the surplus of community-specific timekeeping strategies and domain-specific calendars. Timekeeping was very important for multiple cities to be synchronized with important events taking place in the future. For example, the device could be used to give one confidence that they would be able to leave their island and make it in time for the Nemean no matter where they were without a clock that we use today.
In addition, it was thought to have provided enormous value to political and military entities with its ability to record and compute coordinates between two celestial bodies or even perform computations such as their angular distance. Also, it could have been used as an aid for agriculture, navigation, and predicting eclipses.
