The Antikythera Mechanism: A Shocking Discovery from Ancient Greece.

Whenever I fall asleep listening to videos on YouTube, I always wake up to this lecture.

14:52 24:20 Metonic cycle 34:50 Metonic calendar dial 42:30 more fragments found 45:10 examining text within Antikythera Mechanism 1:09:00 Gearing for Lunar Anomaly 1:13:50 Where was it made? 1:26:00 When was it made?

An outstanding presentation by Dr Tony Freeth. Imagine coming across a poster advertising the coming lecture at Stanford University.... Very few apart from some very deep Science students would give it more than a passing glance. Yet I wandered across it quite by accident - a casual browsing not even supported by a YouTube Algorithm - and I stayed for 1 hour and 48+ minutes. So I can imagine that if an eminent scientist and a relative philistine like myself were to be seated together at this lecture we would rise together in enthusiastic applause at the end of it. I am going to have to think about that a bit. "You don't just make progress in science by getting everything right. You make progress also by getting things wrong in an interesting way."

Wow! As a child in the late sixties/early seventies I avidly consumed every book I could find on underwater archaeology. The account of the finding of the Antikythera wreck with all it's treasures and it's lumps of corroded and encrusted brass cogs was spellbinding. It seems that the brass cogs are the greatest treasure. To listen to this smart man, Dr Tony Freeth, explain what he and others have learnt is a real pleasure.

Dr. Freeth, I've followed this since 62, when I arrived stateside, having been overseas, "navy brat", was apprized of it then, in Greece, saw an article regarding it mid sixties, and have heard here and there, hints. I'm a mechanic of sixty odd years, and would say it was a good quality working man's tools, as I've made myself, along my way to master machinist. I was five seeing it first, and was truly shocked when I ran across this, not having heard anything for a long time. I think you've done a masterful job, I was amazed decades ago, and again, in my teens, but I've always put it in context with "Hero's steam toy". I've seen a couple other examples of fine detailed machine work, from that time, but as you state, bronze worn out or broken, was recycled. I've made dozens of "engines" for engraving dials, or wheel faces, laying out by degrees, and even mils, for artillery purposes. Thank you for a great presentation, and great work in teasing out all the details, so intricate and and brilliantly discovered.

This speech is pure gold. Tks for uploading.

I stumbled upon this completely by accident. I've been interested in this device for decades since first hearing of it, collecting many documentaries. This is, by far, the most scholarly video I've seen on this subject. With many times feeling like I was riding down a steep hill in an out-of-control stagecoach trying to hold onto my hat, trying to keep up with each explanation. Simply outstanding presentation. Completely dazzling to hear how this mechanism came into being. Not wanting to sound condescending, but I think I'm most impressed, besides the obvious, to see almost 4mil views. Normally, I guess I would have expected only hundreds of views about something this academically oriented. This gives me hope on many levels. Some brilliant comments.Thank You.

Just Incredible to think all these people put this device back together after over 2000 years under water. Amazing work !

An extraordinarily well-constructed lecture about a complex device that describes the very complex motion of the moon and visible planets in the sky. Just enough explanation of how gears work for those of us who are not engineers, just enough explanation of the orbits of the moon and planets for those of who are still learning astronomy, and just enough about the history of astronomy to know what was known when in antiquity. Extremely well done. Both very educational and very entertaining.

"You don't just make progress in science by getting everything right. You make progress also by getting things wrong in an interesting way." I love that.

This is absolutely fascinating and I cannot express my gratitude to the fullest by just saying "Thank you for sharing such interesting information." My appreciation for such findings were kindled when I attended Melbourne University, and was welcome into their History and Philosophy of Science department briefly, under the tutelage of Monica, whose inspiration led me to appreciate antiquity ... Life is much too short to fully appreciate our ancestors and their achievements. ... .. .

This is absolutely fascinating. Thanks to the persistence and techniques of these brilliant scientists for pursuing this wonder of the ancient world! Their brilliance is only rivaled by the ancients themselves.

Incredible reconstruction, it just goes to show how intelligent ancient civilizations were. Let's not forget to thank all the people involved in this project, they're all geniuses.

When this object first came to my attention in the 6o's there was a lot of guessing and theories, I'm so happy to have lived long enough to hear some definitive statements regarding it. Astounding work by all concerned and a marvel that shows so very clearly the glory that was ancient Greece.

Fascinating. My physics teacher in high school said repeatedly over the year, "The ancients were not dumb." How could they build something like that when they couldn't build the machine Babbage wanted to build?

Always had an interest in this wonderful anomaly, and have watched a few videos regarding it which mostly just recycled the same limited info. This was a wonderful thorough analysis that I really enjoyed and found quite fascinating. Glad there are those like Tony and the others with the passion and dedication to completely analyse and share this with us.

As a gunsmith and machinist I’m amazed by the precision fabrication skills and tools clearly required to create this machine. I suggest an astronomer collaborating with a jeweler of sorts made this as a team. Indeed, I’d further suggest that a metallurgist and a chemist may have been on the team as well, since it appears that the machine’s alloys may be unique, and that some pretty fancy lubricants were needed to ensure smooth functioning.

We talk of the Dark Ages and the Renaissance, but ancient accomplishments like these remind us that these terms really do mean what they say. By the 17th century AD we'd only clawed our way back to where the Greeks were 2nd Century BC!

If you cant sleep I highly recommend this monotone lecture.. it worked wonders on my insomnia

What a fantastic in-depth lecture, really amazing stuff. One has to wonder at the level of sophistication of the ancients, what other wonders have been lost to time. They have been greatly underestimated.