A Portable Cosmos: Revealing the Antikythera Mechanism, Scientific Wonder of the Ancient World

Pay with

About A Portable Cosmos: Revealing The Antikythera

Product Description From the Dead Sea Scrolls to the Terracotta Army, ancient artifacts have long fascinated the modern world. However, the importance of some discoveries is not always immediately understood. This was the case in 1901 when sponge divers retrieved a lump of corroded bronze from a shipwreck at the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea near the Greek island of Antikythera. Little did the divers know they had found the oldest known analog computer in the world, an astonishing device that once simulated the motions of the stars and planets as they were understood by ancient Greek astronomers. Its remains now consist of 82 fragments, many of them containing gears and plates engraved with Greek words, that scientists and scholars have pieced back together through painstaking inspection and deduction, aided by radiographic tools and surface imaging. More than a century after its discovery, many of the secrets locked in this mysterious device can now be revealed. In addition to chronicling the unlikely discovery of the Antikythera Mechanism, author Alexander Jones takes readers through a discussion of how the device worked, how and for what purpose it was created, and why it was on a ship that wrecked off the Greek coast around 60 BC. What the Mechanism has uncovered about Greco-Roman astronomy and scientific technology, and their place in Greek society, is truly amazing. The mechanical know-how that it embodied was more advanced than anything the Greeks were previously thought capable of, but the most recent research has revealed that its displays were designed so that an educated layman could understand the behavior of astronomical phenomena, and how intertwined they were with one's natural and social environment. It was at once a masterpiece of machinery as well as one of the first portable teaching devices. Written by a world-renowned expert on the Mechanism, A Portable Cosmos will fascinate all readers interested in ancient history, archaeology, and the history of science. Review "[Jones] presents a very readable account of the Mechanism, and the consensus of what it was used for... [An] excellent 'User Manual.'" -- Journal of the British Astronomical Asso ciation "Jones has, in short, produced a superb guide to this dazzling embodiment of ancient astronomical knowledge and mechanical technology. Detailed enough that even scholars of ancient science will learn much, yet readable enough that undergraduate students will find it approachable (I myself have tested out both audiences), this book ends the long wait for a thorough, reliable, and accessible guide to the Antikythera Mechanism." --Courtney Roby, Cornell University, in Classical World "The book is a triumph at several levels, as an account of high-grade detective work, as an exposition of ancient astronomical ideas, and as a disquisition on where those ideas fitted into the society that produced them.... This is recommended reading for anyone interested in ancient astronomy." --Geoffrey Lloyd, Journal for the History of Astronomy "This book will be invaluable to those engaged in the study of the science of the ancient Greeks and Romans. Endnotes and references will assist individuals who wish to delve into further research. The presented black-and-white photographs and drawings are essential to understanding the work's subject matter. ... Summing Up: Recommended. Graduate students, faculty, and professionals." --M. Dickinson, CHOICE "Jones' book is written in such a way that makes it profitable reading for a wide range of readers, from the specialists on the Mechanism to those who have never heard of it. It presents in detail and explains clearly and in a pleasant way the Mechanism and its context by using all the existing specialised literature: this is really the Bible of the Antikythera Mechanism. The only recommendation to the unprepared reader is to use the book with moderation. One can easily become addicted to the Antikythera Mechanism, this abs