An estimated 450 people packed into the amphitheatre of the new Karatzas building of the National Bank of Greece in Athens Tuesday last week (30th May 2006) to hear about the latest research on the Antikythera Mechanism. In an event hosted by the Cultural Foundation of the National Bank of Greece, many of the audience were unable to find seats, and were forced to line the auditorium and doorways.
Mike Edmunds, Professor of Astronomy at Cardiff University in the UK, opened the proceedings. He likened the history of the Antikythera Mechanism, to a voyage through time, with the latest research representing yet another port of call in its long journey. This latest work is being undertaken by the Antikythera Mechanism Research Project. Aside from the obvious objective of completely reassessing the function and significance of the Mechanism, by using some of the latest imaging technologies, a longer term objective is to make the imagery freely available to all those interested.
The project has received strong backing from the National Archeological Museum in Athens which is the custodian of this unique artefact. The current status of the Mechanism and its continued preservation were detailed in two short presentations by Maria Zafeiropoulou, Archaeologist, and Eleni Magkou, Chemist, from the Museum.
As well as acting as translator for the evening, John Seiradakis, Professor of Astronomy at the Aristotle Univeristy of Thessalonica, introduced some of the imaging technologies recently used by the Antikythera Mechanism Research Project to investigate the Mechanism. Hewlett Packard and X-Tek Systems have been involved in imaging the surface, and the internal details of the Mechanism respectively. Unfortunately, none of the Hewlett Packard team could attend the conference, but when some of their imagery of the surface of the mechanism was presented by John, there were audible gasps of amazement from the audience, but there was more to come. Martin Allen, from X-Tek Systems, introduced some of the innovative X-Ray technology used to obtain high-resolution Computed Tomography (CT) results for all the remaining fragments of the Mechanism. X-Tek’s imaging equipment has enabled researchers to view inscriptions inside the Mechanism which haven’t been seen for over 2,000 years.
The importance of both HP's and X-Tek's imagery in revealing previously unseen inscriptions was highlighted by separate talks by Agamemnon Tselikas, Director of the Center for Paleography of the NBG Cultural Foundation, and Yanis Bitsakis from the University of Athens. After the meeting Agamemnon Tselikas memorably commented: "that it was you (X-Tek), not me, who has read these inscriptions. You read them for me." It is hoped that the many inscriptions on the Mechanism will explain much of its purpose and operation.
As an ancient artefact, the importance of the Antikythera Mechanism cannot be overstated, and in his presentation Xenophon Moussas, Professor of Space Physics and Director of the Astronomy Laboratory at Athens University, alluded to the fact that new findings regarding the Mechanism will require the history of astronomy to be rewritten. If the audience was hoping to leave with answers to the Mechanism's purpose and operation, they were disappointed. These answers will not be available until November this year when they will be presented at an international conference on the Mechanism in Athens.
The conference was extensively reported the following morning by one of Greece's leading papers "Kathimerini" which is associated with the International Herald Tribune. Press releases from the conference are being carried by some of Europe's main press agencies.
Read more about our inspection of the Antikythera Mechanism.
Links to this newspaper article, and others, can be found on the Antikythera Mechanism Research Project website.
For more about X-Tek's inspection of the Antikythera Mechanism please email antikythera@xtekxray.com.
Further information can be found on the Antikythera Mechanism Research Project website.
The Antikythera Research Project is a joint programme between Cardiff University, Athens University, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, the National Archaeological Museum of Athens, X-Tek Systems UK and Hewlett-Packard USA, funded by the Leverhulme Foundation.
For more information please contact:
Professor M.G. Edmunds
Cardiff University
E: mge@astro.cf.ac.uk
T: +44 (0)29 2087 4043