Antikythera Mechanism.
Portable Byzantine sundial and geared mechanical calendar, dated to 400-600 AD, is the second oldest known of its kind after the famous Antikythera Mechanism.
The instrument comprises two practically independent parts: a sundial for use at any latitude, and a geared calendrical device showing the phase of the Moon, the day of the month and the places of the Sun and the Moon in the Zodiac.
The device could tell the time in 16 locations and they are inscribed in Greek on the sundial plate, translated as:
Constantinople, Syene, Thebaid, Africa, Alexandria, Antioch, Rhodes, Athens, Sicily, Thessalonika, Rome, Dalmatia, Doclea, Caesarea Sratonis, Palestine, and Ascalon.
The Byzantine device may be created almost half a millennium after the Antikythera Mechanism and be simpler but it provides a proof that the technological achievements of the ancient Greek world weren't lost in the Eastern Roman Empire. This is also a masterpiece that is obviously based on deep knowledge of astronomy, mathematics and technological achievements, such as metalworking, automation and gear construction.
Today it is exhibited in Science Museum of London.
https://x.com/histories_arch/status/1834667405291016564Antikythera Mechanism.
Portable Byzantine sundial and geared mechanical calendar, dated to 400-600 AD, is the second oldest known of its kind after the famous Antikythera Mechanism.
The instrument comprises two practically independent parts: a sundial for use at any latitude, and a geared calendrical device showing the phase of the Moon, the day of the month and the places of the Sun and the Moon in the Zodiac.
The device could tell the time in 16 locations and they are inscribed in Greek on the sundial plate, translated as:
Constantinople, Syene, Thebaid, Africa, Alexandria, Antioch, Rhodes, Athens, Sicily, Thessalonika, Rome, Dalmatia, Doclea, Caesarea Sratonis, Palestine, and Ascalon.
The Byzantine device may be created almost half a millennium after the Antikythera Mechanism and be simpler but it provides a proof that the technological achievements of the ancient Greek world weren't lost in the Eastern Roman Empire. This is also a masterpiece that is obviously based on deep knowledge of astronomy, mathematics and technological achievements, such as metalworking, automation and gear construction.
Today it is exhibited in Science Museum of London.
https://x.com/histories_arch/status/1834667405291016564
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