Free Republic

Ancient Egypt, renowned for its rich culture and enduring legacy, was a civilization of remarkable ingenuity and innovation. From monumental architecture to intricate writing systems, the ancient Egyptians left an indelible mark on human history with their numerous inventions and technological advancements. Here, we explore fifteen of the most significant inventions that exemplify the ingenuity and creativity of this ancient civilization. 1. Papyrus: Among the most enduring contributions of ancient Egypt is the invention of papyrus, a paper-like material made from the papyrus plant. This versatile writing medium revolutionized communication, allowing Egyptians to record their history, literature, and administrative documents...

> Ancient Wisdom, Modern Marvel: The Greek-Mexican Collaboration Behind the Hermosillo Antikythera Mechanism On the evening of February 8th, the garden of the Physics Research Department at the University of Sonora in Hermosillo became the focal point of a remarkable cultural and scientific event. The Inauguration and Commissioning Ceremony of the Monumental Antikythera Mechanism for Hermosillo (MAMH) unfolded, marking a significant milestone in the collaboration between Greek and Mexican scientists and craftsmen. This event not only celebrated the culmination of years of meticulous research and craftsmanship but also the enduring spirit of international cooperation and the shared human quest for...

A bronze artifact salvaged from an ancient Greek shipwreck, recognized as the world’s oldest computer, may hold the secrets of the universe.When we talk of the history of computers, most of us will refer to the evolution of the modern digital desktop PC, charting the decades-long developments by the likes of Apple and Microsoft. What many don’t consider, however, is that computers have been around much longer. In fact, they date back millennia to a time when they were analog creations. Today, the world’s oldest known “computer” is the Antikythera mechanism, a corroded bronze artifact which was found at the...

Explanation: No one knew that 2,000 years ago, the technology existed to build such a device. The Antikythera mechanism, pictured, is now widely regarded as the first computer. Found at the bottom of the sea aboard a decaying Greek ship, its complexity prompted decades of study, and even today some of its functions likely remain unknown. X-ray images of the device, however, have confirmed that a main function of its numerous clock-like wheels and gears is to create a portable, hand-cranked, Earth-centered, orrery of the sky, predicting future star and planet locations as well as lunar and solar eclipses. The...

Explanation: It does what? No one knew that 2,000 years ago, the technology existed to build such a device. The Antikythera mechanism, pictured, is now widely regarded as the first computer. Found at the bottom of the sea aboard a decaying Greek ship, its complexity prompted decades of study, and even today some of its functions likely remain unknown. X-ray images of the device, however, have confirmed that a main function of its numerous clock-like wheels and gears is to create a portable, hand-cranked, Earth-centered, orrery of the sky, predicting future star and planet locations as well as lunar and...

Standing at an impressive 20.5 inches tall and 30 inches wide, this LEGO Ideas entry doesn’t just demonstrate the solar system’s movement, but it does so while staying true to each planet’s orbit time. The Clockwork Solar System from LEGO builders Chris Orchard and Brent Waller is a nearly 3000-brick marvel that replicates our solar system’s celestial dance with 99.8% accuracy while a set of clocks at the bottom even count down the year while the planets rotate around the sun. Orchard and Waller are both self-professed LEGO nerds, while Waller even mentions he’s been associated with the LEGO Ideas...

Archaeologists have announced the discovery of a massive marble head at the Antikythera Shipwreck in Greece, the site where the Antikythera mechanism was previously discovered in 1901. The Antikythera wreck is a Roman-era shipwreck dating from the 1st century BC. The site was discovered by sponge divers near the Greek island of Antikythera in 1900.Some scholars speculated that the ship was carrying part of the loot of the Roman General Sulla from Athens in 86 BC. A reference by the Greek writer, Lucian, to one of Sulla’s ships sinking in the Antikythera region gave which rise to this theory.Previous excavations...

Built some time between 200 BC and 60 BC, the Antikythera mechanism is the oldest known computer mechanism in existence. This ancient, geared device for tracking the heavens is in pretty bad shape after all that time. But, despite the rust, researchers may have finally revealed a possible date it was first set ticking—also known as "Day Zero." For a clock like this the calibrations would require a start date to ensure the device’s accuracy. Recent advancements have pointed to the calibration date having been around the time the moon was in its apogee position, its furthest position in orbit...

A bronze statue’s orphaned arm. A corroded disc adorned with a bull. Preserved wooden planks. These are among the latest treasures that date back to the dawn of the Roman Empire, discovered amid the ruins of the Antikythera shipwreck, a sunken bounty off the coast of a tiny island in Greece. Marine archaeologists working on a project called Return to Antikythera announced these findings on Wednesday from their most recent excavation of the roughly 2,000-year-old wreck, which was first discovered 115 years ago. They said the haul hints at the existence of at least seven more bronze sculptures still buried...

