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History

Fragment 19

This timeline with events directly or indirectly related to the Antikythera Mechanism was initially compiled by Alexander Jones and Yanis Bitsakis, for the volume "Antikythera Mechanism: the Book".
The page is regularly updated with new events.

See also the database of the people involved in the research and other activities around the Antikythera Mechanism and the shipwreck (ongoing work)

776 BC Traditional date of first Olympic Games.
8th - 6th centuries BC Settlers from Corinth found colonies in Corfu, Epirus, and Syracuse.
681-627 BC Astrologer-scholars observe and interpret astronomical phenomena for Kings Esarhaddon and Ashurbanipal of Assyria. Discovery of Saros eclipse cycle?
484 BC Babylonian calendar begins to be regulated by 19-year cycles.
c. 450 BC Anaxagoras gives correct physical explanations of the phases of the Moon and eclipses.
432 BC Inaugural year of Meton of Athens's 19-year calendar cycle.
c. 400 BC Standardized zodiac adopted by Babylonian astronomers.
c. 340-330 BC Antikythera Ephebe.
330 BC Inaugural year of Kallippos's 76-year calendar cycle.
c. 300 BC Mechanical Problems, by a follower of Aristotle, describes basic principle of (toothless) gears.
c. 230 BC Antikythera Philosopher.
212 BC Archimedes killed after Rome captures Syracuse.
162-127 BC Hipparchos conducts astronomical observations and researches in Bithynia and Rhodes.
Late 3rd century - early 1st century BC Creation of a Mechanism know later as the “Antikythera Mechanism”
146 BC Rome destroys Corinth.
79-77 BC Cicero's travels in Greece; meets Posidonios in Rhodes.
c. 70 BC Geminos writes astronomical handbook, “Introduction to the Phenomena”.
69-67 BC Rome suppresses piracy in eastern Mediterranean.
c. 60 BC Antikythera Wreck.
51 BC Cicero writes “De Re Publica”, containing description of Archimedes's "sphere."
c. 150 Ptolemy writes “Almagest” and other scientific treatises at Alexandria; criticizes makers of astronomical mechanisms.
c. 500 Byzantine portable sundial with geared calendar.
1048 Death of al-Biruni, author of book on geared calendar.
1221-1222 Astrolabe with geared calendar made by Muhammad b. Abi Bakr in Isfahan.
1348-1364 Giovanni de Dondi constructs planetarium-clock, earliest known gearwork device of comparable complexity to Antikythera Mechanism.
Easter 1900 Sponge divers from Symi discover the shipwreck at Antikythera.
1900 (November) Salvage operations begin under government supervision.
1900 (December) First fragments of the Ephebe recovered.
1901 (probably July) Mechanism comes out of the sea.
1901 (September) salvage operations cease.
1902 (May) Mechanism identified within the Museum by Spyridon Stais (Saturday May 18, Julian calendar).
1902 (June) Mechanism fragments put on public display.
1903 Svoronos publishes his book on the shipwreck.
1905 Conservation work on the fragments.
1905-1906 Rehm studies the fragments.
1906 Rehm's lecture about the Planetarium read in Athens.
1934 Theofanidis gives a lecture at the Academy of Athens and present his model.
1953 Cousteau reestablishes the location of the Antikythera wreck.
1953 Conservation work at the National Archaeological Museum.
1958 Price studies Mechanism in the Museum.
1959 Price publishes in “Scientific American”.
1971-1972 Karakalos makes radiographs of the Mechanism.
1974 Price publishes “Gears from the Greeks”.
1976 Cousteau dive at Antikythera.
1990 First results from Bromley’s and Wright’s research.
1995 Publication by Wright-Bromley-Magou.
2005 (September) Wright presents his model with Planetarium, while the Antikythera Mechanism Research Project begins with the PTM surface imaging technique.
2005 (October) The “Blade Runner” CT scanner arrives in Athens. New inscriptions revealed through X-rays.
2006 (November) First publication in “Nature” about the Mechanism, coincides with international conference.
2008 (July) Second publication in “Nature” about the Mechanism, coincides with Olympic Games.
2011 (October) Presentation of the Hublot “Antikythera” movement at the Musée des Arts et Métiers in Paris.
2012 (April) Antikythera Shipwreck exhibition in Athens.
2012 (October) Divers from the Hellenic Ephorate of Underwater Antiquities and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution go back at the Antikythera Shipwreck. New artefacts recovered.
2013 (October) Second dive at the Antikythera Shipwreck by the Ephorate and Woods Hole team. Discovery of a possible second shipwreck.
2014 (September) The “Return to Antikythera” expedition begins, with the "Exosuit" diving suite.
2015 (June and September) Next two seasons of the “Return to Antikythera” expedition.
2016 (May) New season of the “Return to Antikythera” expedition expedition.
2016 (June) Publication of the full corpus of inscriptions of the Antikythera Mechanism.
2017 (September) New season of the “Return to Antikythera” expedition expedition. Discovery of the "Bull" artefact that has similarities with the fragments of the Antikythera Mechanism.
2019 (October) New season of the “Return to Antikythera” expedition expedition with the "Typhoon" research vessel.

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