Saint Sebastian is one of the great ancient martyrs of the Roman Catholic Church as well as one of the saints most frequently depicted in artwork down through the centuries. The image of Sebastian tied to a stake, his body riddled with arrows, is one of the most immediately recognizable and jarring images of the ancient martyrs. As with many of the martyrs from the days prior to Constantine, his story has become somewhat muddled. He is mentioned in a homily of Saint Ambrose (On Psalm 118) as having come from Milan. Most of the rest of his biography comes...

A digital model has revealed a complex planetarium on the ancient device's face. “Unless it's from outer space, we have to find a way in which the Greeks could have made it,” researchers say.

New finding from Antikythera MechanismBased onstatistical analysis of micro CT imaging of the more than 2,000-year-old Antikythera Mechanism, we show unexpected evidence establishing a lunar calendar with Egyptian civil-calendar month-names circa 100 B.C. This finding displaces a century-long presumption of a 365-day solar calendar on the Antikythera Mechanism with a 354-day lunar calendar and may inform a fundamental question of the number and type of calendars used in Ancient Egypt.

115 years ago, divers found a hunk of bronze off a Greek island. It changed our understanding of human history. One hundred fifteen years ago, an archeologist was sifting through objects found in the wreck of a 2,000-year-old vessel off the Greek island Antikythera. Among the wreck’s treasures — beautiful vases and pots, jewelry, a bronze statue of an ancient philosopher — was the most peculiar thing: a series of brass gears and dials mounted in a case the size of a mantel clock. Archeologists dubbed the instrument the Antikythera mechanism. The genius — and mystery — of this piece...

This week, word began to spread around some corners of the web that a new piece of the legendary ancient Greek computer known as the Antikythera Mechanism may have been found. But the claims, which surfaced following a Haaretz feature on the ongoing archaeological work in the area where the device was first uncovered, are misleading at best... ...in 2017... marine archaeologists from the Greek Ephorate of Underwater Antiquities and Lund University in Sweden uncovered more treasures including pieces of a bronze statue and an encrusted bronze disk with four tabs on it that appeared almost like a cog wheel....

Full title: Human skeleton discovered at Antikythera shipwreck after more than 2,000 years at the bottom of the sea Buried beneath sand and the fragments of ancient pottery, researchers have discovered the 2,000-year-old remains of a sailor who died upon the ill-fated 'Antikythera ship.' Archaeologists have investigated the famous shipwreck off a tiny Greek island for which it's named for over a century, revealing a trove of remarkable artefacts – including the mysterious 'Antikythera Mechanism,' thought to be a 'guide to the galaxy.'

The ship bound for Rome sunk in 1BC and was first discovered off the coast of Greece in 1900. And yet the Antikythera shipwreck is still providing new discoveries. The Guardian reports an expedition to the site last month turned up a silver tankard, a human bone, and much more. Perhaps most exciting: the arm of a bronze statue and evidence that the remains of at least seven bronze statues are still buried there.

Foley and the archaeologists, meanwhile, are elated by the chance to learn more about the people on board the first-century bc ship, which carried luxury items from the eastern Mediterranean, probably intended for wealthy buyers in Rome. The skeleton discovery is a rare find, agrees Mark Dunkley, an underwater archaeologist from the London-based heritage organization Historic England. Unless covered by sediment or otherwise protected, the bodies of shipwreck victims are usually swept away and decay, or are eaten by fish. Complete skeletons have been recovered from younger ships, such as the sixteenth-century English warship the Mary Rose and the seventeenth-century...

....With the turn of a hand crank, the ancient Greeks could track the positions of the sun and the moon, the lunar phases, and even cycles of Greek athletic competitions. The 82 corroded metal fragments of the Antikythera mechanism contain ancient Greek text, much of which is unreadable to the naked eye. But over the past 10 years, new imaging techniques, such as 3D X-ray scanning, have revealed hidden letters and words in the text...

A ten-year project to decipher inscriptions on the ancient Greek “Antikythera mechanism” has revealed new functions, including the first hint that the device was used to make astrological predictions. The writings also lend support to the idea that the gadget, often called the world's first computer because of its ability to model complex astronomical cycles, originated from the island of Rhodes. Until now, scholars have focused on decoding the sophisticated array of gearwheels inside the 2000-year-old artifact. The new publication tackles instead the lettering squeezed onto every available surface. “It’s like discovering a whole new manuscript,” says Mike Edmunds, emeritus...

A statue showing a young girl holding up what appears to be a laptop -- complete with USB ports -- has sparked a frenzy among conspiracy theorists. The statue, 'Grave Naiskos of an Enthroned Woman with an Attendant' is in The J. Paul Getty Museum in Malibu, California. 'I am not saying that this is depicting an ancient laptop computer,' said YouTuber StillSpeakingOut. 'But when I look at the sculpture I can't help but think about the Oracle of Delphi, which was supposed to allow the priests to connect with the gods to retrieve advanced information and various aspects.' In...